The London Heat Island: results from summertime monitoring

Watkins, Richard; Palmer, J E G; Kolokotroni, Maria; Littlefair, Paul

doi:10.1191/0143624402bt031oa

Cited by 81 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Temperature data for London in the period 1931-1960 reported a mean annual UHI for central London of 1.48C (1.68C in summer and 1.28C in winter). 6 Watkins et al 7 measured the UHI of London during 1999. They found that the UHI decreased approximately as 1/r 2 , (where r is the radial distance from the thermal centre) and was about 2.88C on average, with values as high as 78C recorded on some days.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of the urban heat island for UK climate change projections

Kershaw

Sanderson

Coley

et al. 2010

Building Services Engineering Research and Technology

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Cities are known to exert a significant influence on their local climate, and are generally warmer than their surroundings. However, climate models generally do not include a representation of urban areas, and so climate projections from models are likely to underestimate temperatures in urban areas. A simple methodology has been developed to calculate the urban heat island (UHI) from a set of gridded temperature data; the UHI may then be added to climate model projections and weather data files. This methodology allows the UHI to be calculated on a monthly basis and downscaled to hourly for addition to weather generator data. The UHI intensities produced are found to be consistent with observed data. Practical application: There is overwhelming consensus amongst the scientific community that the Earth's climate is warming. In addition to the effects of climate change the urban heat island (UHI) effect can increase air temperatures significantly in urban areas above those of the rural areas around them. The proposed methodology for calculating the UHI from a set of gridded temperature data allows the UHI to be added to climate model projections such as UKCP09 or HadRM3 and weather data files. The methodology also allows for the temporal downscaling of the UHI from monthly values to hourly data for use in building thermal simulation software.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of the urban heat island for UK climate change projections

Kershaw

Sanderson

Coley

et al. 2010

Building Services Engineering Research and Technology

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“…London's UHI is well described (for example, Howard 1818; Watkins et al 2002;Kolokotroni and Giridharan 2008;Bohnenstengel et al 2011;Mavrogianni et al 2011), and the nocturnal summertime UHII has been shown to be approximately 2 • C (Kolokotroni and Giridharan 2008). During periods of extreme weather, for example, the 2003 heat wave, parts of central London were up to 10 • C warmer than the surrounding rural zone (GLA 2010).…”

Section: London's Uhimentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of the London Olympic Parkland on the urban heat island

Hamilton

Stocker

Evans

et al. 2013

Journal of Building Performance Simulation

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The London Olympic Parkland represents a substantial area of redevelopment with the potential to significantly modify urban temperatures. This paper illustrates a neighbourhood-scale model of the type that can be used to analyse the impact of large developments on the urban heat island, using the London Olympic Parkland as an example. Using the Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling System Temperature and Humidity model, the impact of the urban surfaces for the Parkland area (∼16 km 2 ) is modelled at a 400 m 2 grid resolution for the pre-Olympic, Olympic and Legacy periods. Temperature perturbations from upwind values are simulated for the periods to estimate the contribution the Parkland has on local air temperatures. The results illustrate the impact that large impermeable features such as the concourse might have on increased air temperatures during Olympic period design conditions. In comparison, a Legacy scenario shows temperature reductions from the pre-Olympic period due to an increase in vegetation coverage.

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“…The annual mean air temperature within a large city can be more than 2°C higher than in nearby rural areas (e.g. Watkins et al 2002). In the evening and at night, the UHI intensity can be much higher (as much as 10°C), as well a b as air temperature differences between city areas with different building structures (Buchholz and Kossmann 2015).…”

Section: Temperature Extremesmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-resolution grids of hourly meteorological variables for Germany

Krähenmann

Brienen

Imbery

et al. 2016

Theor Appl Climatol

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We present a 1-km 2 gridded German dataset of hourly surface climate variables covering the period 1995 to 2012. The dataset comprises 12 variables including temperature, dew point, cloud cover, wind speed and direction, global and direct shortwave radiation, down-and up-welling longwave radiation, sea level pressure, relative humidity and vapour pressure. This dataset was constructed statistically from station data, satellite observations and model data. It is outstanding in terms of spatial and temporal resolution and in the number of climate variables. For each variable, we employed the most suitable gridding method and combined the best of several information sources, including station records, satellite-derived data and data from a regional climate model. A module to estimate urban heat island intensity was integrated for air and dew point temperature. Owing to the low density of available synop stations, the gridded dataset does not capture all variations that may occur at a resolution of 1 km 2 . This applies to areas of complex terrain (all the variables), and in particular to wind speed and the radiation parameters. To achieve maximum precision, we used all observational information when it was available. This, however, leads to inhomogeneities in station network density and affects the long-term consistency of the dataset. A first climate analysis for Germany was conducted.

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The London Heat Island: results from summertime monitoring

Cited by 81 publications

References 9 publications

Estimation of the urban heat island for UK climate change projections

Estimation of the urban heat island for UK climate change projections

The impact of the London Olympic Parkland on the urban heat island

High-resolution grids of hourly meteorological variables for Germany

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