Dataset Information

The footprint of urban heat island effect in China.

ABSTRACT: Urban heat island (UHI) is one major anthropogenic modification to the Earth system that transcends its physical boundary. Using MODIS data from 2003 to 2012, we showed that the UHI effect decayed exponentially toward rural areas for majority of the 32 Chinese cities. We found an obvious urban/rural temperature "cliff", and estimated that the footprint of UHI effect (FP, including urban area) was 2.3 and 3.9 times of urban size for the day and night, respectively, with large spatiotemporal heterogeneities. We further revealed that ignoring the FP may underestimate the UHI intensity in most cases and even alter the direction of UHI estimates for few cities. Our results provide new insights to the characteristics of UHI effect and emphasize the necessity of considering city- and time-specific FP when assessing the urbanization effects on local climate.

SUBMITTER: Zhou D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4461918 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The footprint of urban heat island effect in China.

Zhou Decheng D Zhao Shuqing S Zhang Liangxia L Sun Ge G Liu Yongqiang Y

Scientific reports 20150610

Urban heat island (UHI) is one major anthropogenic modification to the Earth system that transcends its physical boundary. Using MODIS data from 2003 to 2012, we showed that the UHI effect decayed exponentially toward rural areas for majority of the 32 Chinese cities. We found an obvious urban/rural temperature "cliff", and estimated that the footprint of UHI effect (FP, including urban area) was 2.3 and 3.9 times of urban size for the day and night, respectively, with large spatiotemporal heter ...[more]

PMID: 26060039

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Project description:BackgroundUrban heat island (UHI) effect, the ubiquitous consequence of urbanization, is considered to play a major role in population expansion of numerous insects. Cryptotympana atrata and Hyalessa fuscata are the most abundant cicada species in the Korean Peninsula, where their population densities are higher in urban than in rural areas. We predicted a positive relationship between the UHI intensities and population densities of these two cicada species in metropolitan Seoul.MethodsTo test this prediction, enumeration surveys of cicada exuviae densities were conducted in 36 localities located within and in the vicinity of metropolitan Seoul. Samples were collected in two consecutive periods from July to August 2015. The abundance of each species was estimated by two resource-weighted densities, one based on the total geographic area, and the other on the total number of trees. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to identify factors critical for the prevalence of cicada species in the urban habitat.ResultsC. atrata and H. fuscata were major constituents of cicada species composition collected across all localities. Minimum temperature and sampling period were significant factors contributing to the variation in densities of both species, whereas other environmental factors related to urbanization were not significant. More cicada exuviae were collected in the second rather than in the first samplings, which matched the phenological pattern of cicadas in metropolitan Seoul. Cicada population densities increased measurably with the increase in temperature. Age of residential complex also exhibited a significantly positive correlation to H. fuscata densities, but not to C. atrata densities.DiscussionEffects of temperature on cicada densities have been discerned from other environmental factors, as cicada densities increased measurably in tandem with elevated temperature. Several mechanisms may contribute to the abundance of cicadas in urban environments, such as higher fecundity of females, lower mortality rate of instars, decline in host plant quality, and local adaptation of organisms, but none of them were tested in the current study.ConclusionsIn sum, results of the enumeration surveys of cicada exuviae support the hypothesis that the UHI effect underlies the population expansion of cicadas in metropolitan Seoul. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanisms for this remain untested.

Dataset Information

The footprint of urban heat island effect in China.

Publications

The footprint of urban heat island effect in China.

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