Pj. Schluter et al., The relationship between inside and outside ambient temperatures in Christchurch, New Zealand, PAED PERIN, 14(3), 2000, pp. 275-282
The objective of this study was to examine and identify relationships betwe
en hourly recorded meteorological temperature and ambient temperature, meas
ured from within the home-sleeping environment of young infants' homes in C
hristchurch, New Zealand. From 1991 to 1994, home polysomnography recording
s were conducted for up to 6 weeks on 32 infants aged between 2 and 24 week
s. One of the recorded signals was ambient room temperature. In total, 1573
5 hourly recordings of this temperature were available for analysis. The Ne
w Zealand Meteorological Service supplied hourly recordings of climatic tem
perature, collected over this time, from an exposed site that was considere
d to be representative of weather conditions for Christchurch. Temperature
seasonality, hourly climatic temperature recordings and the interaction of
these variables were found to be significantly related to the indoor ambien
t temperature recordings (all had P < 0.001). Fluctuations in hourly record
ed indoor temperature appeared to lag outdoor temperature fluctuations by a
pproximately 2 h; hence, a strong autocorrelation was identified in the reg
ression residuals. The most parsimonious autoregression model accounted for
97% of the variability in the hourly indoor temperature measurements (r(2)
= 0.97). In Christchurch houses, which typically have poor thermal insulat
ion properties, yet have no central heating capabilities, a very strong ass
ociation between indoor and outdoor temperatures was clearly demonstrated.