Urban heat island in Shanghai, China

With rapid urbanization and industrialization, urban heat island effect in Shanghai is increasing. Based on the observed data, image data, and statistic data, temporal variation and spatial distribution of urban heat island and its relationship with urbanization factors in Shanghai was analyzed in this study. The results indicated the UHI index between urban and rural area increased with a rate of 0.2 Celsius degree per 10 years from 1959 to 2005, while that between urban and suburban decreased from 1995, that is to say, the heat island in Shanghai expanded. The increasing UHI index between urban and rural area and the decreasing UHI index between urban and suburb area are related to the increase trend of mean annual temperature among districts. The UHI in Shanghai is stronger in urban area, Minhang, Northeast and middle Songjiang, and South Jinshan. The distribution of UHI is well corresponding with the land use types, both urban area and 9 towns in Shanghai are all heat islands. A good logarithmic relationship was obtained between UHI index and the number of operating buses, area of building completed, area of paved road and gross domestic product, and a good linear relationship was occurred between UHI index and the final consumption of energy by industry, power consumption of industry, total registered population and area of cultivated land.