TITLE:
Climate & Sustainability Implications of Land Use Alterations in an Urbanizing Region: Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
AUTHORS:
E. M. B. Doran, J. S. Golden
KEYWORDS:
Land Use, Urban Heat Island, Mesoscale, Urban Climate, Piedmont, North Carolina
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.7 No.7,
June
29,
2016
ABSTRACT: Urban climate is the most immediate
manifestation of the warming global climate for the majority of people on
earth. Nearly half of those people live in small to medium sized cities, an
understudied scale in urban climate research. Widespread characterization would
be useful to decision makers in planning and design for land use decisions.
Using a multi-method approach, the mesoscale UHI in the study region is
characterized and the secular trend over the last sixty years evaluated. Under
isolated ideal conditions the findings indicate a UHI of 5.3℃ ± 0.97℃ to be
present in the study area, the magnitude of which is growing over time.