Thermal Maps

Thermal Fingerprint data is analysed to establish the average pavement surface temperature for the survey network. The Thermal Fingerprint data is then divided into 1.0 ^oC colour bands to indicate by how much the pavements temperatures vary from this network average.

Thermal Maps are constructed for each of the three weather types. Each Thermal Map (Extreme, Intermediate & Damped) identifies the pattern and magnitude of pavement temperature variations, indicating the relative differences as colour coded temperature categories.

Thermal Map categories:

RED:                                    > +1.5 ^oC  above the average

YELLOW:                           +0.5 ^oC  to +1.5 ^oC above the average

GREEN:                              -0.5 ^oC  to +0.5 ^oC around the average

LIGHT BLUE:                      -0.5 ^oC  to -1.5 ^oC below the average

DARK BLUE:                      -1.5 ^oC to -2.5 ^oC below the average

PURPLE:                             > -2.5 ^oC  below the average

This process gives a scientific rationale to the location of weather stations but can also be used to forecast minimum pavement temperatures when integrated with an IceCast system.