Abstract
The climatic conditions of seven beach holiday resorts in South Africa (Alexander Bay, Cape Town, George, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban and Richard's Bay) have been examined with regard to the thermal perception of beach holiday makers. The evaluation of the thermal conditions is based on the human energy balance calculations which have been adapted to the requirements of beach goers. A model has been developed to calculate the missing radiation input data and parameters such as ‘beach day’ and ‘beach hour’ are introduced and defined. The average monthly number of beach days is calculated for every location showing the highest amounts in Durban and Richard's Bay and the highest annual variations in Cape Town. The Beach Comfort Index Map of South Africa shows the maximum, minimum and average number of beach days per month and the probability of beach days and thus providing understandable and interpretable information on the thermal conditions of the sites from the point of view of beach holiday makers.
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Becker, S. Beach Comfort Index – a new approach to evaluate the thermal conditions of beach holiday resorts using a South African example. GeoJournal 44, 297–307 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006871805262
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006871805262