Pages 325-328 in G. Pétursdóttir et al., eds. Circumpolar Health 93. Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Reykjavík, Iceland, June 20-25, 1993. Arctic Medical Research. 1994;53(Suppl.2)
Pages 325-328 in G. Pétursdóttir et al., eds. Circumpolar Health 93. Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Circumpolar Health, Reykjavík, Iceland, June 20-25, 1993. Arctic Medical Research. 1994;53(Suppl.2)
Experience shows that clothing manufacturers in their development work base their evaluation of the thermal properties of the clothing, in particular for survival systems, on the changes observed in human core temperatures. Body core temperatures of human test subjects are frequently used to evaluate the thermal protection provided by specific clothing. For survival suits, or immersion suits, international acceptance criteria are based on the changes occurring in a human test subject's core temperature. Unfortunately the core temperature changes observed in test persons in connection with thermal property tests of clothing garments may not necessarily reflect the real thermal quality of the garment. For a comparison test between several suits or garments, performed within a limited time period, the core temperatures may actually be misleading. In a suit providing less insulation, the human test subject is likely to be shivering more and producing more heat. The increased metabolic heat may compensate fully for the higher heat loss from the suit, and no difference would be seen in core (rectal) temperatures. Evaluation of the thermal protection provided by a specific garment should be based on other parameters than only core temperature. Skin temperatures and oxygen consumption should be included in the test criteria.