Data – Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research

Urban Heat Island

Identifier: 558_1

Publication date: 2009

Author(s):
Anthony Brazel; Hannah Mensing;

Abstract:

The question was to what degree are summer minimum temperature climate trends in the latter half of the 20th and early part of the 21st century attributed to local urban development as opposed to global climate change? The approach was to select a range of towns/cities in CA, NV, and AZ for which a pairing of sites from a town/city and a site outside that town/city was possible. Climate records for the period 1948 to 2007 were accessed, and statistical time trends determined for the urban vs. rural locations for towns/cities over a considerable range of population (i.e., from 3.5K to 3.2M).

The urban heat island effect increased with the natural log of the population, ranging from a total change in minimum monthly temperatures of ca. 1.5F to over 12F over the population range of 3.5K to 3.2M. These rates of change in the 1948-2007 period overwhelm any background global climate change, with the exception of the rural sites and smaller towns.

This study for the first time identified the temperature trends of a range of towns and cities in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts to unravel the impact of urban warming from that of global warming in the contemporary global warming era sometimes called the Anthropocene era. Previous literature investigatin these sites were only up to 1984 or did not address the urban warming contribution. The impact depends on land cover and extent of population development over time.

Keywords:

sonoran desert, phoenix, urban, metropolitan area, geosciences, temperature, climate, climate change, air temperature, urban heat island, night time temperature
urban, deserts, populations, vegetation, atmosphere, elevation, temperature, climate, climate change, air temperature
caplter, central arizona phoenix longterm ecological research, arizona, caplter created, az, cap, arid land

Temporal Coverage:

1948-01-01 - 2000-12-31

Geographic Coverage:

Geographic Description:Cities and comparable rural areas in the Southwestern US
Bounding Coordinates:
Longitude:-119.78333 to -109.6
Latitude:39.466667 to 31.416667

Contact:

Information Manager, Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University,
POB 875402,TEMPE
caplter.data@asu.edu

Methods used in producing this dataset:

Readily available data from Western Regional Climate Center and the Global Historical Climate Network of NOAA.

Site Selection Criteria: at least 90% of data present from 1948-2007 URBAN: located in a centralized urban area RURAL: located within 25 - 100 km of urban site and situated in a similar environment as far as atmospheric patterns, elevation, and vegetation.

Entities:

Table: 264_minmaxdata_1.csv[download]

Description:Temperature trends in urban and rural between 1950 and 2000

Attribute:data_id
Description:Automatically generated sequential record ID number

Attribute:site_id
Description:Site ID as used in sites table

Attribute:junemin_c
Description:1950-2000 decade rate (in degrees per decade) of the trend of June monthly minimum temp
Measurement Unit:celsius

Attribute:junemin_r
Description:correlation coefficient of time vs C per decade June min temp
Measurement Unit:dimensionless

Attribute:junemin_sig
Description:Significance value
Measurement Unit:dimensionless

Attribute:junemax_c
Description:1950-2000 decade rate (in degrees per decade) of the trend of June monthly maximum temp
Measurement Unit:celsius

Attribute:junemax_r
Description:correlation coefficient of time vs C per decade June max temp
Measurement Unit:dimensionless

Attribute:junemax_sig
Description:Significance value
Measurement Unit:dimensionless

Attribute:annual_c
Description:1950-2000 decade rate (in degrees per decade) of the trend of annual average temp
Measurement Unit:celsius

Attribute:annual_r
Description:correlation coefficient of time vs C per decade average annual temp
Measurement Unit:dimensionless

Attribute:annual_sig
Description:Significance value
Measurement Unit:dimensionless

Attribute:pop_1950
Description:the population in the place in 1950 from the census
Measurement Unit:number

Attribute:pop_2000
Description:the population in the place in 2000 from the census
Measurement Unit:number

Attribute:pop_diff
Description:the difference in pop
Measurement Unit:number

Attribute:r_lu_su
Description:lu - large urban, su - small urban, and r - rural

Attribute:yrs_missing
Description:years missing measurements 1950-2000
Measurement Unit:number

Table: 264_sites_1.csv[download]

Description:Study sites description

Attribute:site_id
Description:Automotacially generated sequential site ID

Attribute:station_num
Description:Station ID as used by the networks

Attribute:site_name
Description:Station Name

Attribute:ushgn
Description:whether or not the station is part of the Historic US network

Attribute:latitude
Description:Latitude
Measurement Unit:dimensionless

Attribute:longitude
Description:Longitude
Measurement Unit:dimensionless

Attribute:elevation_ft
Description:Elevation
Measurement Unit:foot

Attribute:elevation_m
Description:Elevation
Measurement Unit:meter

Attribute:state
Description:US state the station is located in

Attribute:site_description
Description:Combined Station name and state field for internal use