城市热岛效应的研究进展与展望

随着世界各国城市化的进展,城市热岛效应已经成为一个跨学科领域的问题,受到包括大气环境、区域气候、水文和生态等多学科科学家的关注。在过去半个多世纪中,城市热岛问题的研究获得了相当丰富的研究成果,通过对这些成果的综合分析,归纳出城市热岛研究中采用的3类主要方法——观测(外场试验和遥感技术)、数值模拟以及实验室仿真法。系统地回顾了城市热岛效应的研究历史,重点对与城市热岛关系最密切的城市边界层、热岛环流与复杂地形的相互作用以及能量平衡研究所取得的成果进行了总结和评述。最后对城市热岛问题未来8个可能的研究方向进行了探讨,其中,包括沿海和复杂地形附近的城市热岛问题、城市群间热岛环流的相互作用、城市化与空气污染问题、城市热岛效应对平均降水的影响、城市化对雾和闪电的影响、城市天气预报的精细化、城市气候变化预测以及城市热岛效应减缓方案的制定,并对其发展前景进行了粗略的展望。

Recent advances in understanding urban heat island effects with some future prospects

With the rapid urbanization around the globe, the urban heat island (UHI) effects have become an interdisciplinary issue and were received considerable attention during the past 2-3 decades by scientists from different disciplines. In this article, the state of our knowledge on this subject is assessed in order to help guide future research in this rapidly growing field. First, we summarize the latest advances in observing various UHI effects through field experiments and remote sensing technology, and in developing the urban canopy models as well as computational fluid dynamical models. Then, we review recent achievements in understanding the UHI effects with more focuses on the urban boundary layer, their interactions with topographical driven circulations, and the urban surface energy budget. Finally, future prospects for several UHI research avenues are speculated, which include the UHI effects on regional climate, air pollution, precipitation, fog and lightning production, the improvement of urban weather forecasts, and the development of UHI mitigation measures.