Review of advances in urban climate study in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, China

Abstract

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is one of the regions with the fastest urbanization process in China in the past 4 decades. The urbanization process of the GBA is still ongoing and the meteorological observation resource in the region is rich, making the GBA an ideal testbed for the study of urban climate. In the past decades, the studies on the urban climate in the GBA has been quite active. The topics of these studies can be categorized into 3 topics: (1) urban climate characteristics and variations in the GBA, including significant increase in average temperature, decrease in relative humidity and average wind speed, and more frequent extreme precipitation; (2) challenges brought by urban climate change to GBA, such as the meteorological conditions affecting the atmospheric environment have become more complex, the health risk of urban residents has increased, the risk of urban flash flood and waterlogging has increased, and the demand for urban energy consumption has also increased significantly; (3) technologies and strategies to mitigate and adapt to urban climate change in GBA, including the optimization of urban wind environment, the regulation of urban thermal environment and the response technology of urban flood disaster.