Abstract

Urban heat islands (UHIs) have a significant and negative impact on the urban ecological environment and on human health, and it is imperative to examine factors that lead to UHIs. Although numerous studies have been conducted in this field, little research has considered seasonal variations in UHIs in coastal cities. Moreover, parametric statistical analyses, such as regression and correlation analyses, have been typically applied to examine the influential factors. Such analyses are flawed because they cannot uncover the complicated relationships between UHIs and their factors. Taking Dalian, a coastal city in China, as an example, this paper reveals the dynamic mechanism of the UHI effect for different seasons using the cubist regression tree algorithm. Analyses suggest that the UHI effect only exists in spring and summer, and no obvious UHIs can be found in autumn and winter. The adjacency to the sea leads to moderate UHI effects in spring and summer and no UHI or urban cooling island (UCI) effects in autumn and winter. The distance to the coastline, however, does not play a role in the UHI effect. Furthermore, as one of the most important factors, the vegetation coverage plays a significant role in the UHI effect in spring and summer and significantly mediates the UHI in autumn and winter. Comparatively, the elevation (e.g., digital elevation models (DEMs)) is consistently negatively associated with the land surface temperature in all seasons, although a stronger relationship was found in spring and summer. In addition, the surface slope is also a significant factor in spring and winter, and the population density impacts the UHI distribution in summer as well.

Highlights

  • The urban heat island (UHI) effect, which refers to higher temperatures in urban areas than in surrounding rural areas, has significant and negative impacts on the urban ecological environment and human health [1,2]

  • We examined the UHI effect and its seasonality in a coastal city (Dalian, China)

  • The results suggest that the UHI effect only exists in spring and summer, and no obvious UHI effect can be found in autumn and winter

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Summary

Introduction

The urban heat island (UHI) effect, which refers to higher temperatures in urban areas than in surrounding rural areas, has significant and negative impacts on the urban ecological environment and human health [1,2]. Since it was first recorded by British meteorologist Manley in 1958 [1], the UHI effect has become an important topic, and numerous studies have been conducted to examine factors that lead to UHI effects. Building infrastructure and adjacent heat sources have been. Examining seasonal effect of urban heat island

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