Thermal scaling laws for open-water swimming

Henry van den Bedem; Ellen Kuhl

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arXiv · 2608.20719

Thermal scaling laws for open-water swimming

Henry van den Bedem·Ellen Kuhl

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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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Henry van den Bedem, Ellen Kuhl. 2026-08-21. Thermal scaling laws for open-water swimming. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.20719

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