Abstract
The effect of urbanization of Metro Manila, particularly on the amount of sensible heat flux, rainfall and temperature of selected urban and rural areas, was investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting Version 3.4.1 (WRFV3.4.1) model. National Center for Environmental Prediction - Final (NCEP-FNL) grib1 data from 2000 to 2010 were used as inputs into the model for meteorological data. The Mann–Kendall trend test (M–K test) was utilized to verify the significance of the trends while Sen’s slope estimator was used to quantify the measured trends. Results showed that, on average, the sensible heat flux of Metro Manila is about 1.5 × 108 Jm−2 higher than in selected areas outside Metro Manila. The occurrence of an urban heat island (UHI) effect was detected in Metro Manila by comparing the difference in the minimum and maximum temperatures. For the selected urban and rural areas, the minimum and maximum temperature differences (relative to Metro Manila) are around 0.4 to 2.4 °C and 0.83 to 2.3 °C, respectively. Metro Manila recorded higher 11-year average values of rainfall during the summer season (8% to 64%), rainy season (15% to 305%), and transition season (8% to 232%) when compared with selected areas from 25 to 100 km from Manila. These results show that the sensible heat flux, temperature and rainfall in Metro Manila is affected by Metro Manila’s urbanization.
Highlights
Urbanization is a direct result of physical growth of urban areas due to an increase of their populations
These results show that the sensible heat flux, temperature and rainfall in Metro Manila is affected by Metro Manila’s urbanization
This work successfully utilized the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to investigate the effect of the urbanization of Metro Manila on the weather of Metro Manila and the surrounding areas
Summary
Urbanization is a direct result of physical growth of urban areas due to an increase of their populations. Based on the 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects, the global urban population is expected to exceed the rural population by year 2050. Sensible heat flux can alter the energy balance and, eventually, the temperature of cities. This can produce an urban heat island (UHI) effect in cities. UHI is the warming of an urban area which can be observed in the decrease of the diurnal temperature range (DTR). DTR is the variation between the maximum temperature (daytime) to the minimum temperature (nighttime) [2]. All of these phenomena are causing noticeable changes in meteorological conditions, and climates of cities and nearby areas [3]
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