Satellite-Observed Urbanization Characters in Shanghai, China: Aerosols, Urban Heat Island Effect, and Land–Atmosphere Interactions

Urbanization reflects how human-activities affect natural climate system. Accurately assessing the urban system by comparing it with the nearby rural regions helps to identify the impacts of urbanization. This work uses the recent satellite observed aerosol, skin temperature, land cover, albedo, cloud fraction and water vapor measurements to reveal how the city of Shanghai, one of the biggest, dense urban areas in East Asia, affects land surface and atmosphere conditions. In addition, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ground observations from AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) is also used to reveal diurnal, seasonal, and interannual variations of the heavy aerosol load over Shanghai region. Furthermore, Shanghai reduces surface albedo, total column water vapor, cloud fraction and increases land skin temperature than rural region. These observations prove that Shanghai significantly modifies local and regional land surface physical properties as well as physical processes, which lead to the urban heat island effect (UHI).