Quantifying the Independent Influences of Land Cover and Humidity on Microscale Urban Air Temperature Variation in Hot Summer: Methods of Path Analysis and Genetic SVR

Mitigating high air temperatures and heat waves is vital for decreasing air pollution and protecting public health. To improve understanding of microscale urban air temperature variation, this paper performed measurements of air temperature and relative humidity in a field of Wuhan City in the after...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmosphere 2020-12, Vol.11 (12), p.1377
Main Authors: Shi, Weifang, Wang, Nan, Xin, Aixuan, Liu, Linglan, Hou, Jiaqi, Zhang, Yirui
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pollution
Air temperature
Analysis
Cities
genetic algorithm
Genetic analysis
Greenhouse gases
Heat
Heat waves
Heatwaves
high air temperature
High temperature
Humidity
Humidity effects
Influence
Land cover
Microclimate
Mitigation
Outdoor air quality
path analysis
Pollution control
Public health
Relative humidity
Seasonal variations
Summer
Support vector machines
support vector regression
Sustainable development
Temperature
Temperature variations
Urban air
Urban areas
Vegetation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Mitigating high air temperatures and heat waves is vital for decreasing air pollution and protecting public health. To improve understanding of microscale urban air temperature variation, this paper performed measurements of air temperature and relative humidity in a field of Wuhan City in the afternoon of hot summer days, and used path analysis and genetic support vector regression (SVR) to quantify the independent influences of land cover and humidity on air temperature variation. The path analysis shows that most effect of the land cover is mediated through relative humidity difference, more than four times as much as the direct effect, and that the direct effect of relative humidity difference is nearly six times that of land cover, even larger than the total effect of the land cover. The SVR simulation illustrates that land cover and relative humidity independently contribute 16.3% and 83.7%, on average, to the rise of the air temperature over the land without vegetation in the study site. An alternative strategy of increasing the humidity artificially is proposed to reduce high air temperatures in urban areas. The study would provide scientific support for the regulation of the microclimate and the mitigation of the high air temperature in urban areas.
ISSN:2073-4433
2073-4433
DOI:10.3390/atmos11121377