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Introduction
As the population of cities increase, so does the concern about anthropogenic climate
modification on urban settlements. One of the best documented of these human impacts on
urban climate is the urban heat island (UHI) effect (Arnfield, 2003). The UHI refers to the
relative warmth of a city compared with the surrounding countryside. The occurrence of this
phenomenon is the result of a complex interaction between climate, urban design, and structure
Fig. 1. Generation of Urban Heat Island (modified from Rizman et al., 2008).
From thermal sensing remote evaluations to field measures, there are a wide
range of methodological approaches in order to determine the UHI effect of a specific city. This
weather stations (AWS) within the campus of the University of Reading (Fig. 2). In the first
part of the paper, we examine the differences of SS and GH stations in diurnal cycles of air
temperature average and incoming solar radiation. Second, we select individual days with
largest differences to perform the same analysis. Additional meteorological parameters such as
wind speed, albedo and atmospheric pressure, and environmental variables such as vegetation
1
Site description and methodology
One of the AWS is installed on the sidewalk of the Soil Science building and the other
within in grounds of the greenhouses (Fig. 2). Whilst the first one is characterized by an urban
milieu, the latter is distinguished by more rural surroundings. The two AWS have temperature
and humidity probes, anemometer and vane, and two pyranometers. In addition, the greenhouse
station has soil moisture sensor, atmospheric pressure sensor and a raingauge.
Fig. 2. Location of the study area and satellite photo of the University of Reading campus where the
The Soil Science station (SS) is placed on the sidewalk between the Soil Science
building and its annexed building (Fig. 3 (a)), configuring the classic urban canyon. Both the
sidewalk and the road are covered with tarmac. The walls are made by brown bricks and the
roof of the Soil Science building is fabricated of aluminum. On the other hand, the greenhouse
station (GH) is settled within an open space between the greenhouses and the crops of the
university, very closed to Harris Garden (Fig. 3 (b)). This implies that is a vegetated
environment. Finally, the soil surface is a mosaic of patches of bare ground and grass (see
2
Fig. 3. Pictures of the environment of the AWS: Soil Science (a) and greenhouse (b) stations.
The dataset were collected from the February the 2nd to March the 16th of the present
year (Fig. 4 represent the pressure evolution during this time). The Table 2 shows the list of
parameters we have used during the experiment. According to the University of Reading
February and March is 4,6º and 6,7º C respectively (for the period of 1971-2001), the mean
Fig. 4. Pressure evolution of the months of February (a) and March of 2009 (b) (University of Reading
highlighted with a circle. The analysis charts of February the 21st (c) and March the 15th (d) are
3
Results and discussion
Studying the diurnal cycle of GH and SS air temperature average (Fig. 5 (a)); we found
that the SS thermal wave amplitude is significantly smaller. Although there is almost no
difference during daytime, just before the sunrise, the divergence of air temperatures starts to
increase, thus reaching the maximum value of UHI at nighttime. These same results were found
in quite different places such as Granada (Spain) and Fairbanks (Alaska, US) (Montávez et al.,
During the day solar heating overrides the rest of the meteorological and urban
configuration factors (Oke, 1982), thereby buffering the differences between GH and SS air
temperatures and hence reducing the UHI effect. In contrast, the largely dissimilarities during
the night are due to the rapid GH cooling rate (Oke, 1982). There are three major factors that
may contribute to explain this effect: thermal properties of the surrounding area, nocturnal
conditions and urban geometry. Giridharan et al. (2005) argues that nocturnal UHI is a product
of the daytime urban heat storage. This energy accumulated by the walls, road and roof of the
SS building is released at night in form of heat, thereby holding up the SS cooling rate. One of
the origins of this energy accumulation might be the considerably amount of incoming radia tion
absorbed by the human made materials of the SS built environment. As the incoming solar
radiation is very similar for both locations (Fig. 5 (b)), even greater in the GH site, possibly,
because the Soil Science building shadows the AWS from early morning to midday (Fig. 3 (a));
the cause of the heat storage heterogeneity may be a result of differences of surface reflectivity.
