Vertical Structure and Seasonal Features of the Heat Island and Humidity Distribution over Moscow Derived from Satellite Data

Abstract

The vertical structure and annual variations in the urban heat island (UHI) and dry/wet islands over Moscow are investigated using MetOp satellite data for 2015–2017. It is shown that Moscow is characterized by the dominance of the evening maximum of UHI intensity; however, the UHI intensification during the cold season mainly occurs in the daytime. According to satellite data, the maximum development of UHI over Moscow is observed in the forenoon in January. The urban effect propagates to the height of ~2000 m during the warm season and to the height of 1250 m in the forenoon and to 800 m in the evening during the cold season. During the warm season, UHI is accompanied by the dry island in the forenoon and by the wet island at the upper levels in the evening. The existence of the wet island in the lower air layers was not corroborated. Due to the current accuracy of temperature and humidity retrieval (0.5–1 K and 10%, respectively) as well as due to the low vertical resolution of satellite data, the present research is mainly methodological, and the results are preliminary and open to discussion.