Spatial analysis of climatic comfort in the northern slope of Jabal Al Akhdar (a comparative study between the Thom and Olivier indices)

Abstract

In this study, climatic comfort levels were compared between Thom and Oliver indices in a part of the northern slope of Al Jabel Al Akhdar, examining the influence of environmental factors on their spatial distribution, and establishing a spatial database for both of them .Among the data used in the study were NASA's Energy Project and the European Satellite Sentinel-2, as well as digital elevation models (DEM) from ASTER. Geospatial techniques were employed to extract and analyze the data. The study concluded that both indices exhibit similarities in terms of area and comfort level in some months of the year. In December and January, these indices showed discomfort due to cold weather, while in July, the comfort level was satisfying for both. As for seasonal comfort levels, there was a semi-consensus in the summer towards comfort for both indices, while slight differences were observed in the winter results, but they followed the same trend, discomfort is prevalent. The correlation results revealed strong positive relationships between temperature and humidity (1.00 and 0.876) for both indices. Furthermore, there was a moderate negative relationship with vegetation cover, and a weak relationship with elevation (-0.41 and -0.144) respectively.