In our study, we found that SS albedo averaged was 0,10 larger than the GH, 0,24 and 0,14,
respectively (see Fig. 6 to observe its evolution during the experiment; the anomaly of the first
days were due to several snowfall events, Shahgedanova, personal communication). The high
value found in the SS station may well be caused by the dark color and roughness of the tarmac
road and sidewalk (Fig. 3 (a)) (Hamdi and Schayes, 2008). On the other hand, the lower GH
4
Aside from modifying surface albedo, plant cover also might affect other properties of
the ground surface, such as evapotranspiration, soil density and specific heat capacity (Hamdi
and Schayes, 2008). The Fig. 7 (a), which represents the daily trend of SS and GH relative
humidity (RH), shows that in the greenhouse grounds (Fig. 3 (b)) are more levels of RH during
nighttime. Because the air temperature of this site is cooler than the air in the grounds of Soil
Science, the genesis of this circumstance may be attributed to the moisture obtained from plant
The second key factor that may be a major cause to enhance the UHI magnitude during
the night is the street geometry of the SS location. The two main parameters used in order to
determine the relationship between urban geometry and UHI are the sky-view factor (SVF) and
the high-to-width-ratio (H/W) (Oke, 1981). In our study we measured the latter, obtaining a
relative high value of 3,2 for the street canyon of the Soil Science station. In consequence, it is
possible to affirm then that the SS location is a relative narrow street canyon, where a large
percent of the cold sky is displaced by the relatively warm sides of buildings (Oke, 1981). In
short words, urban geometry may work as a trap for long-wave radiation, thus delaying cooling
Nocturnal conditions are the last major aspect to consider. Nights often have clear skies
and less wind. Morris et al. (2001) states that cloud cover and wind speed have an important
effect in insolation and ventilation. The authors demonstrate that cloudless conditions are
associated with the most developed UHI effect. They go on to say that the amount of cloud
cover diminish the nocturnal radiative cooling, thereby lessening the difference between the
urban and rural air temperature. The other key determinant of the strong UHI at night is its
lower intensity of wind speed. In the Fig. 7 (b), which illustrates the SS and GH daily wind
speed evolution, we observed that the lowest levels of wind speed occur during the night in both
sites. According to Magee et al. (1999), low magnitudes of wind speed allow heat to store close
to the surface without extensive mixing, thus strengthening the differences of air temperature
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Aside from the well known tendency of temperature increase due to the seasonal
progress, we can observe in Fig. 8 the opposite trend concerning the UHI. Although it is not
very neat, the amount of negative values is congregate during the last days of the experiment
(see the red circle in Fig. 8), thus reaching the lowest value of UHI (-1,9º C) March the 2nd at
11:00. This dynamics was found by other researchers like Magee et al. (1999) and Montávez et
al. (2000). According to the first, whilst solar radiation loses nearly its influence due to the
reduction of the length of day time, anthropogenic heat lost becomes more important. They go
onto argue that winter UHI is considerably amplified by strong surface inversions during the
winter. Two anomalies interrupt notably the cited trend (see black circles in Fig. 8); one is
situated at the central area of the plot (around February the 21st ) and the other at the right hand
side of the figure (15th and 16th of March). We found that the daily UHI average of these three
days were the largest of our dataset (1,3º, 1,7º and 1,8º C, respectively), although the maximum
value was reached on March the 3rd at 01:00. These deviations coincide with the days with
anticyclonic conditions (Fig. 4). Generally, anticyclones are related to calm clear nights
(Shahgedanova et al., 1997) and hence they are ideal situations to reach the greatest magnitude
of UHI effect. The data from March 15th may be a good example of this. Cloudless and low
wind conditions can be interpreted from Fig. 9 (b) and (c) -the high quantity of incoming solar
radiation might be a good indirect measured of cloudless. Finally, Fig. 9 (a) suggests that the
Conclusions
The present survey demonstrates that two sites, within the university campus of Reading
and separated for only few hundreds of meters, can have two completely different
microc limates. These differences are based on the landscape configuration of the closest
surroundings and amplify by seasonal and diurnal conditions, and meteorological factors.
