The causes and effects of the Urban heat

island Effect
March 11, 2015

#climate change #greencity #heat stress #urban heat island effect

As the global rate of urbanisation is increasing the cumulative effect of all the negative
impacts of urbanisation like the production of pollution, production of waste heat from
human activity most notably air conditioners and internal combustion engines, the
modification of the physical and chemical properties of the atmosphere, and the covering of
the soil surface are becoming more clear which is named as UHI (Urban Heat Island), defined
as the rise in temperature of any man-made area, resulting in a well-defined, distinct warm
island among the cool sea represented by the lower temperature of the areas nearby
natural landscape.

Though heat islands may form on any rural or urban area, and at any spatial scale, cities are
favoured, since their surfaces are prone to release large quantities of heat. Nonetheless, the
UHI negatively impacts not only residents of urban-related environs, but also humans and
their associated ecosystems located far away from cities. In fact, UHIs have been indirectly
related to climate change due to their contribution to the greenhouse effect, and therefore, to
global warming.

Causes of Urban Heat Island

The UHI is an inadvertent modification of the climate, caused by changes to the form and
composition of the land surface and atmosphere. When a land cover of buildings and roads
replaces green space, the thermal, radiative, moisture and aerodynamic properties of the
surface and the atmosphere are altered. This is because urban construction materials have
different thermal (heat capacity and thermal conductivity) and radiative (reflectivity and
emissivity) properties compared to surrounding rural areas, which results in more of the suns
energy being absorbed and stored in urban compared to rural surfaces. In addition, the height
of buildings and the way in which they are arranged affects the rate of escape at night of the
suns energy absorbed during the day by building materials. The result is that urban areas
cool at a much slower rate than rural areas at night, thus maintaining comparatively higher air
temperatures. Urban areas also tend to be drier than their rural counterparts because of the
lack of green space, a predominance of impervious surfaces and urban drainage systems,
which quickly remove water from the urban surface. This combination of effects alters the
energy balance of the urban environment. Consequently in urban compared to rural areas,
more of the suns energy absorbed at the surface goes into heating the atmosphere and thus
raising the air temperature than into evapotranspiration (water uptake and loss by plants),
which is a cooling process.

Additional factors such as the scattered and emitted radiation from atmospheric pollutants to
the urban area, the production of waste heat from air conditioning and refrigeration systems,
as well from industrial processes and motorized vehicular traffic (i.e. anthropogenic heat),
and the obstruction of rural air flows by the windward face of the built-up surfaces, have been
recognized as additional causes of the UHI effect.

Impacts of Urban Heat Island

It has been largely demonstrated that cities with variable landscapes and climates can exhibit
temperatures several degrees higher than their rural surroundings (i.e. UHI effect), a
phenomenon which if increases in the future, may result in a doubling of the urban to rural
thermal ratio in the following decades. Hence, assessment of the UHI and strategies to
implement its mitigation are becoming increasingly important for government agencies and
researchers of many affected countries.

As it would be expected, the characteristic inclination towards warming of urban surfaces is

exacerbated during hot days and heat waves, which reinforces the air temperature increase,
particularly in ill-ventilated outdoor spaces or inner spaces of residential and commercial
buildings with poor thermal isolation. This increases the overall energy consumption for
cooling (i.e. refrigeration and air-conditioning), hence increasing the energy production by
power plants, which leads to higher emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases such as
carbon dioxide, as well as other pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and
particulate matter. Furthermore, the increased energy demand means more costs to citizens
and goverments, which in large metropolitan areas may induce significant economic impacts.
On the other hand, UHIs promote high air temperatures that contribute to formation of ozone
precursors, which combined photochemically produce ground level ozone.

A direct relationship has been found between UHI intensity peaks and heat-related illness and
fatalities, due to the incidence of thermal discomfort on the human cardiovascular and
respiratory systems. During extreme weather events such as heat waves, the urban heat island
has the potential to prevent the city from cooling down, maintaining night-time temperatures
at a level that affects human health and comfort. Heatstroke, heat exhaustion, heat syncope,
and heat cramps, are some of the main stress events, while a wide number of diseases may
become worse, particularly in the elderly and children. In a similar way, respiratory and lung
diseases have shown to be related to high ozone levels induced by heat events. Several of the
above mentioned impacts have been addressed by the US. Living in high-density urban areas,
such as London, may be an important risk factor for heat related mortality and morbidity. The
effects of the 2003 heat wave were greatest in London in terms of the number of deaths per
head of population, especially amongst the elderly (overall there were approximately 2000
all-age extra deaths in London). There is emerging evidence that UK urban populations show
greater sensitivity to heat effects compared to rural regions. Many of the 2003 summer excess
deaths that occurred across London during the August heat wave event may be attributable to
the urban heat island effect.

