Abstract
BackgroundThis study investigated the microclimatic behavior of different land cover types in urban parks and, the correlation between air temperature and land cover composition to understand how land cover affects outdoor thermal environment during hot summer.MethodsTo address this issue, air temperatures were measured on four different land cover types at four observation sites inside an urban park in Beijing, China, meanwhile, the land cover composition of each site was quantified with CAD, by drawing corresponding areas on the aerial photographs.ResultsThe results showed that the average air temperature difference among four land cover types was large during the day and small during the night. At noon, the average air temperature differed significantly among four land cover types, whereas on night, there was no significant difference among different land cover types. Results of the linear regression indicated that during daytime, there was a strong negative correlation between air temperature and percent tree cover; while at nighttime, a significant negative correlation was observed between air temperature and percent lawn cover. It was shown that as the percent tree cover increased by 10 %, the air temperature decreased by 0.26 °C during daytime, while as the percent lawn cover increased by 10 %, the air temperature decreased by 0.56 °C during nighttime.ConclusionsResults of this study help to clarify the effects of land cover on urban outdoor thermal environment, and can provide assistance to urban planner and designer for improving green space planning and design in the future.
Highlights
In the last decades, a great concentration of people around urban areas took place worldwide
It is evident that the air temperature of all four land cover types reached the highest value at 14:00 h, and the highest temperature value is in the order of paved area > lawn area > water area > trees area
In this paper, we investigated the diurnal variations in air temperature among four types of land cover
Summary
A great concentration of people around urban areas took place worldwide. A distinct feature of urban climate is the urban heat island (UHI) effect, in which the urban air temperature is higher than the air temperature of the surrounding rural or suburban areas [2]. UHI has significant negative effects on the buildings energy consumption, outdoor air quality, living environment, and habitability of cities [3, 4]. The urban heat island will affect a larger number of urban residents. There is a pressing need for urban researchers to evaluate strategies that may mitigate against further increases in temperatures in urban areas. This study investigated the microclimatic behavior of different land cover types in urban parks and, the correlation between air temperature and land cover composition to understand how land cover affects outdoor thermal environment during hot summer
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