Urban Warming and Urban Heat Islands in Taipei, Taiwan
Journal
Groundwater and Subsurface Environments
Pages
231--246
Date Issued
2011
Author(s)
Abstract
This study has two main purposes; the first is to clarify urban-warming in Taipei City based on 28 years of climatological data, and the second is to characterize the urban heat island (UHI) mechanism in a tropical basin using the available relevant climatological data collected from Taipei City and neighboring areas (Taipei County). Taipei City has urbanized rapidly since 1967, and urban warming appeared from 1985. The effects of urbanization on local weather and climate change resulted in a remarkable increase in mean and minimum temperatures. However, urbanization resulted in little change in maximum temperature in Taipei City. The increase in minimum temperature in summer is significantly large in Taipei City. The results of field observations in 2008-2009 proved that the nocturnal UHI phenomenon is predominant; however, in the rainy season (November and December), the UHI intensity during the daytime is higher than at night. The maximum UHI intensity reached 4.0-5.0°C during clear day-sky and calm wind conditions, mainly in the wet winter. In addition, during the dry months (spring), the nocturnal UHI reached its greatest intensity on cloudless nights before sunrise, and the maximum UHI intensity reached about 2.0°C. © 2011 Springer Japan.
Type
other