Modulation of the urban heat island by the tourism during the Chinese New Year holiday: a case study in Sanya City, Hainan Province of China

Abstract

The urban heat island (UHI) represents one of the most significant human impacts on the earth system. In recent decades, the number of the tourists has a remarkable increase in China and also other regions of the globe. However, it is still unclear whether or to what extent the tourism can affect the UHI. Here, we investigate the role of the tourism for the UHI during the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday based on a case study in tropical Sanya City, which attracts many tourists for celebrating the CNY and enjoying the warm climate during the holiday. We find that the UHI effects expressed as daily mean (ΔT _mean), maximum (ΔT _max), and minimum (ΔT _min) surface air temperature differences between urban and nearby non-urban stations averaged over the period of 1995–2004 during the CNY week were 0.48 °C (39 %), 0.66 °C (61 %), and 0.42 °C (26 %) higher than those averaged over the background period (8 weeks including 4 weeks before and 4 weeks after the CNY week), respectively. These changes are all significant at the 99 % confidence level. Our findings highlight previously unidentified impact of the tourism on the UHI based on a case study in Sanya City, Hainan Province of China.

摘要

城市热岛代表了人类对地球系统最显著的影响之一。近几十年,中国和世界其他地区的旅游人数明显增多。但是,旅游是否或在多大程度上能够影响城市热岛目前尚不清楚。本文以一个中国旅游热点城市——三亚为例,研究了春节旅游对城市热岛的影响。结果表明,1995–2004年平均的春节周以日平均、日最高和日最低温度城市站和非城市站的差表征的三亚热岛强度分别为1.71, 1.75 和2.02 °C,比春节周前后4周的平均值高了0.48, 0.66和0.42 °C,相对增加39 %, 61 %和26 %。这些变化都通过了99 %的信度检验。