The anomalous warm of the city creates relatively low air pressures that cause cooler, rural
air to converge on the urban centre, thus forcing warm air to ascend (i.e. convection), which
at higher altitudes condensates and precipitates. Studies carried out in several cities of the
United States such as Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Washington, have shown that urban-
induced precipitation and thunderstorm events are mainly initiated by the UHI. Other
meteorological impacts of the UHI are associated with reductions in snowfall frequencies and
intensities, as well as reductions in the diurnal and seasonal range of freezing temperatures.
Lastly, high temperatures may produce physiological and phonological disturbances on
ornamental plants and urban forests.
 Although in wintertime the UHI can result in energy savings (i.e. winter penalty), there is a
great consent among researchers that this benefit is outweighed by the detrimental effects that
occur in summertime.

What are Urban Heat Islands?

written by: sriram balu edited by: Lamar Stonecypher updated: 9/19/2010
Heat islands are parts of the urban landscape where there is a steep temperature variation
between that area and cooler surrounding areas. There can be a temperature variation as much
as ten degrees.

Introduction:

We all know that the population of the planet Earth is increasing exponentially. Along with
that population increase will be a rapid development of technology, too. Population pressure
causes direct and indirect effects on the environment.One such unknown, usually neglected
effect is the uncontrollable expansion of "urban heat islands." The formation of these heat
islands are mainly due to the construction materials used for the buildings. The fast paced
expansion of cities also contribute to these heat islands. What are these heat islands, and how
are they formed?

What are Heat Islands?

An island is a piece of land surrounded on all sides by water. So what

are heat islands? These are a particular part of land where there is a steep temperature
variation between this part and its surrounding land. Usually heat islands in cities have a
mean temperature that is 8 to 10 degrees more than the surrounding rural areas. The
temperature difference is greater at night than in the day and larger in winter than in summer.
The reason for maximum temperature difference at nights are for the reason that the rural
areas gets cooled faster than the urban areas. Thus the temperature difference is maximum at
5 to 6 hours after sun set.

As shown in the picture above, the slightly higher mean temperature

forms a bubble or dome that is warmer than the surrounding areas. This forms a heat island.

Causes Of Heat Islands

Many buildings found in urban areas have dark surfaces. Dark surfaces absorb more light
energy, and heat, making the entire building warmer. Buildings with brick walls or roofs, if
coated with dark coatings, also get heated up very quickly. In both cases, this heat is
transferred both inside the structure and radiated into the surrounding air.
Buildings with dark surfaces heat up more rapidly and require more cooling from air
conditioning, which requires more energy from power plants, which causes more pollution.
Also air conditioners exchange heat with atmospheric air, causing further local heating. Thus
there is a cascade effect that contributes to the expansion of urban heat islands.
Asphalt and concrete, needed for the expansion of cities, absorb huge amounts of heat,
increasing the mean surface temperatures of urban areas. Tall buildings, and often,
accompanying narrow streets, hinder the circulation of air, reduce the wind speed, and thus
reduce any natural cooling effects.

How India's concrete cities are becoming

heat islands
IANS|
Updated: Jul 12, 2016, 05.17 PM IST

This indicates that concretising cores of cities are retaining

heat, even as temperatures rise in formerly cooler outskirts, as they, too, urbanise.
By Max Martin

The monsoon has currently dissipated intense heat across India's growing cities, but
temperatures are rising and will continue to climb because of the way urban areas are
expanding.

With trees, lakes and open spaces replaced by roads, expanses of concrete with closely spaced
multi-storeyed buildings - often in violation of zoning and setback laws - Indian cities are
turning into "heat islands", according to an IndiaSpend review of scientific studies in five
cities.

A clear trend is evident: The difference between the daytime maximum and nighttime
minimum daily temperatures - the diurnal temperature range (DTR) - is steadily declining.
This indicates that concretising cores of cities are retaining heat, even as temperatures rise in
formerly cooler outskirts, as they, too, urbanise. A higher range of temperature indicates
greater cooling.

* In Delhi, over a decade to 2011, the temperature range declined by more than 2 degree C,
one of India's strongest heat-island effects.
* In Chennai, the morning temperature at the city centre is between 3 to 4.5 degree C higher
than its greener fringes.

Believe in reincarnation? Watch Raabta, a romantic thriller

Amazon Prime Video

1 Weird trick to regrow hair every night (do this daily)

FollicleRX

Recommended By Colombia

* In Thiruvananthapuram, when a cool, evening breeze blows, the greener rural areas cool by
3.4 degree C, the city areas by half as much.

