Urban heat islands and their synergies with heat waves: Observational evidence and model-based analysis

Abstract

As urbanization continues and extreme heat becomes increasingly severe, understanding and mitigating urban heat-related risks are emerging as great concerns. Urban areas typically experience elevated temperatures compared to their surrounding rural areas, which is a phenomenon known as the urban heat island (UHI). Moreover, it has recently been found for numerous cities that UHIs can synergistically interact with heat waves which are typically characterized by prolonged periods with extremely high temperatures over a wide region. These synergies between UHIs and heat waves result in further warming in urban areas during heat waves, thereby amplifying urban heat stress. This seminar presents my research findings on the synergies between UHIs and heat waves and their underlying physical processes in Seoul, South Korea based on observational analysis and numerical modeling. This seminar also discusses urban heat mitigation strategies and presents related research findings.