Advanced Search
Impact Factor: 5.8

Volume 30 Issue 4

Jul.  2013

Article Contents
Article >  ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES  > 2013 >  30(4): 1143-1153

Detecting urban warming signals in climate records

  • 1.

    Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029;

  • 2.

    Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049;

  • 3.

    Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094;

  • 4.

    Climatic Data Center, National Meteorological Information Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081

Fund Project:

doi: 10.1007/s00376-012-2135-3

  • Determining whether air temperatures recorded at meteorological stations have been contaminated by the urbanization process is still a controversial issue at the global scale. With support of historical remote sensing data, this study examined the impacts of urban expansion on the trends of air temperature at 69 meteorological stations in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Province over the last three decades. There were significant positive relations between the two factors at all stations. Stronger warming was detected at the meteorological stations that experienced greater urbanization, i.e., those with a higher urbanization rate. While the total urban area affects the absolute temperature values, the change of the urban area (urbanization rate) likely affects the temperature trend. Increases of approximately 10% in urban area around the meteorological stations likely contributed to the 0.13℃ rise in air temperature records in addition to regional climate warming. This study also provides a new approach to selecting reference stations based on remotely sensed urban fractions. Generally, the urbanization－induced warming contributed to approximately 44.1% of the overall warming trends in the plain region of study area during the past 30 years, and the regional climate warming was 0.30℃ (10 yr)－1 in the last three decades.
    摘要: Determining whether air temperatures recorded at meteorological stations have been contaminated by the urbanization process is still a controversial issue at the global scale. With support of historical remote sensing data, this study examined the impacts of urban expansion on the trends of air temperature at 69 meteorological stations in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Province over the last three decades. There were significant positive relations between the two factors at all stations. Stronger warming was detected at the meteorological stations that experienced greater urbanization, i.e., those with a higher urbanization rate. While the total urban area affects the absolute temperature values, the change of the urban area (urbanization rate) likely affects the temperature trend. Increases of approximately 10% in urban area around the meteorological stations likely contributed to the 0.13℃ rise in air temperature records in addition to regional climate warming. This study also provides a new approach to selecting reference stations based on remotely sensed urban fractions. Generally, the urbanization-induced warming contributed to approximately 44.1% of the overall warming trends in the plain region of study area during the past 30 years, and the regional climate warming was 0.30℃ (10 yr)-1 in the last three decades.
  • Balling, R. C., and S. B. Idso, 1989: Historical temperature trends in the United-States and the effect of urban-population growth. J. Geophys. Res., 94(D3), 3359–3363.
    Changnon, S. A., 1992: Inadvertent weather-modifica- tion in urban areas—Lessons for global climate change. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 73(5), 619–627.
    Cheng, S. L., 2005: Urbanization effect on air temperature change in Lanzhou city for recent 60 years. Meteorological Monthly, 31, 29–34. (in Chinese)
    Chu, Z., and G. Ren, 2005: Change in urban heat island magnitude and its effect on mean air temperature record in Beijing region. Acta Meteorologica Sinica, 63(4), 534–540. (in Chinese)
    Englehart, P. J., and A. V. Douglas, 2003: Urbanization and seasonal temperature trends: Observational evidence from a data-sparse part of North America. Int. J. Climatol., 23(10), 1253–1263.
    Friedl, M. A., and C. E. Brodley, 1997: Decision tree classification of land cover from remotely sensed data. Remote Sens. Environ., 61. 399–409.
