Lilik Budi Prasetyo

The Role of Vegetation in Controlling Air Temperature Resulting from Urban Heat Island

Urban Heat Island (UHI) is a phenomenon exhibited by many worldwide cities. Cities, which exhibit UHI, possess higher air temperature as compared with air temperature in the surrounding areas. However, existing UHI profiles are those occurring in subtropical areas which are, of course, very much different from those in tropical cities. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to describe the UHI’s profile and the role of tree vegetation in controlling and reducing air temperature in a tropical region’s urban areas and, particularly, in DKI Jakarta. In this study, we carried out a spatial analysis of land cover and the distribution of air temperature. In this regard, we based our analysis of the potency of tree vegetation in reducing air temperature in UHI’s profile on the distribution of air temperature in various types of land cover which extended from north to south and from east to west. The ranges of air temperature in land cover in the form of built-up areas were 29.2-39.5 ⁰C, non-tree vegetation 28.6-35.6 ⁰C, and tree vegetation 27.0-35.7 ⁰C. Accordingly, tree vegetation has the highest potential to reduce air temperature and to overcome the phenomenon of UHI.

Spectral radiation of tree leaves in Bogor Agricultural University campus

Every anthropogenic activities that use fossil fuels will produce pollutants such as greenhouse gases. CO2 with other greenhouse gases increase urban air temperatures through the greenhouse effect. The aims of this study are to measure spectral radiation of several species of trees leaves in Bogor Agricultural University Campus and determine types of trees that are effective in absorbing CO2. Data was statistically analyzed based on the order of spectral radiation value. Meanwhile, grouping the ability of species to absorb CO2 was done based on normal curve distribution. Spectral radiation value is inversely proportional to the ability of plants to absorb CO2. The tree species classified as having a high ability to absorb CO2 is Tamrindus indica, Adenanthera pavoniana, Samanea saman, and Ceiba pentandra whereas the species classified as low capacity in absorbing CO2 is Annona murricata, Pterocarpus indicus, Acacia mangium, and Canangium odoratum, the rest classified as having moderate capability.