Numerical Studies on Urban Heat Island Associated with Urbanization in Yangtze Delta Region

The impact of modifications of the surface characteristics on local climate is simulated with a numerical mesoscale model in the Yangtze delta region, east of China. The simulated reference case with the current surface properties shows that there is urban heat island in Shanghai city which is located in the center of this region. The mod-ifications of surface characteristics due to the urbanization around Shanghai will lead to the change of local air circu-lation and redistribution of surface temperature. Simulation for this case shows that the urbanization around Shanghai has little effect on Shanghai, but will extend the area of heat island. Another case is assumed that the area of grassland is kept as 50% while the urban areas are extended. Compared with the case of pure urbanization, the max-imum reduction of surface air temperature is 2.0oC in the daytime and 2.3oC at night.