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Temperature response to future urbanization and climate change

Climate Dynamics volume 42, pages 2183–2199 (2014)Cite this article

Abstract

This study examines the impact of future urban expansion on local near-surface temperature for Sydney (Australia) using a future climate scenario (A2). The Weather Research and Forecasting model was used to simulate the present (1990–2009) and future (2040–2059) climates of the region at 2-km spatial resolution. The standard land use of the model was replaced with a more accurate dataset that covers the Sydney area. The future simulation incorporates the projected changes in the urban area of Sydney to account for the expected urban expansion. A comparison between areas with projected land use changes and their surroundings was conducted to evaluate how urbanization and global warming will act together and to ascertain their combined effect on the local climate. The analysis of the temperature changes revealed that future urbanization will strongly affect minimum temperature, whereas little impact was detected for maximum temperature. The minimum temperature changes will be noticeable throughout the year. However, during winter and spring these differences will be particularly large and the increases could be double the increase due to global warming alone at 2050. Results indicated that the changes were mostly due to increased heat capacity of urban structures and reduced evaporation in the city environment.

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Acknowledgments

This work was made possible by funding from the NSW Environment Trust (RM08603), as well as the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, and the Australian Research Council as part of the Future Fellowship FT110100576. This work was supported by an award under the Merit Allocation Scheme on the NCI National Facility at the ANU.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Daniel Argüeso, Jason P. Evans, Lluís Fita & Kathryn J. Bormann

  2. ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, Sydney, Australia

    Daniel Argüeso, Jason P. Evans, Lluís Fita & Kathryn J. Bormann

Authors
  1. Daniel Argüeso
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  2. Jason P. Evans
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  3. Lluís Fita
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  4. Kathryn J. Bormann
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Correspondence to Daniel Argüeso.

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Argüeso, D., Evans, J.P., Fita, L. et al. Temperature response to future urbanization and climate change. Clim Dyn 42, 2183–2199 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-1789-6

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Keywords

  • Regional climate model
  • Urban heat island
  • Climate change
  • Temperature