scholarly journals A tree-planting decision support tool for urban heat island mitigation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoey Werbin ◽  
Leila Heidari ◽  
Sarabeth Buckley ◽  
Paige Brochu ◽  
Lindsey Butler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Urban Canopy ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Mortality And Morbidity ◽  
Urban Heat

AbstractHeat poses an urgent threat to public health in cities, as the urban heat island (UHI) effect can amplify exposures, contributing to high heat-related mortality and morbidity. Urban trees have the potential to mitigate by providing substantial cooling, as well as co-benefits such as reductions in energy consumption. The City of Boston has attempted to expand its urban canopy, yet maintenance costs and high tree mortality have hindered successful canopy expansion. Here, we present an interactive web application called “Right Place, Right Tree - Boston” that aims to support informed decision-making for planting new trees. To highlight priority regions for canopy expansion, we developed a Boston-specific Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI) and present this alongside maps of summer temperatures. We also provide information about tree pests and diseases, suitability of species for various conditions, land ownership, maintenance tips, and alternatives to tree planting.

scholarly journals Solar Irradiance Reduction Using Optimized Green Infrastructure in Arid Hot Regions: A Case Study in El-Nozha District, Cairo, Egypt

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesam M. Elbardisy ◽  
Mohamed A. Salheen ◽  
Mohammed Fahmy
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Solar Irradiance ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Physiological Equivalent Temperature ◽  
Urban Climatology ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
The City

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, studies focused on the relationship between urban planning practice and climatology are still lacking, despite the fact that the latter has nearly three decades of literature in the region and the former has much more. However, such an unfounded relationship that would consider urban sustainability measures is a serious challenge, especially considering the effects of climate change. The Greater Cairo Region (GCR) has recently witnessed numerous serious urban vehicular network re-development, leaving the city less green and in need of strategically re-thinking the plan regarding, and the role of, green infrastructure. Therefore, this study focuses on approaches to the optimization of the urban green infrastructure, in order to reduce solar irradiance in the city and, thus, its effects on the urban climatology. This is carried out by studying one of the East Cairo neighborhoods, named El-Nozha district, as a representative case of the most impacted neighborhoods. In an attempt to quantify these effects, using parametric simulation, the Air Temperature (Ta), Mean Radiant Temperature (Tmrt), Relative Humidity (RH), and Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) parameters were calculated before and after introducing urban trees, acting as green infrastructure types that mitigate climate change and the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. Our results indicate that an optimized percentage, spacing, location, and arrangement of urban tree canopies can reduce the irradiance flux at the ground surface, having positive implications in terms of mitigating the urban heat island effect.

scholarly journals Urban heat islands (UHI) mitigation in densely urban city of Tirana, Albania: Materials, energy, comfort

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sokol Dervishi ◽  
Eltjona Lacaj ◽  
Regina Vathi
Keyword(s):  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Actual State ◽  
Urban Vegetation ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Urban Structures ◽  
Urban City ◽  
Urban Heat

Urban Heat Island (UHI) is considered as one of the major problems in the 21st century as a result of urbanization and industrialization of human civilization. The urban structures generate a large amount of heat from solar radiations and other sources (i.e. anthropogenic heat). This situation is even worse in cities with high density and large population and extensive economic activities, Tirana, a densely urbanized city, is seriously facing this problem. In this context, the present paper is a review article aiming to present the actual state of the art on the development and the assessment of potential benefits (i.e. materials with high solar reflectance, urban vegetation) as UHI mitigation strategies for buildings and urban structures in Tirana, Albania. The analysis shows that the limited urban vegetation and inner-city neighborhoods structures are those ones in which the hazard potential of the UHI effect is shown to be the greatest. These neighborhoods have limited open space for tree planting and green area and therefore a lower maximum potential benefit. During the warming of the climate these neighborhoods face the greater consequences due to interactions between the UHI effect and global climate change. The results show that implementations of different strategies of urban heat island (UHI) mitigation can reduce negative impacts of hazards in cities, including overheating due to elevated temperatures, air pollution and associated public health effects. Such strategies also can lower the demand for air-conditioning-related energy production; reduce the effects of urban heat island and ultimately living in a better environment.

scholarly journals Using the dendro-climatological signal of urban trees as a measure of urbanization and urban heat island

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Schneider ◽  
Burkhard Neuwirth ◽  
Sebastian Schneider ◽  
Daniel Balanzategui ◽  
Stefanie Elsholz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Urban Climate ◽  
Ring Width ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Pedunculate Oak ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Urban Heat

AbstractUsing dendroclimatological techniques this study investigates whether inner city tree-ring width (TRW) chronologies from eight tree species (ash, beech, fir, larch, lime, sessile and pedunculate oak, and pine) are suitable to examine the urban heat island of Berlin, Germany. Climate-growth relationships were analyzed for 18 sites along a gradient of increasing urbanization covering Berlin and surrounding rural areas. As a proxy for defining urban heat island intensities at each site, we applied urbanization parameters such as building fraction, impervious surfaces, and green areas. The response of TRW to monthly and seasonal air temperature, precipitation, aridity, and daily air-temperature ranges were used to identify climate-growth relationships. Trees from urban sites were found to be more sensitive to climate compared to trees in the surrounding hinterland. Ring width of the deciduous species, especially ash, beech, and oak, showed a high sensitivity to summer heat and drought at urban locations (summer signal), whereas conifer species were found suitable for the analysis of the urban heat island in late winter and early spring (winter signal).The summer and winter signals were strongest in tree-ring chronologies when the urban heat island intensities were based on an area of about 200 m to 3000 m centered over the tree locations, and thus reflect the urban climate at the scale of city quarters. For the summer signal, the sensitivity of deciduous tree species to climate increased with urbanity.These results indicate that urban trees can be used for climate response analyses and open new pathways to trace the evolution of urban climate change and more specifically the urban heat island, both in time and space.

