Thermal impacts of built and vegetated environments on local microclimates in an Urban University campus

Abstract

Extreme urban temperatures pose a significant threat to human health, and are expected to worsen in a warming climate. While many heat island studies use land surface temperature to estimate exposure, air temperatures are more relevant to human health and comfort. The Tech Climate Network (TCN) was established to monitor 37 sites across the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology and surrounding neighborhoods in various built and vegetated environments. This study seeks to answer: What is the distribution and intensity of the urban heat island on campus, and what impacts do surface-level land cover and surrounding tree canopy have on average summer air temperatures? Using multiple regression models, we examine the relationship between land cover parameters and minimum, maximum, and average air temperatures in the summer of 2017. We found that vegetated sites had lower temperatures than predominantly impervious environments, with differences in maximum temperatures up to 3.77 °C. UHI intensities were significantly correlated with tree canopy and landscaping. By characterizing the thermal properties of built and natural environments in such a diverse campus as Georgia Tech, this method allows for the estimation of local air temperatures without deploying a dense network of sensors.