Urban climate modifications in hot desert cities: The role of land cover, local climate, and seasonality

Urban climate modifications like the urban heat island (UHI) have been extensively investigated in temperate regions. In contrast, the understanding of how urbanization relates to climate in hot, hyperarid environments is still extremely limited, despite the growing socioeconomic relevance of arid l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 2015-11, Vol.42 (22), p.9980-9989
Main Authors: Lazzarini, Michele, Molini, Annalisa, Marpu, Prashanth R., Ouarda, Taha B. M. J., Ghedira, Hosni
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
arid lands
Arid zones
Boundary layers
Climate
Climatic conditions
desert cities
Desert environments
Deserts
Land cover
Land surface temperature
Landsat
Landsat satellites
Night
oasis effect
Remote sensing
Seasonal variations
Suburbs
urban climate
urban cool island
Urban heat islands
Urbanization
Vegetation
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Summary:Urban climate modifications like the urban heat island (UHI) have been extensively investigated in temperate regions. In contrast, the understanding of how urbanization relates to climate in hot, hyperarid environments is still extremely limited, despite the growing socioeconomic relevance of arid lands and their fast urbanization rate. We explore here the relationship between land cover and temperature regime in hot desert cities (HDCs) based on estimates of land surface temperature, normalized difference vegetation index, and impervious surface areas inferred from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and Landsat satellite products. Our analysis shows that HDCs display common climatic patterns, with downtown areas on average cooler than suburbs during the daytime (urban cool island) and warmer at night (classical UHI). The observed diurnal cool island effect can be largely explained by relative vegetation abundance, percentage of bare soil, and local climatic conditions and calls for a more in deep investigation of the physical processes regulating boundary layer dynamics in arid regions. Key Points We compared urban climate modification patterns across hot desert cities from all over the world Diurnal cool island was found to alternate with the classic night heat island effect in most HDCs Vegetation abundance, ISA percentage, and local climatic forcing can explain the HDC cool island
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1002/2015GL066534