Cold survival Q

After watching “The Day After Tomorrow” for abou the 8th time a question struck me.

Is there any hard info or even a decent estimate of how much longer at the same temperature or how much colder for a given period of time could two or three people survive compared to a solitary person with the same insulation.

No I was not influenced by the thought of sharing body heat with Emmy Rossum, I swear.

really…

ok, maybe a little.

If you can watch “Day After Tomorrow” eight times I sincerely doubt that there is any disaster known to man that would be a threat to your health. You definately have an iron constitution. :slight_smile:

It’s an interesting question but one that would be difficult to calculate. There are just too many variables in how bodies can fit together, whether there is a rotation from innner position to outer position if there are more than two bodies, what everyone is wearing, the surface areas of the bodies, temperature differentials by position etc…

I would imagine that the fetal position would be good to try if you are by yourself. You want to decrease the surface area that you expose to the cold as much as possible. As to what the equivalent position would be when you have two or more bodies to work with… well that is what fantasies are made of. :smiley:

For starters, a single person on a 2,500 Calorie diet puts out about 415 Btu/hour.

Voluble got it right. There are so many variables. I was Arctic Warfare back in the eighties, and it depends on so many things. Given the same insulation, what is the physical condition of the persons involved? A well nurished person pumps out a lot more heat than a starving one. Injuries come into play, sometimes a injured person would be shocky and need heat, sometimes feverish and putting out heat (to thier own detriment). The general rule for us was to stick together, but medivac quickly. The doctrine taught was to combine resources, as tactics allowed. (Six guys in one snowbank makes an easy target). The main thing was to keep dry. As far as heat sharing goes, it is a lot like osmosis, the weaker will draw heat from the stronger, the stronger will lose heat. As was pointed out by a previous poster, the fetal position is good by reducing exposure. The same holds true for two people hugging, your exposure is reduced significantly, and may overcome any down side by the other being in a less favorable physical state. Of course there would be a downside to hugging a person who has expired, as after a few hours the reminant heat from said person might be less that the value of other available insulation. Tough choice, but if I had to make a snap decision I would consider three things.
1: I am out here with this person, we must have a commitment to take care of each other.

2: If they are wet or bleeding,try not get it on me, because that reduces our insulation, and if you go down you can’t take care of anybody. Take care of the problem, get the wet stuff off, stop the bleeding.

3: After they are cleaned up share body heat. and make the best of other factors like shelter, they make a much bigger impact on the outcome.
So I guess my real answer is I do not know. I just know what I was taught, and by the grace of the powers that be I only ever did it in training.