Recent Trends of Urban Climatological Studies in Japan, with Special Emphasis on the Thermal Environments of Urban Areas

Abstract

The purpose of the present paper is to review recent urban climatological studies in Japan. Recently there has been an increasing number of urban climatological reports in Japan. In addition, the community of urban climatological workers in Japan has expanded from climatology and meteorology to architecture, civil engineering, agriculture, remote sensing, and so on. However, since most urban climatological studies in Japan have focused on the thermal environments and accompanying air circulation in urban and rural areas, special emphasis in the present paper is also laid on such phenomena. First, studies on urban heat island intensity are reviewed. Second, studies on the urban canopy layer heat island are reviewed. Third, studies on the urban boundary layer heat island are reviewed. Finally, studies on the reduction of urban heat island phenomena are reviewed. These subjects are not new, and have been studied continuously from before the 1970s. However, not all the subjects are completely resolved yet. Although the final goal of studies on the reduction of urban heat island phenomena is to establish amenity cities in the near future, it appears probable that this goal will not become a subjects for geographers, but rather for engineers, because geographers traditionally tend to be concerned with decision making.