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Heat waves becoming more prominent in urban areas, research reveals
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/heat-waves-becoming-more-prominent-in-urban-areas-research-reveals[font face=Serif][font size=5]Heat waves becoming more prominent in urban areas, research reveals[/font]
[font size=4]For past four decades, global warming has been amplified in cities, warns UCLA geographer[/font]
Meg Sullivan | January 29, 2015
[font size=3]The frequency of heat waves has increased dramatically over the past 40 years, and the trend appears to be growing faster in urban areas than in less-populated areas around the world, a new study suggests.
“Our findings suggest that urban areas are experiencing a kind of double whammy — a combination of general climatic warming combined with the heat island effect, wherein human activities and the built environment trap heat, preventing cities from cooling down as fast as rural areas,” said Dennis Lettenmaier, a co-author of the study and a UCLA geography professor. “Everything’s warming up, but the effect is amplified in urban areas.”
Lettenmaier and his co-authors studied 217 urban areas across the globe and found that prolonged periods of extreme heat increased significantly in 48 percent of them between 1973 and 2012.
The results, which were published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters, show that about only 2 percent of those urban areas experienced a significant decline in heat waves. And the change was more dramatic at night: Almost two-thirds of the urban areas showed significant increases in the frequency of extremely hot nights.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=4]For past four decades, global warming has been amplified in cities, warns UCLA geographer[/font]
Meg Sullivan | January 29, 2015
[font size=3]The frequency of heat waves has increased dramatically over the past 40 years, and the trend appears to be growing faster in urban areas than in less-populated areas around the world, a new study suggests.
“Our findings suggest that urban areas are experiencing a kind of double whammy — a combination of general climatic warming combined with the heat island effect, wherein human activities and the built environment trap heat, preventing cities from cooling down as fast as rural areas,” said Dennis Lettenmaier, a co-author of the study and a UCLA geography professor. “Everything’s warming up, but the effect is amplified in urban areas.”
Lettenmaier and his co-authors studied 217 urban areas across the globe and found that prolonged periods of extreme heat increased significantly in 48 percent of them between 1973 and 2012.
The results, which were published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters, show that about only 2 percent of those urban areas experienced a significant decline in heat waves. And the change was more dramatic at night: Almost two-thirds of the urban areas showed significant increases in the frequency of extremely hot nights.
…[/font][/font]