    Gallo, K. P., A. L. Mcnab, T. R. Karl, J. F. Brown, and J. J. Hood, 1993: The use of noaa avhrr data for assessment of the urban heat-island effect. J. Appl. Meteor., 32(5), 899–908.
    Gallo, K. P., J. D. Tarpley, A. L. McNab, and T. R. Karl, 1995: Assessment of urban heat islands—A satellite perspective. Atmospheric Research, 37(1–3), 37–43.
    Gallo, K. P., D. R. Easterling, and T. C. Peterson, 1996: The influence of land use land cover on climatological values of the diurnal temperature range. J. Climate, 9(11), 2941–2944.
    Golitsyn, G. S., Kadygrov, E. N., and Kuznetsova, I. N., 2002: Microwave remote investigation of the atmospheric boundary layer thermal regime above an urban area. Proc. Twelfth Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM ) Science Team Meeting. St. Petersburg, Florida, 7pp.
    Hansen, J., R. Ruedy, M. Sato, M. Imhoff, W. Lawrence, D. Easterling, T. Peterson, and T. Karl, 2001: A closer look at United States and global surface temperature change. J. Geophys. Res., 106(D20), 23947–23963.
    Hua, L. J., Z. G. Ma, and W. D. Guo, 2007: The impact of urbanization on air temperature across China. Theor. Appl. Climatol., 93(3–4), 179–194.
    Hughes, W. S., and R. C. Balling, 1996: Urban influences on south African temperature trends. Int. J. Climatol., 16(8), 935–940.
    Ji, C. P, W. D. Liu, and C. Y. Xuan, 2006: Impact of urban growth on the heat island in Beijing. Chinese J. Geophys., 49(1), 69–77. (in Chinese)
    Jones, P. D., 1990: Assessment of urbanization effects in time series of surface air temperature over land. Nature, 347, 169–172.
    Jones, P. D., D. H. Lister, and Q. Li, 2008: Urbanization effects in large-scale temperature records, with an emphasis on China. J. Geophys. Res., 113(D16), doi: 10.1029/2008JD009916.
    Kalnay, E., and M. Cai, 2003: Impact of urbanization and land-use change on climate. Nature, 423(6939), 528–531.
    Karl, T. R., H. F. Diaz, and G. Kukla, 1988: Urbanization: Its detection and effect in the United States climate record. J. Climate, 1, 1099–1123.
    Khaikine, M. N., I. N. Kuznetsova, E. N. Kadygrov, E. A. Miller, 2006: Investigation of temporal-spatial parameters of an urban heat island on the basis of passive microwave remote sensing. Theor. Appl. Climatol., 84(1–3), 161–169.
    Kukla, G., J. Gavin, and T. R. Karl, 1986: Urban warming. J. Climate Appl. Meteor., 25(9), 1265–1270.
    Landsberg, H., 1956: The climate of towns. Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth. W. L. Thomas Jr., Ed., The University of Chicago Press, 584–603.
    Landsberg, H., 1981: The Urban Climate. Academic Press, 275pp.
    Li, Q., H. Zhang, X. Liu, and J. Huang, 2004: Urban heat island effect on annual mean temperature during the last 50 years in China. Theor. Appl. Climatol. 79(3–4), 165–174.
    Li, Q., W. Li, P. Si, X. Gao, W. Dong, P. Jones, J. Huang, and L. Cao, 2010: Assessment of surface air warming in north-east China, with emphasis on the impacts of urbanization. Theor. Appl. Climatol., 99(3–4), 469–478.
    Lin, X. C., and S. Q. Yu, 2005: Interdecadal changes of temperature in the Beijing region and its heat island effect. Chinese J. Geophysics, 48(1), 39–45.
    Liu, X. F., C. W. Yu, and G. Y. Ren, 2005: Change in urban heat island magnitude and its effect on surface mean air temperature record in Hebei Province, China. Climate and Environment Research, 10(4), 763–770. (in Chinese)
    McKitrick, R. R., and P. J. Michaels, 2007: Quantifying the influence of anthropogenic surface processes and inhomogeneities on gridded global climate data. J. Geophys. Res., 112(D24), doi: 10.1029/2007JD008465.
    Offerle, B., P. Jonsson, I. Eliasson, and C. S. B Grimmond, 2005: Urban modification of the surface energy balance in the West African Sahel: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. J. Climate, 18(19), 3983–3995.
    Oke, T. R., 1987: Boundary Layer Climates. Routledge, 435pp.
    Pal, M., and P. M. Mather, 2003: An assessment of the effectiveness of decision tree methods for land cover classification. Remote Sens. Environ., 86(4), 554–565.
    Parker, D., 2004: Large scale warming is not urban. Nature, 432, 290–290.
    Peterson, T. C., 2003: Assessment of urban versus rural in situ surface temperatures in the contiguous United States: No difference found. J. Climate, 16(18), 2941–2959.
    Peterson, T. C., K. P. Gallo, J. Lawrimore, T. W. Owen, A. Huang, and D. A. McKittrick, 1999: Global rural temperature trends. Geophys. Res. Lett., 26(3), 329–332.
