Zsolt Bottyán

Land-use and meteorological aspects of the urban heat island

This study examines the influence of urban and meteorological factors on the surface air temperature field of the medium-sized city of Szeged, Hungary, using mobile and stationary measurements under different weather conditions between March and August 1999. This city, with a population of about 160 000, is situated on a low, flat flood plain. Efforts have been concentrated on investigating the maximum development of the urban heat island (UHI). Tasks include the determination of the spatial distribution of seasonal mean maximum UHI intensity and modelling of existing conditions in the period being studied. Multiple correlation and regression analyses are used to examine the effects of urban parameters (land-use characteristics and distance from the city centre determined in a grid network) and of meteorological parameters (wind speed, temperature) on thermal conditions in the study area. The results indicate isotherms increasing in regular concentric shapes from the suburbs towards the inner urban areas where the mean maximum UHI intensity reaches more than 3°C in the studied periods. A strong relationship exists between urban thermal excess and distance, as well as built-up ratio. In contrast, meteorological conditions do not have any significant effect on the UHI intensity at the time of its maximum development. Copyright

Long-term changes of meteorological conditions of urban heat island development in the region of Debrecen, Hungary

Meteorological conditions have a remarkable impact on urban climate similarly to other local and microscale climates. Clear skies and calm weather are advantageous for the development of the urban heat island (UHI). There are numerous studies on the spatial and temporal features of the phenomenon. Much less attention is paid, however, to the meteorological conditions of UHI development. The aim of the present paper is to reveal the characteristics of the changes in the frequencies of advantageous and disadvantageous meteorological conditions for UHI development on the basis of a 50-year-long time series. Meteorological condition categories of UHI development have been established on the basis of wind speed values, cloudiness, and precipitation ranging from advantageous to disadvantageous conditions. Frequencies of occurrence of condition categories of UHI development were determined first. Advantageous and moderately advantageous conditions were found to be dominant in the time series. Linear trend analysis revealed a significant increasing trend in the time series of advantageous conditions. Increase of the frequencies of advantageous conditions was analyzed for the years, seasons, and months of the study period as well. Spring and summer (April and June) produced significant increasing trends of frequencies of advantageous conditions, while winter (with the exception of February) and autumn did not show significant increase of those frequencies. Change-point analyses detected a significant increase in the frequency of advantageous conditions in the time series at the turn of 1981/1982 especially in the summer and spring months. Detected tendencies have negative effects on urban energy consumption: they contribute to the increase of air conditioning energy demand in the summer and do not decrease the energy demand of heating in the winter significantly.