Abstract:The distinct characteristics of urban and non-urban land cover usually results with a positive difference in surface temperatures and is referred to as the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon. This paper assesses the spatio-temporal formation of UHI and land surface temperatures (LSTs) in Izmir, Turkey, situated in a Mediterranean climate region. LSTs were obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua and Terra over the period 2000 -2015. UHI intensity was examined using the temperature differences between urban and non-urban areas and non-parametric MannKendall (M-K) test to identify trends in LSTs and UHI intensity. The results indicate that day-time UHI is higher at Izmir with a seasonal variation. M-K test of LSTs shows increasing trends in nighttime temperatures for both urban and non-urban areas especially for winter and spring.
The satellite observations of NO2 acquire the total tropospheric column over an area while the current ground observations lack spatial and temporal coverage. In this study the Dutch Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) NO2 (DOMINO) data product v2.0 for 2004 - 2019 period was used to analyze the spatial and temporal variations of NO2 in Turkey. Considering the seasonality characteristics of NO2, we have used pixel based Seasonal Kendall (S-K) test to investigate the trend of the change. The highest values of NO2 has been found at the metropolitan areas and perimeter of the high capacity power plants in the observed period. The monthly average concentrations of NO2 are higher in winter months due to the higher demand of heating and power usage. The S-K trend test results indicate a statistically negative trend at the largest cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. However statistically significant positive trend has been found in some areas and Syrian border provinces in particular. Our results show that there is an abrupt change by 2011 in the tropospheric NO2 concentrations, same period when the first Syrian refugees have arrived after the political disorder. The dramatic change at the emission landscape of the NO2 in the region can be explained by changes in population concentration due to political circumstances.
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