Water Sprinkling Lowers Road Temperatures in Tokyo

Tokyo, Aug. 13 (Jiji Press)--A sprinkling of water helped to lower road surface temperatures by up to 5.3 degrees Celsius compared with air temperatures in an experiment using a sidewalk in central Tokyo on Monday, the metropolitan government said. The experiment was part of efforts to prevent spectators at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics from suffering heatstroke amid extreme heat. In the experiment, sprinkler hoses were installed on a 120-meter section of a sidewalk facing a road to be used for race walk and marathon events during the Tokyo Games. Air temperatures in a spot where no water was sprinkled reached 34.9 degrees at 10 a.m., with road surface temperatures coming to 32 degrees. Spots where water was sprinkled saw air temperatures standing at 33.2-33.3 degrees and road surface temperatures at 28-29 degrees. At a point where water started being sprinkled at 4 a.m., road surface temperatures came to 29 degrees at 9 a.m. against air temperatures of 34.3 degrees. The metropolitan government will examine the results to consider whether to introduce the water sprinkling. END