    Portman, D. A., 1993: Identifying and correcting urban bias in regional time series- surface temperature in China's nothern plains. J. Climate, 6(12), 2298–2308.
    Rao, P. K., 1972: Remote sensing of urban heat islands from an environmental satellite. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 53(7), 647–648.
    Ren, G. Y., and Coauthors, 2005: Recent progresses in studies of regional temperature changes in China. Climate Environment Research, 10(4), 701–715. (in Chinese)
    Ren, G. Y., Z. Y. Chu, Z. H. Chen, and Y. Y. Ren, 2007: Implications of temporal change in urban heat island intensity observed at Beijing and Wuhan stations. Geophys. Res. Lett., 34(5), doi: 10.1029/2006GL027927
    Ren, G. Y., Y. Zhou, Z. Y. Chu, J. X. Zhou, A. Y. Zhang, J. Guo, and X. F. Liu, 2008: Urbanization effects on observed surface air temperature trends in North China. J. Climate., 21(6), 1333–1348.
    Ren, Y., and G. Ren, 2011: A remote-sensing method of selecting reference stations for evaluating urbanization effect on surface air temperature trends. J. Climate, 24(13), 3179–3189.
    Schmid, H. P., 1994: Source areas for scalars and scalar fluxes. Bound.-Layer Meteor., 67, 293–318.
    Si, P., Q. Li, C. Xuan, and H. Yin, 2009: Contribution of urbanization to change of air temperature in Beijing. Journal of Natural Disasters, 18(4), 138–144. (in Chinese)
    Wang, F., and Q. S. Ge, 2012: Estimation of urbanization bias in observed surface temperature change in China from 1980 to 2009 using satellite landuse data. Chinese Science Bulletin., 57(14), 1708–1715.
    Wang, W. C., Z. M. Zeng, and T. R. Karl, 1990: Urban heat islands in China. Geophys. Res. Lett., 17(13), 2377–2380.
    Weng, Q., 2009: Thermal infrared remote sensing for urban climate and environmental studies: Methods, applications, and trends. Isprs J. Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 64(4), 335–344.
    Wu, C., D. Landgrebe, and P. Swain, 1975: The decision tree approach to classification. Rep. RE-EE 75–17, School Elec. Eng., Purdue Univ., Lafayette, IN, 172pp.
    Yang, X. C., Y. L. Zhang, L. S. Liu, W. Zhang, M. J. Ding, and Z. F. Wang, 2009: Sensitivity of surface air temperature change to land use/cover types in China. Sci. China (D ), 52(8), 1207–1215.
    Zhang, J. Y., W. J. Dong, L. Y. Wu, J. F. Wei, P. Y. Chen, and D. K. Lee, 2005: Impact of land use changes on surface warming in China. Adv. Atmos. Sci., 22(3), 343–348.
    Zhang, A. Y., G. Y. Ren, J. X. Zhou, Z. Y. Chu, Y. Y. Ren, and G. L. Tang, 2010: On the urbanization effect on surface air temperature trends over China. Acta Meteologica Sinica, 68(6), 957–966. (in Chinese)
    Zheng, Z. F., Y. Zheng, and Q. C. Li, 2006: Effect of urbanization on the temperature of Beijing metropolis in recent 30 years. Chinese Journal of Eco-Agriculture, 15(04), 26–29. (in Chinese)
    Zhou, Y. Q., and G. Y. Ren, 2005: Identifying and correcting urban bias for regional surface air temperature series of North China over period of 1961–2000. Clim. Environ. Res., 10(4), 743–753.
  • [1] HAN Zuoqiang, YAN Zhongwei*, LI Zhen, LIU Weidong, and WANG Yingchun, 2014: Impact of Urbanization on Low-Temperature Precipitation in Beijing during 19602008, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 31, 48-56.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-013-2211-3
    [2] WANG Hesong, JIA Gensuo, 2013: Regional Estimates of Evapotranspiration over Northern China Using a Remote-sensing-based Triangle Interpolation Method, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 30, 1479-1490.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-013-2294-x
    [3] Yun QIAN, TC CHAKRABORTY, Jianfeng LI, Dan LI, Cenlin HE, Chandan SARANGI, Fei CHEN, Xuchao YANG, L. Ruby LEUNG, 2022: Urbanization Impact on Regional Climate and Extreme Weather: Current Understanding, Uncertainties, and Future Research Directions, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 39, 819-860.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-021-1371-9
    [4] Dongxu YANG, Yi LIU, Hartmut BOESCH, Lu YAO, Antonio DI NOIA, Zhaonan CAI, Naimeng LU, Daren LYU, Maohua WANG, Jing WANG, Zengshan YIN, Yuquan ZHENG, 2021: A New TanSat XCO2 Global Product towards Climate Studies, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 38, 8-11.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-020-0297-y
