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Traffic 'heats up' big cities: New data on heat islands along streets
🇵🇱 Poland /Technology

Traffic 'heats up' big cities: New data on heat islands along streets

From Rzeczpospolita · (2d ago) Polish

Translated from Polish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • A new study from the University of Manchester reveals that traffic significantly raises urban temperatures, impacting both outdoor and indoor environments.
  • Researchers developed a new method to measure this effect, integrating traffic heat into climate models like CESM.
  • The findings indicate that traffic heat can exacerbate heatwaves and increase cooling demands in buildings, with summer and winter temperature increases noted in Manchester.

A groundbreaking study from the University of Manchester, published in the esteemed "Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems," has shed new light on the significant impact of road traffic on urban heat islands. The research highlights that the heat generated by vehicles not only affects the outdoor air but can also penetrate buildings, influencing indoor temperatures.

Traffic generates additional heat in cities.

— ResearchersHighlighting the core finding of the study regarding the impact of road traffic on urban temperatures.

Scientists have developed an innovative physical module to incorporate traffic-generated heat into the widely-used Community Earth System Model (CESM). This advancement allows for a more accurate simulation of how urban heat is influenced by vehicle emissions and movement, providing crucial data for climate change analysis and urban planning.

Traffic heat generated by vehicles affects not only the outdoor air – it can also penetrate buildings.

— ResearchersExplaining the dual impact of traffic heat on both external and internal urban environments.

The study, which utilized real-world traffic data from Transport for Greater Manchester, found that traffic contributed to an average temperature increase of 0.16°C in summer and 0.35°C in winter in Manchester. While these figures may seem small, researchers emphasize their importance during extreme weather events like heatwaves, where they can intensify the heat burden on the population and prolong periods of dangerous temperatures.

Traffic heat generated by vehicles has a significant – measurable – contribution to the process of heating up metropolises.

— ResearchersEmphasizing the measurable effect of vehicle heat on city temperatures.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Rzeczpospolita in Polish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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