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PreprintCC BY 4.0arXiv

Thermal scaling laws for open-water swimming

  • Henry van den Bedem
  • Ellen Kuhl
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

Open-water swimming defines a thermal phase-boundary problem in which metabolic heat production competes with environmental heat loss. We derive a scaling law that predicts the critical water temperature and shows how body size, swim pace, and insulation shift this boundary. Longitudinal warm- and cold-water data reveal transient dynamics that exceed single-compartment predictions, but emerge naturally from core--peripheral physiology. Together, our results suggest that thermal safety depends on swimmer-specific characteristics and swimming conditions, not on water temperature alone.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{bedem2026thermal,
  title = {{Thermal scaling laws for open-water swimming}},
  author = {Henry van den Bedem and Ellen Kuhl},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.20719},
  eprint = {2608.20719},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.20719},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Thermal scaling laws for open-water swimming
AU  - Henry van den Bedem
AU  - Ellen Kuhl
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/26
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.20719
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.20719
AB  - Open-water swimming defines a thermal phase-boundary problem in which metabolic heat production competes with environmental heat loss. We derive a scaling law that predicts the critical water temperature and shows how body size, swim pace, and insulation shift this boundary. Longitudinal warm- and cold-water data reveal transient dynamics that exceed single-compartment predictions, but emerge naturally from core--peripheral physiology. Together, our results suggest that thermal safety depends on swimmer-specific characteristics and swimming conditions, not on water temperature alone.
ER  -