The Climate of London

Abstract

The 'student of clouds' Luke Howard (1772–1864) published this work of statistics on weather conditions in London in two volumes, in 1818 and 1820. Howard was by profession an industrial chemist, but his great interest in meteorology led to his studies on clouds (also reissued in this series), and his devising of the system of Latin cloud names which was adopted internationally and is still in use. Volume 2 contains a preface in which Howard discusses the reasons for the order of presentation of his material, which, he disarmingly admits with hindsight, might have been improved. The tabular material in this volume, supplied with notes and commentary citing published reports from around Europe, comes from observations made at Tottenham in the period 1817–19. This historic material will be of interest to environmental scientists as well as to those interested in the history of meteorology.

Comparing the diurnal and seasonal variabilities of atmospheric and surface urban heat islands based on the Beijing urban meteorological network

“…The first study of UHIs dates to the early 19th century [ Howard , ]; since that time, UHIs have been extensively investigated in cities of different sizes and climates [ Arnfield , ; Chow et al , ; Oke et al , ]. Air temperature ( T a ) data collected at urban and rural weather stations have long been compared to study atmospheric UHIs [ Oke , ].…”

Energy savings in buildings or UHI mitigation? Comparison between green roofs and cool roofs

“…According to this phenomenon, urban areas experience higher outdoor air temperatures than those measured in rural areas, due to the heat released by human activities, the lack of greenery, the scarcity of air circulation in urban canyons and the great amount of solar radiation absorbed by urban surfaces [1]. The Urban Heat Island effect was first observed in London in the 19th century, as a consequence of the industrial revolution, but in the last decades it has gained increasing attention especially in those countries that experience high solar irradiance in the summer [2].…”

Ring of impact from the mega‐urbanization of Beijing between 2000 and 2009

“…Previous data and results of modeling studies have been used to examine the effects of urbanization on urban temperatures [e.g., Howard , ; Oke , ; Jones et al ., ; Peterson , ; Velazquez‐Lozada et al ., ; Sarrat et al ., ; Oleson et al ., ; Jacobson and Ten Hoeve , ]. The urban heat island (UHI) effect occurs because urban surfaces reduce evapotranspiration and have sufficiently different heat capacities, thermal conductivities, albedos, and emissivities to enhance urban warming.…”