Talks and Poster Presentations (with Proceedings-Entry):
K. Kiesel, K. Orehounig, A. Mahdavi:
"The extent and implications of the urban heat island phenomenon in the city of Vienna";
Talk: EURA Conference 2012 - Urban Europe - Challenges to meet the urban future,
Wien;
2012-09-20
- 2012-09-22; in: "EURA Conference 2012 - Urban Europe - Challenges to meet the urban future",
J. Dangschat et al. (ed.);
Vienna University of Technology / wissenschaftliches Eigeneditoral,
1
(2012),
Paper ID 211,
9 pages.
English abstract:
Metropolitan areas are dealing with very diverse microclimatic situations influenced by different morphologies, structures, and materials of the built environment. Moreover, it has been proven that urban areas show significantly higher temperatures than rural surroundings. This is referred to as the urban heat island phenomenon (UHI). Furthermore, the UHI effect is directly related to (and worsened by) the climate change phenomena, where it is expected that an increase of the average temperature has a stronger and immediate effect on the health of people living in cities. Additionally higher air temperatures have a direct effect on the energy consumption due to increased use of air conditioning.
In this context this paper presents results of an ongoing research project which investigates the urban heat island phenomena in the Central European area. Specifically, this paper analyzes the urban heat island phenomenon and microclimate conditions looking at various locations in the city of Vienna. Towards this end, existing weather stations in urban as well as rural locations have been selected and the data has been analyzed and compared with regard to the surrounding area in terms of density, surface characteristics, and vegetation. Specifically, the urban heat island intensity, the diurnal variation, and the seasonal trend of temperature differences were investigated. Based on the analysis, the main contributing factors and typical characteristic patterns will be discussed.
German abstract:
[none - see English version]
Related Projects:
Project Head Ardeshir Mahdavi:
Monitoring and modeling of the urban micro-climate