Abstract
Abstract. Persistent warm urban temperature anomalies – urban heat islands (UHIs) – significantly enhance already amplified climate warming in the Arctic. Vulnerability of urban infrastructure in the Arctic cities urges a region-wide study of the UHI intensity and its attribution to UHI drivers. This study presents an overview of the surface and atmospheric UHIs in all circum-Arctic settlements (118 in total) with the population larger than 3000 inhabitants. The surface UHI (SUHI) is obtained from the land surface temperature (LST) data products of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) archive over 2000–2016. The atmospheric UHI is obtained from screen-level temperature provided by the Urban Heat Island Arctic Research Campaign (UHIARC) observational network over 2015–2018. Several other UHI studies are included for comparisons. The analysis reveals strong and persistent UHI during both summer and winter seasons. The annual mean surface UHI magnitudes vary from −0.6 ∘C (Hammerfest) to 4.3 ∘C (Murmansk). Thus, the observed UHI is likely an important climatic factor that must be included in future adjustment of urban construction, safety, and environmental quality codes.
Highlights
IntroductionSeries of extreme climate events (forest and tundra fires, summer heat waves) in high northern latitudes attracts public attention to persistent and amplified Arctic warming
Series of extreme climate events in high northern latitudes attracts public attention to persistent and amplified Arctic warming
The study reveals that the surface UHI (SUHI) magnitudes are rather large – comparable with those in significantly larger low- and mid-latitude cities
Summary
Series of extreme climate events (forest and tundra fires, summer heat waves) in high northern latitudes attracts public attention to persistent and amplified Arctic warming. Khrustalyov and Davidova (2007) provide more specific estimations of reliability of building foundations in several Russian Arctic cities on permafrost in connection with global warming projections. Warmer winter and summer temperatures bear significant risk of permafrost degradation, changes of hydrological balance as well as ecological threats in the region. They concluded that additional temperature rises by 0.5 ◦C (by 2050) may cause the foundation reliability coefficient to decrease by 20 %; soil bearing capacity in the Arctic cities has already decreased by 20 % to 40 % (Streletskiy et al, 2012).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
