TITLE:
Method for Evaluating the Influence of Obstruction of Sea Breeze by Clusters of High-Rise Buildings on the Urban Heat Island Effect
AUTHORS:
Shota Sashiyama, Kayoko Yamamoto
KEYWORDS:
Urban Heat Island Effect, Sea Breeze, Clusters of High-Rise Buildings, Weather Simulation Model, GIS
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.5 No.11,
August
26,
2014
ABSTRACT: This
study aims to propose a method for quantitatively evaluating the influence
which the obstruction of sea breezes by clusters of high-rise buildings has on
the urban heat island effect using a weather simulation model and Geographic
Information Systems (GIS). Specifically, a method of evaluating the influence
of the obstruction of sea breeze by high-rise buildings on the urban heat
island effect was proposed. In the method, two scenarios that imagine urban
forms which differ with regard to whether or not they contain high-rise
buildings are created and weather simulation is conducted, and the results of
the simulations are comparatively analyzed focusing on temperature and wind
speed. Evaluation was conducted in two stages, and Shiodome of Minato City in
the Tokyo Metropolis was selected as the region for evaluation. In two stages
of evaluation, a rise in temperature of approximately 0.3 K and a reduction in
wind speed of approximately 1 m/s were observed in a region approximately five
to ten kilometers square downwind of high-rise buildings in the period 6 PM to
9 PM, and a higher temperature caused by the obstruction of sea breeze by
high-rise buildings was identified. The fact that such a higher temperature was
confirmed in the time period from 6 PM onwards, in which the temperature
decreases, reveals that obstruction of sea breeze by high-rise buildings dulls
the decrease in temperature which occurs from evening onwards, and influences
nighttime urban heat island formation.