Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Beijing Urban Heat Island Intensity

Abstract

An hourly dataset of automatic weather stations over Beijing Municipality in China is developed and is employed to analyze the spatial and temporal characteristics of urban heat island intensity (UHII) over the built-up areas. A total of 56 stations that are located in the built-up areas [inside the 6th Ring Road (RR)] are considered to be urban sites, and 8 stations in the suburban belts surrounding the built-up areas are taken as reference sites. The reference stations are selected by using a remote sensing method. The urban sites are further divided into three areas on the basis of the city RRs. It is found that the largest UHII generally takes place inside the 4th RR and that the smallest ones occur in the outer belts of the built-up areas, between the 5th RR and the 6th RR, with the areas near the northern and southern 6th RR experiencing the weakest UHI phenomena. On a seasonal basis, the strongest UHII generally occurs in winter and weak UHII is dominantly observed in summer and spring. The UHII diurnal variations for each of the urban areas are characterized by a steadily strong UHII stage from 2100 local solar time (LST) to 0600 LST and a steadily weak UHII stage from 1100 to 1600 LST, with the periods 0600-1100 LST and 1600-2100 LST experiencing a swift decline and rise, respectively. UHII diurnal variation is seen throughout the year, but the steadily strong UHII stage at night is longer (shorter) and the steadily weak UHII stage during the day is shorter (longer) during winter and autumn (summer and spring).

Theoretical Urban Heat Island Circulation in the Temperature Inversion Profile

“…The UHI circulation distributions for the other two STI cases presented by the dotted and dash-dotted lines in Figure 1a are also calculated (figure omitted). The results suggest that a stronger inversion intensity benefits to a stronger circulation cell, which could be confirmed by observational and numerical experiments (e.g., see [23,24]). …”

Assessment of Surface Urban Heat Islands over Three Megacities in East Asia Using Land Surface Temperature Data Retrieved from COMS

“…While there are about 60 megacities that have a population of more than one million in East Asia alone, SUHI studies in East Asia have been conducted relatively less frequently than in North America or Europe [16,18,[23][24][25][26]. Furthermore, SUHI analyses using the LST data retrieved from geostationary satellites, which have a better temporal frequency than analyses using data from polar orbiting satellites, are advantageous when attempting to study the diurnal variation of an SUHI.…”

Assessing Heat Health Risk for Sustainability in Beijing’s Urban Heat Island

“…As one of the largest cities in China, the UHI effect in Beijing is becoming greater in recent years along with increasing urbanization [36]. The climate has become warmer according to meteorological station records [37,38]. Beijing has an area of 16,801 km 2 and a population of over 20 million.…”

“…The formulations of H, V and E are described in the former subsections. The heat health risk index is a dimensionless number and was classified into five levels equally: very high (>40), high (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40), moderate (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30), low (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) and very low (0-10), and these four years used the same standard. The standard using in urban area to classify the heat health index was defined differently: very high (>50), high (40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50), moderate (30)(31)(32)…”