Temporal Analysis of Long-Term Atmospheric Moisture Levels in Phoenix, Arizona

Brazel, Sandra W.; Balling, Robert C.

doi:10.1175/1520-0450(1986)025<0112:taolta>2.0.co;2

Cited by 43 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…The result for Erbil as a semi-arid area disagrees with results from arid studies, for instance for Phoenix in the USA [11,12]. Nevertheless, because the vegetation in the area mainly depends on precipitation, this difference of NDVI between the city and rural areas increases significantly in spring and decreases during the dry season.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 78%

Diurnal and Seasonal Variation of Surface Urban Cool and Heat Islands in the Semi-Arid City of Erbil, Iraq

Rasul

Balzter

Smith

2016

Climate

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Abstract:The influence of land surface temperature (LST) makes the near-surface layer of the troposphere a key driver of urban climate. This paper assesses the temporal formation of the daytime Surface Urban Cool Island (SUCI) and night-time Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) effect in Erbil, Iraq, situated in a semi-arid climate region. LST retrievals from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua and Terra and MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from January 2003 to December 2014 are analysed. The relationships of LST with NDVI and the Normalized Multi-band Drought Index (NMDI) are investigated in order to assess the influence of vegetation and moisture on the observed patterns of LST and the SUCI/SUHI. The results indicate that during the daytime, in summer, autumn and winter, densely built-up areas had lower LST acting as a SUCI compared to the non-urbanised area around the city. In contrast, at night-time, Erbil experienced higher LST and demonstrated a significant SUHI effect. The relationship between LST and NDVI is affected by seasonality and is strongly inverted during spring (r 2 = 0.73; p < 0.01). Contrary to previous studies of semi-arid cities, a SUCI was detected, not only in the morning, but also during the afternoon.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 78%

Diurnal and Seasonal Variation of Surface Urban Cool and Heat Islands in the Semi-Arid City of Erbil, Iraq

Rasul

Balzter

Smith

2016

Climate

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“…This is as expected given the inverse relationship between relative humidity and air temperature which means that the relative humidity is a sensitive function of temperature. The fact that rural area is always more humid than urban and industrial areas is well documented in the literature by many authors such as Chandler (1967), Kopec (1973), Hage (1975), Henry and Dirks (1985), Brazel and Balling (1986), Oguntoyinbo (1986) and Unkasevic et al (2001). This condition is also valid in the present study.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 84%

Some aspects of the urban climates of Greater Cairo Region, Egypt

Robaa

2013

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Rapid urbanization and industrialization over Greater Cairo Region (GCR), Egypt, have resulted in sharp land cover changes. Urban change not only impacts on land cover but also on urban climate. Detailed studies on the effect of urbanization and industrialization processes on climatic elements in GCR have been performed in this study. Five different districts were selected to represent rural, suburban, urban and industrial areas in GCR. The data of monthly mean values of minimum, maximum and mean temperatures, wind speed, relative humidity, cloud amount and rainfall amounts for the period were used. The results revealed that, for each district, whenever urbanization and/or industrialization increase, the values of minimum, maximum and mean temperatures increase while the values of wind speed, relative humidity, cloud amount and rainfall amounts decrease. The effects of industrialization processes on the climatic elements were found stronger than the effects of urbanization processes. The greatest urban-rural climatic differences were found to be 5.9, 3.1, 3.9 • C, 3.6 kt, 13.9%, 1.1 octas and 7.0 mm for the minimum, maximum and mean temperatures, wind speed, relative humidity, cloud amount and rainfall amounts, respectively, while the greatest industrial-rural climatic differences were found to be 6.7, 4.3, 4.4 • C, 4.4 kt, 17.6%, 1.7 octas and 8.0 mm for the minimum, maximum and mean temperatures, wind speed, relative humidity, cloud amount and rainfall amounts, respectively.

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“…Figure 4c shows the changes in relative humidity and rainfall from 1998 to 2008. Whereas there were significant changes in the ambient levels of the three air pollutants as well as visibility during the selected periods, no significant trend was observed in precipitation, while the statistically significant (0.05 level) decreasing trend in relative humidity was probably due to the rapid urbanization and accompanying urban heat island effect (Brazel and Balling 1986). However, the absolute magnitude of its decreasing rate is 0.3% per year.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 73%

Change of air quality and its impact on atmospheric visibility in central-western Pearl River Delta

Wan

Lin

Chan

et al. 2010

Environ Monit Assess

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Ambient air quality data, including atmospheric visibility, of Foshan city, a highly polluted city in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), and data obtained by the On-line Air Pollutant Exhaust Monitoring Network (OAPEMN), recently established by the National Emission Monitoring and Control Network for major industrial enterprises, were analyzed and are reported here for the first time, revealing the change in air pollution patterns and its impact on visibility degradation in the last decade. Reduced visibility of less than 8 km (after elimination of rainy and foggy periods) was found 22% of the time from 1998 to 2008, accompanied by elevated levels of pollutants, especially SO₂ and PM₁₀, in comparison with that of other developed cities. However, PM₁₀ showed a steady decreasing trend (0.004 mg m⁻³) year⁻¹) during 2001-2008, in contrast to the noticeable increase in ambient NO₂ concentrations from ~0.020 mg m⁻³ before 2005 to above 0.050 mg m⁻³ afterward. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the percentage of reduced visibility strongly correlated with PM₁₀ concentration, suggesting that visibility degradation was directly proportional to the loading of particles. Moreover, the fairly significant correlation between reduced visibility and NO₂ concentration also implied that the impact of primary emissions of NO₂ and enhanced secondary pollutants, formed via photochemical processes in the atmosphere, could not be ignored. The decreased PM₁₀levels were obviously the predominant factor for the improvement in visibility (5.0% per 0.01 mg m⁻³) and were likely due to the implementation of stricter air pollution control measures for industrial exhaust, which also resulted in reduced SO₂ pollution levels in the recent 2 years. In particular, the OAPEMN records showed an overall enhanced SO₂ removal by 64% in major industrial sectors. The continuous increase in road traffic and lack of efficient NO(x) control strategies in the PRD region, however, caused an increase in ambient NO₂ concentrations.

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Temporal Analysis of Long-Term Atmospheric Moisture Levels in Phoenix, Arizona

Cited by 43 publications

References 0 publications

Diurnal and Seasonal Variation of Surface Urban Cool and Heat Islands in the Semi-Arid City of Erbil, Iraq

Diurnal and Seasonal Variation of Surface Urban Cool and Heat Islands in the Semi-Arid City of Erbil, Iraq

Some aspects of the urban climates of Greater Cairo Region, Egypt

Change of air quality and its impact on atmospheric visibility in central-western Pearl River Delta

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