Persistent urban heat

authored by

Dan Li, Linying Wang, Weilin Liao, Ting Sun, Gabriel Katul, Elie Bou-Zeid, Björn Maronga

Abstract

Urban surface and near-surface air temperatures are known to be often higher than their rural counterparts, a phenomenon now labeled as the urban heat island effect. However, whether the elevated urban temperatures are more persistent than rural temperatures at timescales commensurate to heat waves has not been addressed despite its importance for human health. Combining numerical simulations by a global climate model with a surface energy balance theory, it is demonstrated here that urban surface and near-surface air temperatures are significantly more persistent than their rural counterparts in cities dominated by impervious materials with large thermal inertia. Further use of these materials will result in even stronger urban temperature persistence, especially for tropical cities. The present findings help pinpoint mitigation strategies that can simultaneously ameliorate the larger magnitude and stronger persistence of urban temperatures.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Meteorology and Climatology

External Organisation(s)

Boston University (BU)
Sun Yat-Sen University
University College London (UCL)
Duke University
Princeton University
University of Bergen (UiB)

Type

Article

Journal

Science advances

Volume

10

No. of pages

9

ISSN

2375-2548

Publication date

10.04.2024

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being, SDG 13 - Climate Action

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adj7398 (Access: Open)