scholarly journals Can Cities Activate Sleeper Species and Predict Future Forest Pests? A Case Study of Scale Insects

Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven D. Frank ◽  
Michael G. Just
Keyword(s):  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Egg Production ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Scale Insects ◽  
Urban Heat Island Effect ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Island Effect ◽  
The Us ◽  
Urban Heat

Sleeper species are innocuous native or naturalized species that exhibit invasive characteristics and become pests in response to environmental change. Climate warming is expected to increase arthropod damage in forests, in part, by transforming innocuous herbivores into severe pests: awakening sleeper species. Urban areas are warmer than natural areas due to the urban heat island effect and so the trees and pests in cities already experience temperatures predicted to occur in 50–100 years. We posit that arthropod species that become pests of urban trees are those that benefit from warming and thus should be monitored as potential sleeper species in forests. We illustrate this with two case studies of scale insects that are important pests of urban trees in parts of the US. Melanaspis tenebricosa and Parthenolecanium quercifex are geographically native to the US but take on invasive characteristics such as higher survival and reproduction and become disconnected from natural enemies on urban trees due to the urban heat island effect. This allows them to reach high densities and damage their host trees. Parthenolecanium quercifex density increases up to 12 times on urban willow oaks with just 2 °C of warming due to higher survival and adaptation to warmer temperatures. The urban heat island effect also creates a phenological mismatch between P. quercifex and its parasitoid complex, and so egg production is higher. Melanaspis tenebricosa density can increase 300 times on urban red maples with 2.5 °C of warming. This too is due to direct effects of warmer temperatures on survival and fecundity but M. tenebricosa also benefits from the drought stress incurred by warmer urban trees. These effects combine to increase M. tenebricosa density in forests as well as on urban trees at latitudes higher than its native range. We illustrate how cities provide a unique opportunity to study the complex effects of warming on insect herbivores. Studying pestilent urban species could be a pragmatic approach for identifying and preparing for sleeper species.

scholarly journals Roles of Urban Tree Canopy and Buildings in Urban Heat Island Effects: Parameterization and Preliminary Results

2012 ◽  
Vol 51 (10) ◽  
pp. 1775-1793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Loughner ◽  
Dale J. Allen ◽  
Da-Lin Zhang ◽  
Kenneth E. Pickering ◽  
Russell R. Dickerson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Street Canyons ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Urban Street ◽  
Urban Street Canyons ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
Bay Breeze ◽  
The Impact

AbstractUrban heat island (UHI) effects can strengthen heat waves and air pollution episodes. In this study, the dampening impact of urban trees on the UHI during an extreme heat wave in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland, metropolitan area is examined by incorporating trees, soil, and grass into the coupled Weather Research and Forecasting model and an urban canopy model (WRF-UCM). By parameterizing the effects of these natural surfaces alongside roadways and buildings, the modified WRF-UCM is used to investigate how urban trees, soil, and grass dampen the UHI. The modified model was run with 50% tree cover over urban roads and a 10% decrease in the width of urban streets to make space for soil and grass alongside the roads and buildings. Results show that, averaged over all urban areas, the added vegetation decreases surface air temperature in urban street canyons by 4.1 K and road-surface and building-wall temperatures by 15.4 and 8.9 K, respectively, as a result of tree shading and evapotranspiration. These temperature changes propagate downwind and alter the temperature gradient associated with the Chesapeake Bay breeze and, therefore, alter the strength of the bay breeze. The impact of building height on the UHI shows that decreasing commercial building heights by 8 m and residential building heights by 2.5 m results in up to 0.4-K higher daytime surface and near-surface air temperatures because of less building shading and up to 1.2-K lower nighttime temperatures because of less longwave radiative trapping in urban street canyons.

Impact of Upstream Urbanization on the Urban Heat Island Effects along the Washington–Baltimore Corridor

2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (10) ◽  
pp. 2012-2029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Da-Lin Zhang ◽  
Yi-Xuan Shou ◽  
Russell R. Dickerson ◽  
Fei Chen
Keyword(s):  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Canopy ◽  
Horizontal Wind ◽  
Dynamical Process ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Moist Convection ◽  
Land Cover Data ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
The Impact

AbstractAlthough there has been considerable research on urban heat island (UHI) effects, most of the previous studies have attributed UHI effects to localized, surface processes. In this study, the impact of upstream urbanization on enhanced UHI effects is examined using surface observations and numerical simulations of an extreme UHI event that occurred on 9 July 2007 over Baltimore, Maryland. Under southwesterly wind, Baltimore experienced higher peak surface temperatures and higher pollution concentrations than did the larger urban area of Washington, D.C. Results from a coupled ultrahigh-resolution mesoscale–urban canopy model with 2001 National Land Cover Data show an advective contribution from upstream urbanization to the UHI event. This dynamical process is demonstrated by replacing Baltimore or its upstream urban areas by natural vegetation (in the model), indicating that the UHI effects could be reduced by as much as 25%. An analysis of the urban–bay interaction reveals the importance of horizontal wind direction in determining the intensity of bay breezes and the urban boundary layer structures. In addition, the vertical growth and structures of UHI effects are shown as layered “hot plumes” in the mixed layer with pronounced rising motions, and these plumes can be advected many kilometers downstream. These findings suggest that judicious land use and urban planning, especially in rapidly developing countries, could help to alleviate UHI consequences, including heat stress and smog. They also have important implications for improving the prediction of urban weather, including the initiation of moist convection, air quality, and other environment-related problems.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document