Wet-bulb temperature

The wet-bulb temperature (WBT) is the temperature read by a thermometer covered in water-
soaked cloth (wet-bulb thermometer) over which air is passed.[1] At 100% relative humidity, the wet-
bulb temperature is equal to the air temperature (dry-bulb temperature); at lower humidity the wet-
bulb temperature is lower than dry-bulb temperature because of evaporative cooling.

Humidity and hygrometry

Specific concepts

Absolute / Specific / Relative

Dew point (depression)

Psychrometrics

General concepts

Humidity buffering

Air Concentration Density Dew Evaporation (Atm.) Pressure Liquid water Avogadro's law

Nucleation Thermodynamic equilibrium

Measures and Instruments

Heat index Sat. vap. density Mixing ratio Water activity H. indicator (card) Hygrometer

Dry/Wet-bulb temperature

The wet-bulb temperature is defined as the temperature of a parcel of air cooled to saturation (100%
relative humidity) by the evaporation of water into it, with the latent heat supplied by the parcel.[2] A
wet-bulb thermometer indicates a temperature close to the true (thermodynamic) wet-bulb
temperature. The wet-bulb temperature is the lowest temperature that can be reached under current
ambient conditions by the evaporation of water only.

Even heat-adapted people cannot carry out normal outdoor activities past a wet-bulb temperature of
32 °C (90 °F), equivalent to a heat index of 55 °C (130 °F). The theoretical limit to human survival for
more than a few hours in the shade, even with unlimited water, is 35 °C (95 °F) – theoretically
equivalent to a heat index of 70 °C (160 °F), though the heat index doesn't go that high.[3]

Intuition

Consider a thermometer wrapped in a water-moistened cloth. The drier and less humid the air is, the
faster the water will evaporate. The faster water evaporates, the lower the thermometer's
temperature will be relative to air temperature.

But water can only evaporate if the air around it can absorb more water. This is measured by
comparing how much water is in the air, compared to the maximum which could be in the air—the
relative humidity. 0% means the air is completely dry, and 100% means the air contains all the water
it can hold in the present circumstances and it cannot absorb any more water (from any source).

This is why we feel cooler in dry air. The drier the air, the more moisture it can hold beyond what is
already in it, and the easier it is for extra water to evaporate. The result is that sweat evaporates
more quickly in drier air, cooling down the skin faster. But if the relative humidity is 100%, no water
can evaporate, and cooling by sweating or evaporation is not possible.

When relative humidity is 100%, a wet bulb thermometer can also no longer be cooled by
evaporation, so it will read the same as an unwrapped thermometer.

General

The wet-bulb temperature is the lowest temperature which may be achieved by evaporative cooling
of a water-wetted (or even ice-covered), ventilated surface.

By contrast, the dew point is the temperature to which the ambient air must be cooled to reach
100% relative humidity assuming there is no further evaporation into the air; it is the point where
condensation (dew) and clouds would form.

For a parcel of air that is less than saturated (i.e., air with less than 100 percent relative humidity),
the wet-bulb temperature is lower than the dry-bulb temperature, but higher than the dew point
temperature. The lower the relative humidity (the drier the air), the greater the gaps between each
pair of these three temperatures. Conversely, when the relative humidity rises to 100%, the three
figures coincide.

For air at a known pressure and dry-bulb temperature, the thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature
corresponds to unique values of the relative humidity and the dew point temperature. It therefore
may be used for the practical determination of these values. The relationships between these
values are illustrated in a psychrometric chart.

Cooling of the human body through perspiration is inhibited as the relative humidity of the
surrounding air increases in summer. Other mechanisms may be at work in winter if there is validity
to the notion of a "humid" or "damp cold."

Lower wet-bulb temperatures that correspond with drier air in summer can translate to energy
savings in air-conditioned buildings due to:

1. Reduced dehumidification load for ventilation air

2. Increased efficiency of cooling towers

Thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature

The thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature or adiabatic saturation temperature is the temperature a

volume of air would have if cooled adiabatically to saturation by evaporation of water into it, all
latent heat being supplied by the volume of air.

The temperature of an air sample that has passed over a large surface of the liquid water in an
insulated channel is called the thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature—the air has become saturated
by passing through a constant-pressure, ideal, adiabatic saturation chamber.

Meteorologists and others may use the term "isobaric wet-bulb temperature" to refer to the
"thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature". It is also called the "adiabatic saturation temperature",
though meteorologists also use "adiabatic saturation temperature" to mean "temperature at the
saturation level", i.e. the temperature the parcel would achieve if it expanded adiabatically until
saturated.[4]

Thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature is plotted on a psychrometric chart.

The thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature is a thermodynamic property of a mixture of air and

water vapor. The value indicated by a simple wet-bulb thermometer often provides an adequate
approximation of the thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature.
For an accurate wet-bulb thermometer, "the wet-bulb temperature and the adiabatic saturation
temperature are approximately equal for air-water vapor mixtures at atmospheric temperature and
pressure. This is not necessarily true at temperatures and pressures that deviate significantly from
ordinary atmospheric conditions, or for other gas–vapor mixtures."[5]

Temperature reading of wet-bulb thermometer

A Wet Dry Hygrometer

featuring a wet-bulb
thermometer

A sling psychrometer. The sock is wet

with distilled water and whirled around
for a minute or more before taking the
readings.

Wet-bulb temperature is measured using a thermometer that has its bulb wrapped in cloth—called a
sock—that is kept wet with distilled water via wicking action. Such an instrument is called a wet-bulb
thermometer. A widely used device for measuring wet and dry bulb temperature is a sling
psychrometer, which consists of a pair of mercury bulb thermometers, one with a wet "sock" to
measure the wet-bulb temperature and the other with the bulb exposed and dry for the dry-bulb
temperature. The thermometers are attached to a swivelling handle which allows them to be whirled
around so that water evaporates from the sock and cools the wet bulb until it reaches thermal
equilibrium.
An actual wet-bulb thermometer reads a temperature that is slightly different from the
thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature, but they are very close in value. This is due to a coincidence:
for a water-air system the psychrometric ratio (see below) happens to be close to 1, although for
systems other than air and water they might not be close.

To understand why this is so, first consider the calculation of the thermodynamic wet-bulb
temperature.

Experiment 1

In this case, a stream of unsaturated air is cooled. The heat from cooling that air is used to
evaporate some water which increases the humidity of the air. At some point the air becomes
saturated with water vapor (and has cooled to the thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature). In this
case we can write the following balance of energy per mass of dry air:

saturated water content of the air (kgH2O/kgdry air)

initial water content of the air (same unit as above)

latent heat of water (J/kgH2O)

initial air temperature (K)

saturated air temperature (K)

specific heat of air (J/kg·K)

Experiment 2

For the case of the wet-bulb thermometer, imagine a drop of water with unsaturated air blowing
over it. As long as the vapor pressure of water in the drop (function of its temperature) is greater
than the partial pressure of water vapor in the air stream, evaporation will take place. Initially, the
heat required for the evaporation will come from the drop itself since the fastest moving water
molecules are most likely to escape the surface of the drop, so the remaining water molecules will
have a lower average speed and therefore a lower temperature. If this were the only thing that
happened and the air started bone dry, if the air blew sufficiently fast then its partial pressure of
water vapor would remain constantly zero and the drop would get infinitely cold.

Clearly this doesn't happen. It turns out that, as the drop starts cooling, it's now colder than the air,
so convective heat transfer begins to occur from the air to the drop. Also, understand that the
evaporation rate depends on the difference of concentration of water vapor between the drop-stream
interface and the distant stream (i.e. the "original" stream, unaffected by the drop) and on a
convective mass transfer coefficient, which is a function of the components of the mixture (i.e. water
and air).

After a certain period, an equilibrium is reached: the drop has cooled to a point where the rate of
heat carried away in evaporation is equal to the heat gain through convection. At this point, the
following balance of energy per interface area is true:

water content of interface at equilibrium (kgH2O/kgdry air) (note that the air in this region is
and has always been saturated)

water content of the distant air (same unit as above)

mass transfer coefficient (kg/m2⋅s)

air temperature at distance (K)

water drop temperature at equilibrium (K)

convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2·K)

Note that:

is the driving force for mass transfer (constantly equal to throughout the
entire experiment)

is the driving force for heat transfer (when reaches , the equilibrium is reached)

Let us rearrange that equation into:

Now let's go back to our original "thermodynamic wet-bulb" experiment, Experiment 1. If the air
stream is the same in both experiments (i.e. and are the same), then we can equate the
right-hand sides of both equations:

Rearranging a little bit:

It is clear now that if then the temperature of the drop in Experiment 2 is the same as the

wet-bulb temperature in Experiment 1. Due to a coincidence, for the mixture of air and water vapor
this is the case, the ratio (called psychrometric ratio) being close to 1.[6]

Experiment 2 is what happens in a common wet-bulb thermometer. That's why its reading is fairly
close to the thermodynamic ("real") wet-bulb temperature.

