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Home / IAS Preparation / Urban Heat Island Effect

Urban Heat Island Effect - Definition, Examples, Causes, Components, Impact & Strategies to Reduce Heat

Last Updated on Oct 27, 2023
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Urban heat island is a phenomenon where urban areas are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas. This is due to the abundance of impervious surfaces, such as roads, sidewalks, and parking lots. These trap heat from the sun during the day and release it at night. The urban heat island effect can have many negative consequences. This includes increased energy use for cooling and increased heat-related illness and death.

The Urban Heat Island Effect is one of the important topics for the UPSC IAS Exam. It also covers a significant part of the Geography subject in the General Studies paper-1 syllabus and the Environment subject in the General Studies paper-3 syllabus. 

In this article, we shall study in detail what is a heat island, the effects of urban heat islands on the environment, Strategies to Reduce the Heat Island Effect, NASA Observations, and their relevance for UPSC.

What is Urban Heat Island?

An urban heat island (UHI) is an urban area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day. It is most apparent when winds are weak. UHI is most noticeable during the summer and winter.

Examples of Urban Heat Islands

Some of the major examples of urban heat islands include the following:

  • Downtown Los Angeles is one of the most well-known urban heat islands in the world. The temperature in downtown Los Angeles can be up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the surrounding areas.
  • Chicago is another city that experiences a significant urban heat island effect. The temperature difference between downtown Chicago and the surrounding areas can be as much as 7 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • New York City is also an urban heat island. The temperature difference between downtown Manhattan and the surrounding areas can be as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • London is a city that is experiencing a growing urban heat island effect. The temperature difference between downtown London and the surrounding areas has been increasing in recent years.

Study in detail about the Heating and Cooling of the Atmosphere here!

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What is Urban Heat Island effect?

Urbanized areas known as Heat Islands have greater temperatures than nearby Rural Areas. This gives rise to the phenomenon of the heat island effect. The balance between the incoming heat absorbed by the earth and outgoing heat escaping from the earth in the form of radiation is known as the Heat budget of the Earth. More than natural landscapes like trees and water bodies, structures like buildings, roads, and other infrastructure reflect and absorb solar heat. Urban Regions, where these constructions are heavily concentrated and there is little greenery, experience “islands” of hotter weather than rural areas. Daytime highs in metropolitan regions are often 1-7°F higher than those in rural areas, while nighttime highs are typically 2–5°F higher.

Causes Of Urban Heat Island Effect

The causes of the urban heat island effect are as follows:

  • Heat Produced by Human Activities: In the urban environment, heat is emitted from industrial facilities, buildings, and vehicles. These anthropogenic or human-generated waste heat sources may have an impact on heat island effects.
  • Dark surfaces: The dark surfaces of many buildings in urban areas reduce albedo and increase heat absorption. Buildings with dark surfaces heat up more quickly and need more air conditioning to cool them down, which takes more energy from power plants and produces more pollution.
  • Weather and Geography: By boosting the quantity of solar radiation hitting urban surfaces and reducing the amount of heat that can be moved away, calm and clear weather conditions cause more severe heat islands.
  • Air conditioners heat the local area by exchanging heat with the outside air. Urban heat islands are, therefore, growing as a result of a cascading effect.
  • Urban Architecture: Narrow streets and tall buildings frequently obstruct airflow and slow wind speed, thus lessening any natural cooling effects. The Urban Canyon Effect is what’s known as this.
  • The Absence of Trees and Greenery Hinders processes that chill the surrounding air, such as evapotranspiration, shading, and carbon dioxide removal.
  • An Enormous Rise in Construction Activity is required to develop everything from small urban homes to complicated infrastructure, which requires carbon-absorbing materials like asphalt and concrete. The mean surface temperatures of metropolitan areas rise as a result of the enormous amounts of heat they trap.
  • Need for Public Transportation: Urban regions become warmer due to efficient transportation systems and the unrestricted usage of fossil fuels.

Know more about Heat Waves!

Critical Components of Heat Islands

Some of the critical components of heat islands include the following:

  • Albedo measures how much sunlight a surface reflects. Surfaces with low albedo, like asphalt and dark roofs, absorb more sunlight and become hotter. Higher albedo from light-colored surfaces and green spaces can reduce heat islands.
  • Impermeable surfaces like buildings, roads, sidewalks, and parking lots absorb and retain heat. They contribute to heat islands by trapping the heat within urban areas.
  • Trees and vegetation provide shade, evapotranspiration, and cooling through moisture. Without enough trees and plants in cities, urban heat islands intensify.
  • Tall buildings create urban canyons that block wind flow and trap heat within cities. Narrow street widths between buildings also concentrate urban heat.
  • Air conditioning units, traffic, and industrial processes release heat that adds to urban heat islands. As more people move into cities, this anthropogenic heat rises.

Know more about the Heat Budget of Earth!

How Does ‘Urban Heat Island Effect’ Affect Climate, Animals & Humans?

The Urban Heat island effect contributes to increasing air pollution and daytime temperatures while decreasing nighttime cooling. These, in turn, contribute to heat-related ailments, which are negative effects of urban heat islands, including general discomfort, respiratory issues, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and non-fatal heat stroke, as well as heat-related mortality. The Urban Heat Island Effect has impacted the climate, animals, and human beings.

Impact of Urban Heat Islands on Climate

  • In the summer, demand for power is higher in the Urban Heat Islands. Electricity providers often rely on fossil fuel power plants to provide a large portion of this demand, which raises air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
  • In addition to being dangerous to human health, these pollutants have a role in complicated air quality issues such as the production of ground-level ozone (smog), fine particulate matter, and acid rain. Utilizing fossil fuels more frequently results in higher emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, which are a factor in climate change.
  • Elevated temperatures can directly accelerate the pace of ground-level ozone production in addition to their effect on energy-related emissions.
  • When nitrogen oxides and volatile organic molecules combine in the presence of sunlight and warm weather, ground-level ozone is created.
  • More ground-level ozone will occur when the climate gets sunnier and hotter, assuming that all other factors are the same, such as the number of precursor emissions in the air and the wind speed and direction.

Impact of Urban Heat Islands on Humans

  • Naturally occurring heat waves, which are periods of excessively hot and frequently humid weather, can also be made worse by heat islands. During these disasters, vulnerable groups are particularly at risk.
  • Older people: The group of those most at risk from extreme heat occurrences is older folks. This risk is influenced by numerous physiologic, psychological, and social factors. Elderly people have a higher likelihood of being in poor health, having less mobility and feeling more alone, being more sensitive to extreme temperatures, and having lower wages.
  • Children are more likely to experience aggravated asthma and other lung diseases brought on by ozone air pollution and smog, which typically increases during heat waves. This is because children have faster breathing rates relative to body size, spend more time outside, and develop respiratory systems.
  • Due to their small size and other factors, young children are typically more vulnerable to high heat.

Impact of Urban Heat Island on Animals

  • The Urban Heat Island effect will extend the growing season in temperate regions, which will disrupt the breeding plans of the species that live there. The best example of this is how urban heat islands affect water temperature.
  • As a result of precipitation warming up quickly and draining into surrounding streams, lakes, and rivers (or other bodies of water), which can sometimes reach temperatures of over 50 degrees and beyond, there will be an excessive amount of thermal pollution.

Study in detail about the Heat Index here!

Strategies to Reduce Heat Island Effect

The Strategies to Reduce the Heat Island Effect are listed under

  • Increased Trees and Vegetation: Planting and efforts to do so are the main requirements for reducing heat load in urban areas.
  • Passive cooling can be a critical alternative to managing the urban heat island for both residential and commercial buildings. Passive cooling technology is a widely used method to create naturally ventilated structures.
  • Changes in Building Design: According to the IPCC assessment, current facilities could be modified from ancient Indian building designs that have utilized this technology.
  • Using the right building materials is one of the other heat mitigation strategies.
  • Use of Light Colors: White or light colors should be used to paint the roof and terraces in order to reflect heat and lessen absorption. Kitchen gardening and terrace vegetation should be encouraged.
  • Cool Pavements: By reflecting more solar energy and enhancing water evaporation, paving materials that remain cooler than conventional pavements are used on sidewalks, parking lots, and streets.
  • Smart Growth is a term that refers to a variety of development and conservation techniques that help preserve the environment while also improving the appeal, viability, and economic health of our communities.

Know more about Hot Springs!

NASA Observations on India Urban Heat Island Effect
  • Heat islands are appearing more frequently, according to NASA, in Delhi’s urban areas.
  • In comparison to the nearby agricultural areas, Delhi’s metropolitan sector experienced much higher temperatures.
  • The image was taken by NASA’s Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment (Ecostress), which also showed smaller red spots in Sonipat, Panipat, Jind, and Bhiwani. The photograph showed a large red area over Delhi.
  • A radiometer-equipped instrument called Eco Stress was delivered by NASA to the International Space Station in 2018.
  • Eco stress is primarily in charge of determining the temperature of plants, as well as their water needs and how the climate affects them.
  • In contrast to the rural areas surrounding cities, which had lower temperatures, these red spots in the Ecostress data showed higher temperatures or instances of urban heat islands.

Study in detail about Marine Heat Waves here!

Conclusion

In light of the effects mentioned in the article above, it becomes imperative to implement appropriate tactics to combat them. By increasing possibilities in rural areas and planning future expansion, policymakers should work to reduce uncontrolled expansion. Passive cooling methods and a suitable ventilation setup should also be planned further. To summarise, anthropogenic action is required to reduce global warming and climate change to keep the world habitable, but any interventions must be safe.

UPSC Mains Previous Year Question

Q 1. Bring out the causes for the formation of heat islands in the urban habitat of the world. (UPSC 2013)

Urban Heat Island Effect – Causes, Impacts & Mitigation Strategies for UPSC Notes: Download PDF Here!

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Urban Heat Island Effect - FAQs

When a city experiences much warmer temperatures than the neighboring rural areas, this is known as an urban heat island. The capacity of the surfaces in each environment to absorb and retain heat accounts for the variance in temperature between metropolitan and less developed rural locations.

Urban Heat Island Effect is caused by dark surfaces, air conditioners, urban architecture, and other anthropogenic activities.

We can stop the urban heat island effect by planting more trees and vegetation and paying attention to building design light colors can also be used to mitigate the effect.

Urban heat islands are bad because they cause higher air pollution levels, lower overnight cooling, and higher daytime temperatures.

According to NASA, Delhi experienced higher temperatures in comparison to neighboring urban areas.

Urban Heat island effect gives rise to lung problems and various other respiratory problems as it increases the surface temperature which causes pollution.

Increasing wildfires are the result of rising temperature which causes climate change and this happens because of the urban heat island effect.

Citizens might feel irritated because of rising temperatures and they may use more electricity for air conditioning.
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