The Impacts of Green Spaces on Temperature Variability

• Main Author: Das, Smriti
• Other Authors: Bill, Gough
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Urban Heat Island; Parks; 0366
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/30567

Parks located in urban areas are known to mitigate the Urban Heat Island. Their cooling effects are well established in the literature as studies have been performed in urbanized areas around the world. This particular study was aimed at assessing the nature of suburban parklands in the City of Toronto vs. urban (downtown) and rural (outside the Greater Toronto Area) settings. To do this, five study sites were chosen; three parks of varying sizes (large, medium and small) and two backyards. The main research objective was to quantify the cooling effects; among the sizes, within the surrounding neighbourhood and through the day. The metrics used in this study included Day to Day Temperature Variability, Diurnal Temperature Range, and Temperature Variation through Time. The results showed the importance of trees in providing shade and the lake breeze from Lake Ontario. A clear suburban signal from the metrics was found.