Urban Signatures: Latent Heat Flux

Abstract:: Big cities influence the environment around them. For example, urban areas are typically warmer than their surroundings. Cities are strikingly visible in computer models that simulate the Earths land surface. This visualization shows latent heat flux predicted by the Land Information System (LIS) for a day in June 2001. Latent heat flux is lower in the cities because there is less evaporation there. Only part of the global computation is shown, focusing on the highly urbanized northeast corridor in the United States, including the cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington.

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Urban Signatures: Sensible Heat Flux (WMS)

Abstract:: Big cities influence the environment around them. For example, urban areas are typically warmer than their surroundings. Cities are strikingly visible in computer models that simulate the Earths land surface. This visualization shows sensible heat flux predicted by the Land Information System (LIS) for a day in June 2001. Sensible heat flux is higher in the cities--that is, they transfer more heat to the atmosphere--because the surface there is warmer than in the surroundings. Only part of the global computation is shown, focusing on the highly urbanized northeast corridor in the United States, including the cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington.

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Abstract:: Big cities influence the environment around them. For example, urban areas are typically warmer than their surroundings. Cities are strikingly visible in computer models that simulate the Earths land surface. This visualization shows average surface temperature predicted by the Land Information System (LIS) for a day in June 2001. Only part of the global computation is shown, focusing on the highly urbanized northeast corridor in the United States, including the cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington.