Pandemic takes heat off urban warming, study says
Urban warming results from cities creating and capturing heat. Now, new international research involving Western University is shedding light on how much of that is directly related to human activity. Researchers have known about -urban heat islands- since the late mid-19th century, as urban areas can have a difference in temperature of more than a degree compared to their surroundings. Pinpointing the exact cause of urban heat islands is a bit more difficult. When COVID-19 led to a shutdown in cities around the world, it provided an opportunity for researchers to measure the effects of human activities. Heat generated by human activities in urban areas - such as heating and cooling buildings, traffic, the use of electricity and industrial processes - are called anthropogenic heat fluxes. -The contribution of anthropogenic heat fluxes to urban warming is typically mixed with warming from other factors, and these heat fluxes themselves are very difficult to measure accurately,- said James Voogt, a professor in the department of geography and environment and co-author of the new study that measured urban heat islands published in Geophysical Research Letters.
