The effects of urbanization on the temperature over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region under changing climate

TL;DR

This study investigates how urbanization influences summer temperatures in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, revealing that urban effects are more pronounced under low-pressure systems, especially during specific circulation conditions, using observational data and weather modeling.

Contribution

It combines long-term observational analysis with weather modeling to quantify urbanization impacts on regional temperatures under different atmospheric circulation patterns.

Findings

Urbanization effects are greater under low-pressure systems.

Difference in cloud cover influences temperature impacts.

Results aid in disaster prevention under climate change.

Abstract

Urbanization has a large impact on human society. Besides, global warming has become an increasingly popular topic since global warming will not only play a significant role in human beings daily life but also have a huge impact on the global climate. Under the background of global warming, the impacts of urbanization may have differences, which is the topic this project mainly discusses. In this study, the monthly air temperature data from 2 meteorological stations in Beijing under the different underlying surface: urban and suburban for a period of 1960-2014 were analyzed. Besides, two years, 1993 and 2010, selected with the different circulation conditions have been simulated by weather forecasting models. We conducted experiments using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to investigate the impacts of urbanization under different circulation conditions on the summer temperature over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region (BTHR). The results indicate that the effect of urbanization under low-pressure system is greater than that under high-pressure system. That is because the difference of total cloud cover between the urban area and the suburban area is greater under low-pressure system in 1993. This research will not only increase our understanding of the effect of urbanization but also provide a scientific basis to enhance the ability to prevent disasters and reduce damages under the global warming background.