Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A definition of urban heat island is: "The relative warmth of a city compared with surrounding rural areas." [14]: 2926 This relative warmth is caused by "heat trapping due to land use, the configuration and design of the built environment, including street layout and building size, the heat-absorbing properties of urban building materials, reduced ventilation, reduced greenery and water ...
The climate in urban areas differs from that in neighboring rural areas, as a result of urban development. Urbanization greatly changes the form of the landscape, and also produces changes in an area's air. The study of urban climate is urban climatology. In 1950 Åke Sundborg published one of the first theories on the climate of cities. [1] [2]
The urban environment has two atmosphere layers, besides the planetary boundary layer (PBL) outside and extending well above the city: (1) The urban boundary layer is due to the spatially integrated heat and moisture exchanges between the city and its overlying air. (2) The surface of the city corresponds to the level of the urban canopy layer.
The use of impervious dark surfaces which retain and reflect heat, and human generated heat energy lead to an urban heat island in the center of cities, where the temperature is increased significantly. A large urban microclimate does not only affect temperature, but also rainfall, snowfall, air pressure and wind, the concentration of polluted ...
High density and urban heat island effect are examples of weather changes that impact cities due to climate change. It also causes exacerbating existing problems such as air pollution, water scarcity, and heat illness in metropolitan areas.
Unequal threat of heat stress in urban environments is often correlated with differences in demographics, including racial and ethnic background, income, education level, and age. [1] While the general impacts of urban heat inequity depend on the city studied, negative effects typically act on historically marginalized communities. [ 1 ]
Human-caused climate change was responsible for about a quarter of the fuel available for the wildfires that have devastated the Los Angeles area, according to research from University of ...
The heat island effect also exacerbates the impacts of another form of environmental injustice that disproportionately affects minority and low-income groups: air pollution. Urban infrastructure projects that produce environmental toxins – like industrial plants and highways – are frequently built near or in LMI and POC communities because ...