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On the one hand, the SS built materials absorb, store and release high quantities of
heating, thereby increasing the air temperature of the surroundings. Moreover, this warming is
trapped because the peculiar urban geometry, not allowing the mixing with adjacent zones. On
the other hand, in the GH environment, the reflection of lots of radiant energy and the process of
evapotranspiration realized by plants and soil permit a quickly air temperature cooling during
nighttime. These differences of temperature, called urban heat island effect (UHI), can be
heightened by anticyclonic conditions , which are associated with calm clear skies.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Richard Tegg for help me in measuring the heig ht of the Soil Science Building
and Michael Roy Stroud to send me the monthly and annual average temperatures of Reading.
References
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and water, and the urban heat island. International Journal of Climatology, 23: 1–26.
Giridharan, R., Lau, S.S.Y. and Ganesan, S. (2005) Nocturnal heat island effect in urban residential
developments of Hong Kong. Energy and Building, 37: 964– 971.
Hamdi, R. and Schayes, G. (2008) Sensitivity study of the urban heat island intensity to urban
characteristics. International Journal of Climatology, 28: 973– 982.
Magee, N., Curtis, J. & Wendler, G. (1999) The urban heat island effect at Fairbanks, Alaska. Theoretical
and Applied Climatology, 64: 39–47.
Montávez, J.P., Rodriguez, A. and Jimenez, J.I. (2000) A study of the urban heat island of Granada.
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Morris, C.J.G., Simmonds, I., and Plummer, N. (2001) Quantification of the Influences of Wind and
Cloud on the Nocturnal Urban Heat Island of a Large City. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 40: 169– 182.
Oke, T.R. (1981) Canyon geometry and the nocturnal urban heat island: Comparison of scale model and
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Oke, T.R. (1982) The energetic basis of the urban heat island. Quarterly Journal of the Royal
Meteorological Society, 108: 1–24.
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Rizwan, A.M, Dennis, Y.C.L. and Liu, C. (2008) A review on the generation, determination and
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Shahgedanova, M., Burt T.P. and Davies, T.D. (1997) Some aspects of the three-dimensional heat island
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Annex
9
(a) (b)
10,0 1,0 300,00
9,0
0,8 250,00
8,0
Temperature (ºC)
7,0 0,6
200,00 ISRgh
ISR (W/m2)
UHI (ºC)
6,0 0,4
5,0 150,00 ISRss
4,0 0,2
Tss 100,00
3,0 0,0
2,0 Tgh 50,00
-0,2
1,0 ?Tss-gh
0,0 -0,4 0,00
Hour Hour
Fig. 5. SS and GH daily temperature, and daily UHI intensity evolution (a); and daily incoming solar
radiation (ISR) evolution (b).
1
0,9
0,8 Rgh
Reflectivity
0,7
0,6 Rss
0,5
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0
Days
(a) (b)
95,00 1,4
1,2 WSg
90,00 h
1
Wind Speed (m/s)
85,00
RH (%)
0,8
80,00 0,6
RHgh 0,4
75,00
RHss 0,2
70,00 0
Days Hour
Fig. 7. SS and GH daily wind speed (a); and daily relative humidity (RH) (b).
10
20 4
Tgh
15 Tss 3
?Tss-gh
2
Temperature (ºC)
10
UHI (ºC)
1
5
0
0
-1
-5 -2
-10 -3
Fig. 8. SS and GH temperature and UHI intensity evolution during the 42 days of experiment. Black
circles represent days with anticyclonic conditions and red circles, days with negative UHI.
(a) (b)
18 3 700
16
2,5 600
14 ISRgh
Temperature (ºC)
500
12 2
ISR (W/m2)
ISRss
UHI (ºC)
10 400
1,5
8 300
6 Tgh 1
200
4
Tss 0,5 100
2
?Tss-gh
0 0 0
Hour Hour
(c)
1,8
1,6
1,4 WSgh
Wind Speed (m/s)
1,2 WSss
1
0,8
0,6
0,4
0,2
0
Hour
Fig. 9. SS and GH temperature, and UHI intensity evolution (a); incoming solar radiation (ISR) evolution
(b); and wind speed evolution (c) of March 15th of 2009.
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