• Atmosphere
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.413-424
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• 2013

Urban Heat Island (UHI) intensity is one of vital parameters in studying urban boundary layer meteorology as well as urban planning. Because the UHI intensity is defined as air temperature difference between urban and rural sites, an objective sites selection criterion is necessary for proper quantification of the spatial variations of the UHI intensity. This study quantified the UHI intensity and its spatial pattern, and then analyzed their connections with urban structure and metabolism in Seoul metropolitan area where many kinds of land use and land cover types coexist. In this study, screen-level temperature data in non-precipitation day conditions observed from 29 automatic weather stations (AWS) in Seoul were analyzed to delineate the characteristics of UHI. For quality control of the data, gap test, limit test, and step test based on guideline of World Meteorological Organization were conducted. After classifying all stations by their own local climatological properties, UHI intensity and diurnal temperature range (DTR) are calculated, and then their seasonal patterns are discussed. Maximum UHI intensity was $4.3^{\circ}C$ in autumn and minimum was $3.6^{\circ}C$ in spring. Maximum DTR appeared in autumn as $3.8^{\circ}C$, but minimum was $2.3^{\circ}C$ in summer. UHI intensity and DTR showed large variations with different local climate zones. Despite limited information on accuracy and exposure errors of the automatic weather stations, the observed data from AWS network represented theoretical UHI intensities with difference local climate zone in Seoul.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.67-81
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• 2017

Because of lack of accurate understanding of the mechanism of urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon and lack of scientific discussion, it is hard to come up with effective measures to mitigate UHI phenomenon. This study systematically described the UHI and suggested the solutions using green-infrastructure (green-infra). The factors that control UHI are very diverse: radiant heat flux, latent heat flux, storage heat flux, and artificial heat flux, and the air temperature is formed by the combination effect of radiation, conduction and convection. Green-infra strategies can improve thermal environment by reducing radiant heat flux (the albedo effect, the shade effect), increasing latent heat flux (the evapotranspiration effect), and creating a wind path (cooling air flow). As a result of measurement, green-infra could reduce radiant heat flux as $270W/m^2$ due to shadow effect and produce $170W/m^2$ latent heat flux due to evaporation. Finally, green-infra can be applied differently on the macro(urban) scale and micro scale, therefore, we should plan and design green-infra after the target objects of structures are set.

• Atmosphere
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.257-271
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to examine weather modification by urbanization and human activities. The characteristics of the urban heat island (UHI) and precipitation in Seoul metropolitan area of Korea are investigated to demonstrate that cities can change or modify local and nearby weather and climate, and to confirm that cities can initiate convection, change the behavior of convective precipitation, and enhance downstream precipitation. The data used in this study are surface meteorological station data observed in Seoul and its nearby 5 cities for the period of 1960 to 2009, and 162 Automatic Weather System stations data observed in the Seoul metropolitan area from 1998 to 2009. Air temperature and precipitation amount tend to increase with time, and relative humidity decreases because of urbanization. Similar to previous studies for other cities, the average maximum UHI is weakest in summer and is strong in autumn and winter, and the maximum UHI intensity is more frequently observed in the nighttime than in the daytime, decreases with increasing wind speed, and is enhanced for clear skies. Relatively warm regions extend in the east-west direction and relatively cold regions are located near the northern and southern mountains inside Seoul. The satellite cities in the outskirts of Seoul have been rapidly built up in recent years, thus exhibiting increases in near-surface air temperature. The yearly precipitation amount during the last 50 years is increased with time but rainy days are decreased. The heavy rainfall events of more than $20mm\;hr^{-1}$ increases with time. The substantial changes observed in precipitation in Seoul seem to be linked with the accelerated increase in the urban sprawl in recent decades which in turn has induced an intensification of the UHI effect and enhanced downstream precipitation. We also found that the frequency of intense rain showers has increased in Seoul metropolitan area.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.135-148
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the urban heat island (UHI) intensity and the corresponding surface temperature forecast obtained using the local data assimilation and prediction system (LDAPS) of the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) against the AWS observation. The observed UHI intensity in Seoul increases during spring and winter, while it decreases during summer. It is found that the diurnal variability of the UHI intensity peaks at dawn but reaches a minimum in the afternoon. The LDAPS overestimates the UHI intensity in summer but underestimates it in winter. In particular, the model tends to overestimate the UHI intensity during the daytime in summer but underestimate it during the nighttime in winter. Moreover, surface temperature errors decrease in summer but increase in winter. The underestimation of the winter UHI intensity appears to be associated with weak forecasting of urban temperature in winter. However, the overestimated summer UHI intensity results from the underestimation of the suburban temperature forecast in summer. In order to improve the predictability of the UHI intensity, an urban canopy model (MORUSES) that considers urban effects was combined with LDAPS and used for simulation for the summer of 2017. The surface temperature forecast for the city was improved significantly by adopting MORUSES, and there were remarkable improvements in urban surface temperature morning forecasts. The urban canopy model produced an improvement effect that weakened the intensity of the UHI, which showed an overestimation during summer.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry and Cartography
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.249-260
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• 2017

