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 Quantitative Analysis of Factors Contributing to Urban Heat Island Intensity

2012 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 842-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
Young-Hee Ryu ◽  
Jong-Jin Baik
Keyword(s):  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Single Layer ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Impervious Surfaces ◽  
Additional Heat ◽  
Urban Geometry ◽  
Causative Factors ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
Vertical Walls

AbstractThis study identifies causative factors of the urban heat island (UHI) and quantifies their relative contributions to the daytime and nighttime UHI intensities using a mesoscale atmospheric model that includes a single-layer urban canopy model. A midlatitude city and summertime conditions are considered. Three main causative factors are identified: anthropogenic heat, impervious surfaces, and three-dimensional (3D) urban geometry. Furthermore, the 3D urban geometry factor is subdivided into three subfactors: additional heat stored in vertical walls, radiation trapping, and wind speed reduction. To separate the contributions of the factors and interactions between the factors, a factor separation analysis is performed. In the daytime, the impervious surfaces contribute most to the UHI intensity. The anthropogenic heat contributes positively to the UHI intensity, whereas the 3D urban geometry contributes negatively. In the nighttime, the anthropogenic heat itself contributes most to the UHI intensity, although it interacts strongly with other factors. The factor that contributes the second most is the impervious-surfaces factor. The 3D urban geometry contributes positively to the nighttime UHI intensity. Among the 3D urban geometry subfactors, the additional heat stored in vertical walls contributes most to both the daytime and nighttime UHI intensities. Extensive sensitivity experiments to anthropogenic heat intensity and urban surface parameters show that the relative importance and ranking order of the contributions are similar to those in the control experiment.

scholarly journals A High-Resolution Monitoring Approach of Canopy Urban Heat Island using Random Forest Model and Multi-platform Observations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shihan Chen ◽  
Yuanjian Yang ◽  
Fei Deng ◽  
Yanhao Zhang ◽  
Duanyang Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Random Forest ◽  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Model Framework ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
The City

Abstract. Due to rapid urbanization and intense human activities, the urban heat island (UHI) effect has become a more concerning climatic and environmental issue. A high spatial resolution canopy UHI monitoring method would help better understand the urban thermal environment. Taking the city of Nanjing in China as an example, we propose a method for evaluating canopy UHI intensity (CUHII) at high resolution by using remote sensing data and machine learning with a Random Forest (RF) model. Firstly, the observed environmental parameters [e.g., surface albedo, land use/land cover, impervious surface, and anthropogenic heat flux (AHF)] around densely distributed meteorological stations were extracted from satellite images. These parameters were used as independent variables to construct an RF model for predicting air temperature. The correlation coefficient between the predicted and observed air temperature in the test set was 0.73, and the average root-mean-square error was 0.72 °C. Then, the spatial distribution of CUHII was evaluated at 30-m resolution based on the output of the RF model. We found that wind speed was negatively correlated with CUHII, and wind direction was strongly correlated with the CUHII offset direction. The CUHII reduced with the distance to the city center, due to the de-creasing proportion of built-up areas and reduced AHF in the same direction. The RF model framework developed for real-time monitoring and assessment of high-resolution CUHII provides scientific support for studying the changes and causes of CUHII, as well as the spatial pattern of urban thermal environments.

scholarly journals Spatial and Temporal Structure of the Urban Heat Island in Seoul

2005 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 591-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeon-Hee Kim ◽  
Jong-Jin Baik
Keyword(s):  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Temperature Data ◽  
Total Variance ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Urban Heat Island Intensity ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Average Maximum ◽  
Urban Heat

Abstract The spatial and temporal structure of the urban heat island in Seoul, Korea, is investigated using near-surface temperature data measured at 31 automatic weather stations (AWSs) in the Seoul metropolitan area for the 1-yr period from March 2001 to February 2002. The urban heat island in Seoul deviates considerably from an idealized, concentric heat island structure, mainly because of the location of the main commercial and industrial sectors and the local topography. Relatively warm regions extend in the east–west direction and relatively cold regions are located near the northern and southern mountains. Several warm cores are observed whose intensity, size, and location are found to vary seasonally and diurnally. Similar to previous studies, the urban heat island in Seoul is stronger in the nighttime than in the daytime and decreases with increasing wind speed and cloud cover, but it is least developed in summer. The average maximum urban heat island intensity is 2.2°C over the 1-yr period and it is 3.4°C at 0300 local standard time (LST) and 0.6°C at 1500 LST. The reversed urban heat island is occasionally observed in the afternoon, but its intensity is very weak. An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis is performed to find the dominant modes of variability in the Seoul urban heat island. In the analysis using temperature data that are averaged for each hour of the 1-yr period, the first EOF explains 80.6% of the total variance and is a major diurnal mode. The second EOF, whose horizontal structure is positive in the eastern part of Seoul and is negative in the western part, explains 16.0% of the total variance. This mode is related to the land use type and the diurnal pattern of anthropogenic heat release. In the analysis using temperature data at 0300 LST, the leading four modes explain 72.4% of the total variance. The first EOF reflects that the weakest urban heat island intensity is in summer. It is found that the urban heat island in Seoul is stronger on weekdays than weekends.

