Confort térmico producido por la vegetación arbórea en el macrocentro de Bahía Blanca (Argentina)

Abstract

Urban trees are essential since they generate multiple benefits to society, one of them is the mitigation of the urban heat island. The present work aims to obtain the thermal comfort produced by the arboreal vegetation in the downtown area of Bahía Blanca city. For this, Local Climate Zone of the study area was determined according to its characteristics and the percentage of vegetation cover was obtained using the online software I-tree Canopy. A survey of the street trees was also conducted to determine the most representative species. During the summer of 2020, measurements of air temperature and relative humidity were made under the canopy of fifteen trees, at 3:00 p.m., in 15 days typical of this thermal season. Then, by applying the vegetation comfort index, it was found that all the selected trees contribute to improve the thermal comfort of the population. However, there were differences among them, with Platanus acerifolia and Parasenegalia visco standing out for their higher magnitude and their impact on the decrease in air temperature under their canopies. In addition, problems related to street trees were identified and described, and finally proposals were established. These results allow to consider that, given the importance of trees in the urban microclimate, their coverage should be increased in the downtown area in order to contribute to thermal regulation during the summer. The need for regular maintenance work to avoid the problems detected in the roadside trees and to enhance the ecosystem services they provide was confirmed.