UHI (Urban Heat Island) is an important environmental issue occurring in highly developed (or urbanized) area such as Seoul Metropolitan City of Korea due to modification of the land surface by man-made structures. With the advance of the remote sensing technique, land cover types and LST (Land Surface Temperature) influencing UHI were frequently investigated describing that they have a positive relationship. However, the concept of land cover considers material characteristics of the urban cover in a comprehensive way and does not provide information on how human activities influence on LST in detail. Instead, land use reflects ways of land use management and human life patterns and behaviors, and explains the relationship with human activities in more details. Using this concept, LST was segmented according to land use types from the Landsat imagery to identify the human-induced heat from the surface and interannual and seasonal variation of LST with GIS. The result showed that the LST intensity of Seoul was greatest in the industrial area and followed by the commercial and residential areas. In terms of size, the residential area could be defined as the major contributor among six urban land use types (i.e., residential, industrial, commercial, transportation, etc.) affecting UHI during daytime in Seoul. For temperature, the industrial area was highest and could be defined as a major contributor. It was found that land use type was more appropriate to understand the human-induced effect on LST rather than land cover. Also, there was no significant change in the interannual pattern of LST in Seoul but the seasonal difference provided a trigger that the human life pattern could be identified from the satellite-derived LST.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.397-407
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• 2010

The increase of the solar reradiation from urban areas relative to suburban due to urbanization heats up the air temperature in urban areas and this is called the urban heat island (UHI) effect. This UHI effect has a positive relationship with the degree of urbanization. Through the studies on UHI using the satellite imagery, the effect of the surface heat radiation was observed by verifying the relationship between the air temperature and the land cover types (surface materials such as urban, vegetation, etc.). In this study, however, the surface temperature distribution was studied in terms of land use types for Seoul. Using land use types, the surface temperature in urban areas such as residential, industrial, and commercial areas in Yeongdeungpo, highly packed with industrial and residential buildings, was maximum $6^{\circ}C$ higher than in the bare ground, which indicated that the surface temperature reflected the pattern of the human-consumed energy on the areas and showed that one of the important causes influencing the air temperature except the surface heat reradiation by the sun is the anthropogenic heat. Also, the effect due to the restoration of the Chunggae stream on UHI was investigated. The average surface temperature for the Chunggae stream was reduced about $0.4^{\circ}C$ after restoration. Considering that each satellite image pixel includes mixture of several materials such as concrete and asphalt, the average surface temperature might be much lower locally reducing UHI near the stream.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.33 no.5_3
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• pp.821-834
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• 2017

The increase in the rate of industrialization due to urbanization has caused the Urban Heat Island phenomenon where the temperature of the city is higher than the surrounding area, and its intensity is increasing with climate change. Among the cities where heat island phenomenon occurs, Seoul city has different degree of urbanization, green area ratio, energy consumption, and population density in each administrative district, and as a result, the strength of heat island is also different. So It is necessary to analyze the difference of Urban Heat Island Intensity by administrative district and the cause. In this study, the UHI intensity of the administrative gu and the administrative dong were extracted from the Seoul metropolitan area and the differences among the administrative districts were examined. and linear regression analysis were conducted with The variables included in the three categories(weather condition, anthropogenic heat generation, and land use characteristics) to investigate the cause of the difference in heat UHI intensity in each administrative district. As a result of analysis, UHI Intensity was found to be different according to the characteristics of administrative gu, administrative dong, and surrounding environment. The difference in administrative dong was larger than gu unit, and the UHI Intensity of gu and the UHI Intensity distribution of dongs belonging to the gu were also different. Linear regression analysis showed that there was a difference in heat island development intensity according to the average wind speed, development degree, Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) value. Among them, the SAVI and NDBI showed a difference in value up to the dong unit and The creation of a wind route environment for the mitigation of the heat island phenomenon is necessary for the administrative dong unit level. Therefore, it is considered that projects for mitigating heat island phenomenon such as land cover improvement plan, wind route improvement plan, and green wall surface plan for development area need to consider administrative dongs belonging to the gu rather than just considering the difference of administrative gu units. The results of this study are expected to provide the directions for urban thermal environment design and policy development in the future by deriving the necessity of analysis unit and the factors to be considered for the administrative city unit to mitigate the urban heat island phenomenon.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.556-559
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• 2007