    [5] Dongxu YANG, Janne HAKKARAINEN, Yi LIU, Iolanda IALONGO, Zhaonan CAI, Johanna TAMMINEN, 2023: Detection of Anthropogenic CO2 Emission Signatures with TanSat CO2 and with Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) NO2 Measurements: First Results, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 40, 1-5.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-022-2237-5
    [6] REN Guoyu, DING Yihui, ZHAO Zongci, ZHENG Jingyun, WU Tongwen, TANG Guoli, XU Ying, 2012: Recent Progress in Studies of Climate Change in China, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 29, 958-977.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-012-1200-2
    [7] Yonghong LIU, Bing DANG, Yongming XU, Fuzhong WENG, 2021: An Observational Study on the Local Climate Effect of the Shangyi Wind Farm in Hebei Province, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 38, 1905-1919.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-021-0290-0
    [8] Jeong-Hyeong LEE, Byungsoo KIM, Keon-Tae SOHN, Won-Tae KOWN, Seung-Ki MIN, 2005: Climate Change Signal Analysis for Northeast Asian Surface Temperature, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 22, 159-171.  doi: 10.1007/BF02918506
    [9] DAN Li, JI Jinjun, LI Yinpeng, 2007: The Interactive Climate and Vegetation Along the Pole-Equator Belts Simulated by a Global Coupled Model, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 24, 239-249.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-007-0239-y
    [10] Paul D. WILLIAMS, 2017: Increased Light, Moderate, and Severe Clear-Air Turbulence in Response to Climate Change, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 34, 576-586.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-017-6268-2
    [11] BI Yun, CHEN Yuejuan, ZHOU Renjun, YI Mingjian, DENG Shumei, 2011: Simulation of the Effect of an Increase in Methane on Air Temperature, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 28, 129-138.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-010-9197-x
    [12] Ping YANG, Kuo-Nan LIOU, Lei BI, Chao LIU, Bingqi YI, Bryan A. BAUM, 2015: On the Radiative Properties of Ice Clouds: Light Scattering, Remote Sensing, and Radiation Parameterization, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 32, 32-63.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-014-0011-z
    [13] QIU Jinhuan, CHEN Hongbin, 2004: Recent Progresses in Atmospheric Remote Sensing Research in China-- Chinese National Report on Atmospheric Remote Sensing Research in China during 1999-2003, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 21, 475-484.  doi: 10.1007/BF02915574
    [14] Jianfeng WANG, Ricardo M. FONSECA, Kendall RUTLEDGE, Javier MARTÍN-TORRES, Jun YU, 2020: A Hybrid Statistical-Dynamical Downscaling of Air Temperature over Scandinavia Using the WRF Model, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 37, 57-74.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-019-9091-0
    [15] Yifan DING, Xiao CHENG, Xichen LI, Mohammed SHOKR, Jiawei YUAN, Qinghua YANG, Fengming HUI, 2020: Specific Relationship between the Surface Air Temperature and the Area of the Terra Nova Bay Polynya, Antarctica, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 37, 532-544.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-020-9146-2
    [16] Meng YAN, Johnny C. L. CHAN, Kun ZHAO, 2020: Impacts of Urbanization on the Precipitation Characteristics in Guangdong Province, China, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 37, 696-706.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-020-9218-3
    [17] Zhao Gaoxiang, 1998: Analysis of the Ability of Infrared Water Vapor Channel for Moisture Remote Sensing in the Lower Atmosphere, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 15, 107-112.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-998-0022-8
    [18] Philip JONES, 2016: The Reliability of Global and Hemispheric Surface Temperature Records, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 33, 269-282.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-015-5194-4
    [19] ZHANG Lixia* and ZHOU Tianjun, , 2014: An Assessment of Improvements in Global Monsoon Precipitation Simulation in FGOALS-s2, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 31, 165-178.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-013-2164-6
    [20] Xiujing YU, Guoyu REN, Panfeng ZHANG, Jingbiao HU, Ning LIU, Jianping LI, Chenchen ZHANG, 2020: Extreme Temperature Change of the Last 110 Years in Changchun, Northeast China, ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, 37, 347-358.  doi: 10.1007/s00376-020-9165-z
PDF