Experimentally, the wet-bulb thermometer reads closest to the thermodynamic wet-bulb

temperature if:

The sock is shielded from radiant heat exchange with its surroundings

Air flows past the sock quickly enough to prevent evaporated moisture from affecting evaporation
from the sock

The water supplied to the sock is at the same temperature as the thermodynamic wet-bulb
temperature of the air

In practice the value reported by a wet-bulb thermometer differs slightly from the thermodynamic
wet-bulb temperature because:

The sock is not perfectly shielded from radiant heat exchange

Air flow rate past the sock may be less than optimum

The temperature of the water supplied to the sock is not controlled

At relative humidities below 100 percent, water evaporates from the bulb which cools the bulb
below ambient temperature. To determine relative humidity, ambient temperature is measured using
an ordinary thermometer, better known in this context as a dry-bulb thermometer. At any given
ambient temperature, less relative humidity results in a greater difference between the dry-bulb and
wet-bulb temperatures; the wet-bulb is colder. The precise relative humidity is determined by
reading from a psychrometric chart of wet-bulb versus dry-bulb temperatures, or by calculation.

Psychrometers are instruments with both a wet-bulb and a dry-bulb thermometer.

A wet-bulb thermometer can also be used outdoors in sunlight in combination with a globe
thermometer (which measures the incident radiant temperature) to calculate the Wet Bulb Globe
Temperature (WBGT).

Adiabatic wet-bulb temperature

The adiabatic wet-bulb temperature is the temperature a volume of air would have if cooled
adiabatically to saturation and then compressed adiabatically to the original pressure in a moist-
adiabatic process (AMS Glossary). Such cooling may occur as air pressure reduces with altitude, as
noted in the article on lifted condensation level.

This term, as defined in this article, may be most prevalent in meteorology.

As the value referred to as "thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature" is also achieved via an adiabatic
process, some engineers and others may use the term "adiabatic wet-bulb temperature" to refer to
the "thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature". As mentioned above, meteorologists and others may
use the term "isobaric wet-bulb temperature" to refer to the "thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature".

"The relationship between the isobaric and adiabatic processes is quite obscure. Comparisons
indicate, however, that the two temperatures are rarely different by more than a few tenths of a
degree Celsius, and the adiabatic version is always the smaller of the two for unsaturated air. Since
the difference is so small, it is usually neglected in practice."[7]

Wet-bulb depression

The wet-bulb depression is the difference between the dry-bulb temperature and the wet-bulb
temperature. If there is 100% humidity, dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures are identical, making the
wet-bulb depression equal to zero in such conditions.[8]

Wet-bulb temperature and health

Living organisms can survive only within a certain temperature range. When the ambient
temperature is excessive, humans and many animals cool themselves below ambient by
evaporative cooling (sweat in humans and horses, saliva and water in dogs and other mammals);
this helps to prevent potentially fatal hyperthermia due to heat stress. The effectiveness of
evaporative cooling depends upon humidity; wet-bulb temperature, or more complex calculated
quantities such as Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) which also takes account of solar radiation,
give a useful indication of the degree of heat stress, and are used by several agencies as the basis
for heat stress prevention guidelines.

A sustained wet-bulb temperature exceeding 35 °C (95 °F) is likely to be fatal even to fit and healthy
people, unclothed in the shade next to a fan; at this temperature our bodies switch from shedding
heat to the environment, to gaining heat from it.[9] In practice, such ideal conditions for humans to
cool themselves will not always exist - hence the high fatality levels in the 2003 European and 2010
Russian heat waves, which saw wet-bulb temperatures no greater than 28°C. [10]

A 2015 study concluded that depending on the extent of future global warming, parts of the world
could become uninhabitable due to deadly wet bulb temperatures.[11] A 2020 study reported cases
where a 35 °C (95 °F) wet-bulb temperature had already occurred, albeit too briefly and in too small
a locality to cause fatalities. [10]

In 2018, South Carolina implemented new regulations to protect high school students from heat-
related emergencies during outdoor activities. Specific guidelines and restrictions are in place for
wet-bulb temperatures between 82.0 °F (27.8 °C) and 92.0 °F (33.3 °C); wet-bulb temperatures of
92.1 °F (33.4 °C) or greater require all outdoor activities to be canceled.[12][13]

Heat waves with high humidity

On 8 July 2003, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, saw the highest heat index ever recorded at 81 °C (178 °F)
with a temperature of 42 °C (108 °F) and a 35 °C (95 °F) dew point.[14][15]

The 2015 Indian heat wave saw wet-bulb temperatures in Andhra Pradesh reach 30 °C (86 °F). A
similar wet-bulb temperature was reached during the 1995 Chicago heat wave.[16]

A heat wave in August 2015 saw temperatures of 48.6 °C (119.5 °F) and a dew point of 29.5 °C
(85.1 °F) at Samawah, Iraq, and 114.8 °F (46.0 °C) with a dew point of 89.6 °F (32.0 °C) in Bandar-
e Mahshahr, Iran.[17] This implied wet-bulb temperatures of about 33.5 °C (92.3 °F) and 34.7 °C
(94.5 °F) respectively.[18] The government urged residents to stay out of the sun and drink plenty
of water.

