Characterization of the urban heat island at Buenos Aires city

BARRUCAND, MARIANA; CAMILLONI, INÉS; RUSTICUCCI, MATILDE

Phoenix, USA

Conferencia; 21st Conference on Climate Variability and Change; 2009

American Meteorological Society

The urban heat island effect in Buenos Aires is studied using data from the Buenos Aires Central Observatory (BACO) in the city and from the international airport at Ezeiza (EZE), 30 km southwest of the downtown area. Buenos Aires is one of the largest cities of the world. Although it population has been growing steadily during the last decades it was found the annual mean UHI and particularly the nocturnal annual mean UHI exhibits negative linear trends for 1960-2007. Changes in different parameters were explored to evaluate its possible relationship with these negative trends: atmospheric stability, cloud cover and wind intensity and direction. Results indicate that the negative trends in the annual mean nocturnal UHI could be in part explain by a reduction of clear sky conditions and calm frequency at the urban station and by a change in the low level regional circulation with larger frequencies of the urban heat plume affecting the rural station.