The Urban Environmental Quality (UEQ) indicates a complex and various parameters resulting from both human and natural factors in an urban area. Vegetation, climate, air quality, and the urban infrastructure may interact to produce effects in an urban area. There are relationships among air pollution, vegetation, and degrading environmental the urban heat island (UHI) effect. This study investigates the application of multi-spectral remote sensing data from the Landsat ETM and TM sensors for the mapping of air quality and UHI intensity in Seoul from 2000 to 2006 in fine resolution (30m) using the emissivity-fusion method. The Haze Optimized Transform (HOT) correction approach has been adopted for atmospheric correction on all bands except thermal band. The general UHI values (${\Delta}(T_{urban}-T_{rural})$) are 8.45 (2000), 9.14 (2001), 8.61 (2002), and $8.41^{\circ}C$ (2006), respectively. Although the UHI values are similar during these years, the spatial coverage of "hot" surface temperature (>$24^{\circ}C$) significantly increased from 2000 to 2006 due to the rapid urban development. Furthermore, high correlations between vegetation index and land surface temperature were achieved with a correlation coefficients of 0.85 (2000), 0.81 (2001), 0.84(2002), and 0.89 (2006), respectively. Air quality is shown to be an important factor in the spatial variation of UEQ. Based on the quantifiable fine resolution satellite image parameters, UEQ can promote the understanding of the complex and dynamic factors controlling urban environment.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.201-208
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• 2012

Global warming due to the climate change causes environmental problems such as urban heat island (UHI), air pollutant deposition, urban heavy rainfall, etc. Urban stream plays an important role on mitigating UHI as open space as well as an ecological corridor in urban area. In order to investigate the wind characteristics of urban stream in the case of Yangjae Stream at Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu in Seoul, the wind direction and wind speed data were observed and analyzed using a propellor type RM-Young wind monitor. The results show that the prevailing wind direction was southwest. However, easterly wind is the prevailing one between 8:00 and 12:00. Strong wind whose Beaufort scale is four or more blew frequently from 12:00 to 18:00. In terms of seasonal frequency, the spring shows the highest frequency, then winter was the next.

• Atmosphere
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.483-499
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• 2015

This study examined the impact of change of land-use and meteorological condition due to urbanization on heat environment in Seoul metropolitan area over a decade (2000 and 2009) using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)-Urban Canopy Model (UCM). The numerical simulations consist of three sets: meteorological conditions of (1) October 2000 with land-use data in 2000 (base simulation), (2) October 2009 with land-use data in 2000 (meteorological condition change effect) and (3) October 2009 with land-use data in 2009 (both the effects of land-use and meteorological condition change). According to the experiment results, the change of land-use and meteorological condition by urbanization over a decade showed different contribution to the change of heat environment in Seoul metropolitan area. There was about $1^{\circ}C$ increase in near-surface (2 m) temperature over all of the analyzed stations due to meteorological condition change. In stations where the land-use type changed into urban, large temperature increase at nighttime was observed by combined effects of meteorological condition and land-use changes (maximum $4.23^{\circ}C$). Urban heat island (UHI) over $3^{\circ}C$ (temperature difference between Seoul and Okcheon) increased 5.24% due to the meteorological condition change and 26.61% due to the land-use change. That is, land-use change turned out to be contributing to the strengthening of UHI more than the meteorological condition change. Moreover, the land-use change plays a major role in the increase of sensible heat flux and decrease of latent heat flux.