* In Guwahati, city areas are warmer by 2.13 deg C than the peripheries during the day and
by 2.29 degree C at night.

* In Kochi, a canyon-like effect of buildings funnels heat into the city, creating a "heat
island" that makes the centre 4.6 deg C warmer in winter and 3.7 deg C in winter.

Heat islands are created by a combination of design, construction material and environment.
Closely built buildings form canyons that trap heat reflecting from their walls. Air-
conditioning vents, especially in narrow alleys, further warm up buildings and nearby areas.

Trees, shrubs, grass and soil absorb heat and cool the land, but since these are increasingly
absent in Indian urban design, and what existed is being cleared, what's left is concrete and
asphalt, which soak in and intensify the day's heat, staying hot for many hours at night.

Things are set to worsen, as IndiaSpend reported in March 2016. Kolkata's tree cover fell
from 23.4 per cent to 7.3 percent over 20 years, as the built-up area rose 190 per cent. By
2030, vegetation will be 3.37 per cent of Kolkata's area.

Ahmedabad's tree cover fell from 46 per cent to 24 percent over 20 years; the built-up area
rose 132 per cent.

By 2030, vegetation will be three per cent of Ahmedabad's area.

Bhopal's tree cover fell from 66 per cent to 22 per cent over 22 years. By 2018, it will be 11
per cent of the city's area. Hyderabad's tree cover fell from 2.71 per cent to 1.66 per cent over
20 years. By 2024, it will be 1.84 per cent of the city's area.

On an instinctive, tactile level, you can feel the effects of heat islands in cities dissipate and
the temperature drop when you pass a rare, green expanse, such as Delhi's Lodhi Gardens or
Jawaharlal Nehru University and Bengaluru's Indian Institute of Science.

Here are the details of what's happening in five cities:

Delhi: Intense heat island Population: 11 million. Area: 1,484 sq km.

As Delhi's metropolitan population grew 20 per cent between 2001 and 2011, the difference
between its maximum and minimum temperatures flattened out, a 2015 paper reported. Wider
temperature variations - meaning cooler areas - were evident in urban villages and open
areas. Northwest and Southwest Delhi, areas of intense growth, registered the largest fall in
temperature variation - between 2.5 to 4 deg C.

Chennai: Star of fire becomes warmer Population: 4.68 million. Area: 426 sq km .

During the hottest period of the year in late May - called agni natchatiram (star of fire) - the
temperature in the commercial complexes and densely populated residential expanses of
central and north Chennai registered the most variations; the outskirts were cooler, a 2016
paper said. Compared with observations in 1991 and 2008, heat islands have grown more
intense, with a 1.5 to 2 deg C variation with the peripheries in 1991 growing to 2.53 deg C by
2008. Wherever there was vegetation, a cooling effect was evident.

Guwahati: Heat islands make summers hotter

Population: 0.95 million. Area: 216 sq km.

The creation of heat islands in Guwahati indicates that India's smaller cities, too, have areas
of growing heat, as they concretise. A daytime heat-island effect left core city areas up to 2.12
deg C warmer than the outskirts and 2.29 deg C at night, according to a 2014 study,
illustrating how heat once absorbed by roads and buildings intensifies.

Kochi: Tall buildings act as heat funnels

Population: 0.61 million. Area: 95 sq km.

Thanks to tall buildings funnelling and focusing heat, the heat-island effect was stronger early
morning than late evening, stronger in winter than summer, a 2014 paper said. Heat islands
had the greatest impact in what was termed "compact mid-rise zones" close to the city centre,
where average building heights range from nine to 24 m. The most intense cooling was
apparent in open and sparsely built areas in all seasons. Pre-monsoon rains and overcast skies
weakened Kochi's heat-island effect.

Thiruvananthapuram: How the wind is blocked

Population: 1.96 million. Area: 215 sq km.

Like Kochi, Kerala's capital reported a 2.4 deg C higher temperature at the city centre, with
areas of densely arranged low-rise (one- to three-storey) and high-rise (three- to eight-storey)
buildings the warmest, according to a 2014 paper. The maximum evening temperature drop of
3.4 deg C was reported in rural areas, a degree more than city areas. The city is cooled by a
sea wind between 8 and 9 pm, but the wind was blocked in areas with dense buildings,
keeping temperatures high.

Variations of these trends were manifest in other cities, and it was evident that traditional
building material cooled homes better. In Vellore, Tamil Nadu, roofs of thatch had the best
cooling effect, a 2015 paper reported.

(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven, non-profit, public interest journalism

platform. Max Martin researches and writes on how people respond to changes in the
environment and climate. The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend. The author can be
contacted at respond@ndiaspend.org)