scholarly journals Integrating Urban Form, Function, and Energy Fluxes in a Heat Exposure Indicator in View of Intra-Urban Heat Island Assessment and Climate Change Adaptation

Climate ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilias Agathangelidis ◽  
Constantinos Cartalis ◽  
Mat Santamouris
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heat Flux ◽  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Heat Exposure ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat Flux ◽  
Urban Heat

Cities worldwide are getting warmer due to the combined effects of urban heat and climate change. To this end, local policy makers need to identify the most thermally vulnerable areas within cities. The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) scheme highlights local-scale variations; however, its classes, although highly valuable, are to a certain extent generalized in order to be universally applicable. High spatial resolution indicators have the potential to better reflect city-specific challenges; in this paper, the Urban Heat Exposure (UHeatEx) indicator is developed, integrating the physical processes that drive the urban heat island (UHI). In particular, the urban form is modeled using remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) techniques, and used to estimate the canyon aspect ratio and the storage heat flux. The Bowen ratio is calculated using the aerodynamic resistance methodology and downscaled remotely sensed surface temperatures. The anthropogenic heat flux is estimated via a synergy of top–down and bottom–up inventory approaches. UHeatEx is applied to the city of Athens, Greece; it is correlated to air temperature measurements and compared to the LCZs classification. The results reveal that UHeatEx has the capacity to better reflect the strong intra-urban variability of the thermal environment in Athens, and thus can be supportive for adaptation responses. High-resolution climate projections from the EURO-CORDEX ensemble for the region show that the adverse effects of the existing thermal inequity are expected to worsen in the coming decades.

scholarly journals Impact of a Detailed Urban Parameterization on Modeling the Urban Heat Island in Beijing Using TEB-RAMS

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Lei Jiang ◽  
Lixin Lu ◽  
Lingmei Jiang ◽  
Yuanyuan Qi ◽  
Aqiang Yang
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Atmospheric Modeling ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
Four Levels ◽  
Geometric Morphology

The Town Energy Budget (TEB) model coupled with the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) is applied to simulate the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon in the metropolitan area of Beijing. This new model with complex and detailed surface conditions, called TEB-RAMS, is from Colorado State University (CSU) and the ASTER division of Mission Research Corporation. The spatial-temporal distributions of daily mean 2 m air temperature are simulated by TEB-RAMS during the period from 0000 UTC 01 to 0000 UTC 02 July 2003 over the area of 116°E~116.8°E, 39.6°N~40.2°N in Beijing. The TEB-RAMS was run with four levels of two-way nested grids, and the finest grid is at 1 km grid increment. An Anthropogenic Heat (AH) source is introduced into TEB-RAMS. A comparison between the Land Ecosystem-Atmosphere Feedback model (LEAF) and the detailed TEB parameterization scheme is presented. The daily variations and spatial distribution of the 2 m air temperature agree well with the observations of the Beijing area. The daily mean 2 m air temperature simulated by TEB-RAMS with the AH source is 0.6 K higher than that without specifying TEB and AH over the metropolitan area of Beijing. The presence of urban underlying surfaces plays an important role in the UHI formation. The geometric morphology of an urban area characterized by road, roof, and wall also seems to have notable effects on the UHI intensity. Furthermore, the land-use dataset from USGS is replaced in the model by a new land-use map for the year 2010 which is produced by the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The simulated regional mean 2 m air temperature is 0.68 K higher from 01 to 02 July 2003 with the new land cover map.

scholarly journals COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SURFACE URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT OF ROOFTOPS AND STREETSCAPES IN CENTRAL SYDNEY

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Sharifi ◽  
Steffen Lehmann
Keyword(s):  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Open Space ◽  
High Density ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Street Network ◽  
Urban Greenery ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
Artificial Heat ◽  
Space Ratio

