Spatio -temporal variations in urban heat island and its interaction with heat wave

Abstract

Most of the urban localities are facing the effects of Urban Heat Island (UHI) and extreme heat wave (HW) events. It is expected that these HW events are likely to be intensified by the effect of UHI in the future. As these events project to increase in both severity and frequency therefore, it is crucial to assess the intensity of UHI and examine the relationship between HW and UHI. In this study, observations for different coastal areas are used to quantify the impacts of UHI during the HW events. The spatial and temporal variability patterns of UHI in the metropolitan city of Karachi were also investigated using hourly temperature observations for a period of 10 years in two phases (a) from 1998 to 2002 (b) from 2012 to 2016. During the first phase (1998–2001), the maximum Urban Heat Island Intensity (UHII) for night time in summer was 1.9 °C, while during the second phase (2012–2016), it increased by 0.6 °C. Despite the fact that both phases have shown similar pattern for seasonal UHII, urban-rural temperature difference was found to be significant in summer especially in the night time. Temporal distribution of UHII for winter shows that average intensity of UHI during daytime varies between 0.1 °C and 3.2 °C, considering the overall time duration. The results indicate that UHII increased significantly during the HW period which caused more than 800 deaths in Karachi between 17th June and 24th June 2015.