COMPORTAMENTO DA TEMPERATURA E UMIDADE DO AR EM RESIDÊNCIAS DE MOSSORÓ/RN, SEMIÁRIDO NORDESTINO

Abstract

The municipality of Mossoró, a city of the Semiarid Northeast, has a high urbanization rate and is characterized by high temperatures and low levels of relative humidity throughout the year, corroborating thermal discomfort in external environments. Therefore, the interest arises in studying the behavior of air temperature and relative humidity in two residential backyards of the Abolition neighborhood, in order to verify the influence of trees on the behavior of climatic elements in backyards and, consequently, in human thermal comfort, seeking to fill a gap in preexisting research. The research took place in two backyards, one wooded (Residence 1) and the other not (Residence 2), with data collection between May 23 and 31, 2016, comprising the hot and rainy climatic period of Mossoró. After the analysis of the air temperature and relative humidity of both residences it was noticeable that Residence 1, which has afforestation in its backyard, presented lower air temperatures and higher humidity levels than Residence 2, which does not have trees, especially at the most critical time intervals. The trees present in the backyard of Residence 1 softened temperatures by up to 7.1°C at 2pm on May 29, 2016 and raised moisture levels by up to 20.8% at 2pm on May 27, 2016.