Strong contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of urban green vegetation
Abstract Utilization of urban green vegetation (UGV) has been recognized as a promising option to mitigate urban heat island (UHI) effect. While we still lack understanding of the contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of UGV. Here we proposed and employed a cooling effect f...
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doaj-eca376c5ee974b5f8077dd0008160bc52020-12-08T03:52:33ZengNature Publishing GroupScientific Reports2045-23222018-05-01811910.1038/s41598-018-25296-wStrong contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of urban green vegetationZhaowu Yu0Shaobin Xu1Yuhan Zhang2Gertrud Jørgensen3Henrik Vejre4Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Faculty of Science, University of CopenhagenDepartment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Faculty of Science, University of CopenhagenDepartment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Faculty of Science, University of CopenhagenDepartment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Faculty of Science, University of CopenhagenDepartment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Faculty of Science, University of CopenhagenAbstract Utilization of urban green vegetation (UGV) has been recognized as a promising option to mitigate urban heat island (UHI) effect. While we still lack understanding of the contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of UGV. Here we proposed and employed a cooling effect framework and selected eight typical cities located in Temperate Monsoon Climate (TMC) and Mediterranean Climate (MC) demonstrate that local climate condition largely affects the cooling effect of UGV. Specifically, we found increasing (artificial) rainfall and irrigation contribute to improving the cooling intensity of grassland in both climates, particularly in the hot-dry environment. The cities with high relative humidity would restrict the cooling effect of UGV. Increasing wind speed would significantly enhance the tree-covered while weakening the grass-covered UGVs’ cooling effect in MC cities. We also identified that, in order to achieve the most effective cooling with the smallest sized tree-covered UGV, the area of trees in both climate zones’ cities should generally be planned around 0.5 ha. The method and results enhance understanding of the cooling effect of UGVs on larger (climate) scales and provide important insights for UGV planning and management.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-25296-w |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Zhaowu Yu Shaobin Xu Yuhan Zhang Gertrud Jørgensen Henrik Vejre |
spellingShingle |
Zhaowu Yu Shaobin Xu Yuhan Zhang Gertrud Jørgensen Henrik Vejre Strong contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of urban green vegetation Scientific Reports |
author_facet |
Zhaowu Yu Shaobin Xu Yuhan Zhang Gertrud Jørgensen Henrik Vejre |
author_sort |
Zhaowu Yu |
title |
Strong contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of urban green vegetation |
title_short |
Strong contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of urban green vegetation |
title_full |
Strong contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of urban green vegetation |
title_fullStr |
Strong contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of urban green vegetation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Strong contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of urban green vegetation |
title_sort |
strong contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of urban green vegetation |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
series |
Scientific Reports |
issn |
2045-2322 |
publishDate |
2018-05-01 |
description |
Abstract Utilization of urban green vegetation (UGV) has been recognized as a promising option to mitigate urban heat island (UHI) effect. While we still lack understanding of the contributions of local background climate to the cooling effect of UGV. Here we proposed and employed a cooling effect framework and selected eight typical cities located in Temperate Monsoon Climate (TMC) and Mediterranean Climate (MC) demonstrate that local climate condition largely affects the cooling effect of UGV. Specifically, we found increasing (artificial) rainfall and irrigation contribute to improving the cooling intensity of grassland in both climates, particularly in the hot-dry environment. The cities with high relative humidity would restrict the cooling effect of UGV. Increasing wind speed would significantly enhance the tree-covered while weakening the grass-covered UGVs’ cooling effect in MC cities. We also identified that, in order to achieve the most effective cooling with the smallest sized tree-covered UGV, the area of trees in both climate zones’ cities should generally be planned around 0.5 ha. The method and results enhance understanding of the cooling effect of UGVs on larger (climate) scales and provide important insights for UGV planning and management. |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-25296-w |
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