Urban Heat Island:
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, a Urban Heat Island is an urban area that experiences much hotter temperatures compared to rural areas. The urban heat island effect is most noticeable during the summer time.
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Urban heat island can come in different forms, but the two most well known are Surface heat island and Atmospheric heat island. Surface heat island happens when the sun can heat dry, exposed urban surfaces, like roofs and pavement, to temperatures 50 to 90°F (27 to 50°C) hotter than the air. Atmospheric heat island occur when the air temperature of an urban landscape is being compared to air temperature of an rural environment.
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Urban heat islands can be caused by reduced vegetation. Without the shade of the trees, the buildings and surrounding objects will absorb more sunlight. Other areas that tend to cause urban heat island would be the different materials that are used to build buildings, sidewalks, and etc. This is due to the materials having a darker color. Materials with darker colors such as rooftops, roads, and sidewalks have a much lower solar reflection.
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Urban heat island creates problems such as increased consumption of energy (keeping temperatures cool with air conditioning), elevated emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases (trapped air and gases rises the temperatures to extraordinary heights), compromised human health (increasing discomfort, heat cramps, breathing in air pollution, exhaustion, possibly fatal morality), and impaired water quality (causing aquatic life that live in colder water conditions to die out because of certain requirements such as reproduction).
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Solutions to counteract urban heat island effect would be increasing trees and vegetation, installing both green and cool roof tops, installing cool pavements, and implementing smart growth
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