Highest recorded wet-bulb temperatures

The following locations have recorded wet-bulb temperatures of 34 °C (93 °F) or higher. Note that
weather stations are typically at airports, not necessarily the greatest heat sinks, so other locations
in the city may have experienced higher values.[19]
WT (°C) City and state Country

36.3 Ras Al Khaimah City UAE

36.2 [unnamed location], Sindh Pakistan

36 Mecca Saudi Arabia

35.8 Hisar, Haryana India

35.6 Yannarie, Western Australia Australia

35.4 Villahermosa, Tabasco Mexico

35.1 [unnamed location], Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan

35 Maracaibo Venezuela

35 Matlapa, San Luis Potosi Mexico

35 Choix, Sinaloa Mexico

34.8 La Paz, Baja California Sur Mexico

34.8 Soto la Marina, Tamaulipas Mexico

34.7 Medina Saudi Arabia

34.7 Bandar Abbas Iran

34.6 Machilipatnam mandal, Andhra Pradesh India

34.5 Sahadevkhunta, Balasore, Odisha India

34.4 Bamako Mali

34.4 Chicxulub, Yucatan Mexico

34.1 Rangoon Burma

34 Ajnala, Punjab India

34 Port Hedland, Western Australia Australia

34 Empalme, Sonora Mexico

34 Tuxpan, Veracruz Mexico

34 Paysandú Department Uruguay

See also

Atmospheric thermodynamics

Dew point
 Heat index

Wet-bulb potential temperature

References

1. Guy W. Gupton (2002). HVAC Controls: Operation & Maintenance . The Fairmont Press, Inc. pp. 288–.
ISBN 978-0-88173-394-5.

2. A Dictionary of Weather. Oxford Reference. ISBN 978-0-19-954144-7.

3. [1]

4. "Adiabatic saturation temperature" .

5. VanWylen, Gordon J; Sonntag, Richard E. (1973). Fundamentals of Classical Thermodynamics (2nd ed.).

Wiley. p. 448. ISBN 978-0471902270.

. accessed 20080408

7. NWSTC Remote Training Module; SKEW T LOG P DIAGRAM AND SOUNDING ANALYSIS; RTM - 230;
National Weather Service Training Center; Kansas City, MO 64153; July 31, 2000

. "Dry Bulb, Wet Bulb and Dew Point Temperature" .

9. Sherwood, S.C.; Huber, M. (25 May 2010). "An adaptability limit to climate change due to heat stress" .
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107 (21): 9552–5. Bibcode:2010PNAS..107.9552S .
doi:10.1073/pnas.0913352107 . PMC 2906879 . PMID 20439769 .

10. Colin Raymond1, Tom Matthews, Radley M. Horton (2020). "The emergence of heat and humidity too
severe for human tolerance" . 6 (19). doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaw1838 .

11. Jeremy S. Pal & Elfatih A. B. Eltahir (2015). "Future temperature in southwest Asia projected to exceed a
threshold for human adaptability". Nature. 6 (2): 197–200. Bibcode:2016NatCC...6..197P .
doi:10.1038/nclimate2833 .

12. Shelton, David. "New rules go into effect to protect SC high school athletes in extreme heat" . Post and
Courier. Retrieved 16 August 2018.

13. "Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Monitoring (WBGT)" (PDF). South Carolina High School League. Retrieved
16 August 2018.

14. Jason Samenow (31 July 2015). "Iran city hits suffocating heat index of 165 degrees, near world
record" . Washington Post. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2018.

15. Henson, Bob (9 May 2020). "Heat and Humidity Near the Survivability Threshold: It's Already
Happening" . Weather Underground. Retrieved 10 May 2020.

1 . "The Deadly Combination of Heat and Humidity" . The New York Times. 6 June 2015. Retrieved 16 March
2016.
17. "Feels-Like Temp Reaches 164 Degrees in Iran, 159 in Iraq; Days Off Ordered as Mideast Broils in Extreme
Heat Wave" . Weather.com. 5 August 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2016.

1 . "Relative Humidity and Wet-bulb from Dewpoint" . US National Weather Service. Retrieved 4 February
2019. Calculation assumed air pressure of 760 mmHg (101 kPa).

19. [2]

External links

3 ways to get wet-bulb temperatures for engineers

Wet-bulb chart for snow making (Fahrenheit)

Indirect evaporative cooler cools below wet-bulb

Wet-bulb and dew-point calculator from NOAA

Shortcut to calculating wet-bulb

Heat Stress Index Calculation