Get Citation+

shu
Export:  

Share Article

Article Metrics

Article Views: 815 Times

PDF downloads: 767 Times

Cited by: Times
  • 加载中

    • Manuscript History

    Manuscript received: 25 June 2012
    Manuscript revised: 12 September 2012
    通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
    • 1. 

      沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

    1. 本站搜索
    2. 百度学术搜索
    3. 万方数据库搜索
    4. CNKI搜索

    Detecting urban warming signals in climate records

      Corresponding author: JIA Gensuo; 
    • 1. Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029;
    • 2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049;
    • 3. Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094;
    • 4. Climatic Data Center, National Meteorological Information Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081
    • Manuscript received: 2012-06-25
    • Manuscript revised: 2012-09-12
    Fund Project:  This research was supported by the CAS Strategic Priority Research Program (Grant No. XDA05090201) and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2009CB723904). We thank the Beijing Meteorological Administration for providing air temperature data, and we thank Dr. James VOOGT, Dr. Christopher SMALL, Dr. YAN Zhongwei, Dr. Xiaoming HSU, Dr. Zhen LI, and Dr. Jiangjiang XIA for their valuable comments on our manuscript.

    Abstract: Determining whether air temperatures recorded at meteorological stations have been contaminated by the urbanization process is still a controversial issue at the global scale. With support of historical remote sensing data, this study examined the impacts of urban expansion on the trends of air temperature at 69 meteorological stations in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Province over the last three decades. There were significant positive relations between the two factors at all stations. Stronger warming was detected at the meteorological stations that experienced greater urbanization, i.e., those with a higher urbanization rate. While the total urban area affects the absolute temperature values, the change of the urban area (urbanization rate) likely affects the temperature trend. Increases of approximately 10% in urban area around the meteorological stations likely contributed to the 0.13℃ rise in air temperature records in addition to regional climate warming. This study also provides a new approach to selecting reference stations based on remotely sensed urban fractions. Generally, the urbanization－induced warming contributed to approximately 44.1% of the overall warming trends in the plain region of study area during the past 30 years, and the regional climate warming was 0.30℃ (10 yr)－1 in the last three decades.

    摘要: Determining whether air temperatures recorded at meteorological stations have been contaminated by the urbanization process is still a controversial issue at the global scale. With support of historical remote sensing data, this study examined the impacts of urban expansion on the trends of air temperature at 69 meteorological stations in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Province over the last three decades. There were significant positive relations between the two factors at all stations. Stronger warming was detected at the meteorological stations that experienced greater urbanization, i.e., those with a higher urbanization rate. While the total urban area affects the absolute temperature values, the change of the urban area (urbanization rate) likely affects the temperature trend. Increases of approximately 10% in urban area around the meteorological stations likely contributed to the 0.13℃ rise in air temperature records in addition to regional climate warming. This study also provides a new approach to selecting reference stations based on remotely sensed urban fractions. Generally, the urbanization-induced warming contributed to approximately 44.1% of the overall warming trends in the plain region of study area during the past 30 years, and the regional climate warming was 0.30℃ (10 yr)-1 in the last three decades.

      HTML

    Reference

    Catalog

      Publish with AAS

      Contact us

      Links

      Copyright © 2018-2028 ADVANCES IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES 京ICP备14024088号-7

      Supported by: Beijing Renhe Information Technology Co. Ltd  support: info@rhhz.net  

      /

      DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
      Return