Cities are getting hotter: Study -- Global Warming, Climate Change

From: Psalm 110 (Melchizedek_at_USA.com)
Date: 06/20/04 

Date: 19 Jun 2004 17:27:38 -0700

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/745542.cms

Cities are getting hotter: Study

AGENCIES[ FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2004 11:28:20 PM ]

PARIS: Sweaty summer nights in the city are going to get even sweatier
in the future thanks to climate change, according to a study by a top
British expert.

Cities are hotter than the surrounding countryside because they
receive more heat through traffic pollution. Tarmac and concrete store
up heat efficiently during daytime and release it gradually over the
course of the night,whereas fields and forests give up their stored
heat quickly.

This effect, called the ''urban heat island'', will greatly intensify
if the gloomiest scenarios about global warming come true, according
to Richard Betts of the Met office's Hadley Centre for Climate
Prediction.

A doubling of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere could triple the
intensity of the heat island effect, according to his study, reported
in New Scientist.

In the case of London, there have been only 20 nights in the past 30
years when the minimum temperature failed to fall below 20 degrees C.
Under Betts' scenario, this would happen six times more often,
equivalent to an extra three nights per year, with the risk of
inflicting ''quite significant effects'' on human health. A prolonged
heatwave in Europe last August caused at least 20,000 deaths.

Global warmingis the term usedfor agradual heating of the Earth's
surface by greenhouse gases -- carbon pollution from oil and other
fossil fuels that traps the Sun's heat instead of letting it radiate
safely back out into space.

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