From Frank
Rossi, PhD, Cornell University, in his “ShortCutt” blog last month:
Several
images have been circulated on Twitter showing a handheld infra-red thermometer
that reveal the disparity among pavement, natural turf and synthetic infilled
turf on an 85F clear day. The pavement is 115F, the natural turf 98F and the
synthetic turf at 158F. Of course, this is the kind of information turf
managers should be providing the users of the turf, recognizing there are not
many options. This recent observation supports much of the research that has
been conducted on surface heating. Mitigating these temperatures is not easy
nor is it long lasting. Some have suggested a new type of infill “cool fill” as
it is often referred to reduce surface heating. Others recommend irrigating the
surface to reduce temperatures. The Penn State Center for Sports Surface
Research has been evaluating these issues over the last several years and has
concluded that there are different infill materials that do heat less but for
practical purposes still warm above 135F as compared to 145F without the cool
fill. Second, irrigating synthetic turf for cooling provides an immediate and
short-lived benefit that mitigates the surface temperature for 15-30 minutes
before it returns to its pre-wet state. It is best to offer athletes natural
turf in the current warm weather conditions, as there remains no solid solution
for high heat stress conditions created on synthetic turf fields.