Cities are frequently experiencing artificial heat stress, known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. The UHI effect is commonly present in cities due to increased urbanization, where anthropogenic heat and human modifications have altered the characteristics of surfaces and atmosphere. Urban structure, land cover and metabolism are underlined as UHI key contributors and can result in higher urban densities being up to 10°C hotter compared to their peri-urban surroundings. The UHI effect increases the health-risk of spending time outdoors and boosts the need for energy consumption, particularly for air-conditioning during summer. Under investigation is what urban features are more resilient to the surface layer Urban Heat Island (sUHI) effect in precinct scale. In the context of Sydney, this ongoing research aims to explore the most heat resilient urban features at precinct scale. This UHI investigation covers five high-density precincts in central Sydney and is based on a nocturnal remote-sensing thermal image of central Sydney taken on 6 February 2009. Comparing the surface temperature of streetscapes and buildings’ rooftops (dominant urban horizontal surfaces), indicates that open spaces and particularly streetscapes are the most sensitive urban elements to the sUHI effect. The correlations between street network intensity, open space ratio, urban greenery ratio and the sUHI effect is being analysed in Sydney’s high-density precincts. Results indicate that higher open space ratio and street network intensity correlate significantly to higher sUHI effect at precinct scale. Meanwhile, 10% increase in the urban greenery can effectively decrease the precinct temperature by 0.6°C.

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 Large seasonal and diurnal anthropogenic heat flux across four Australian cities

2016 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 342
Author(s):  
S. Chapman ◽  
J.E.M. Watson ◽  
C.A. McAlpine
Keyword(s):  
Heat Release ◽  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Capital Cities ◽  
Australian Capital ◽  
Daily Average ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
The City

Anthropogenic heat release is a key component of the urban heat island. However, it is often excluded from studies of the urban heat island because reliable estimates are not available. This omission is important because anthropogenic heat can contribute up to 4ºC to the urban heat island, and increases heat stress to urban residents. The exclusion of anthropogenic heat means the urban heat island effect on temperatures may be under-estimated. Here we estimate anthropogenic heat for four Australian capital cities (Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide) to inform the management of the urban heat island in a changing climate. Anthropogenic heat release was calculated using 2011 population census data and an inventory of hourly traffic volume, building electricity and gas use. Melbourne had the highest annual daily average anthropogenic heat emissions, which reached 376 W/m2in the city centre during the daytime, while Brisbane’s emissions were 261 W/m2 and Sydney’s were 256W/m2. Adelaide had the lowest emissions, with a daily average of 39 W/m2 in the city centre. Emissions varied within and among the four cities and decreased rapidly with distance from the city centre, to 2 at 20 km from the city in Brisbane, and 15 km in Adelaide. The highest emissions were found in the city centres during working hours. The peak emissions reached in the centre of Melbourne are similar to the peak emissions in London and Tokyo, where anthropogenic heat is a large component of the urban heat island. This indicates that anthropogenic heat could be an important contributor to the urban heat island in Australian capital cities, and needs to be considered in climate adaptation studies. This is an important problem because climate change, combined with an ageing population and urban growth, could double the deaths from heatwaves in Australian cities over the next 40 years.

scholarly journals Features of Urban Heat Island in Mountainous Chongqing from a Dense Surface Monitoring Network

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Jiang ◽  
Xiaoran Liu ◽  
Haonan Zhu ◽  
Yonghua Li
Keyword(s):  
Urban Heat Island ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Monitoring Network ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Urban Heat ◽  
Surface Monitoring

The spatial and temporal features of urban heat island (UHI) intensity in complex urban terrain are barely investigated. This study examines the UHI intensity variations in mountainous Chongqing using a dense surface monitoring network. The results show that the UHI intensity is closely related to underlying surfaces, and the strongest UHI intensity is confined around the central urban areas. The UHI intensity is most prominent at night and in warm season, and the magnitude could reach ~4.5 °C on summer night. Our quantitative analysis shows a profound contribution of urbanization level to UHI intensity both at night and in summer, with regression coefficient b = 4.31 and 6.65, respectively. At night, the urban extra heat such as reflections of longwave radiation by buildings and release of daytime-stored heat from artificial materials, is added into the boundary layer, which compensates part of urban heat loss and thus leads to stronger UHI intensity. In summer, the urban areas are frequently controlled by oppressively hot weather. Due to increased usage of air conditioning, more anthropogenic heat is released. As a result, the urban temperatures are higher at night. The near-surface wind speed can serve as an indicator predicting UHI intensity variations only in the diurnal cycle. The rural cooling rate during early evening transition, however, is an appropriate factor to estimate the magnitude of UHI intensity both at night and in summer.

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