The Urban Heat Island of San Antonio, Texas | Chapter 02 | Current Perspectives to Environment and Climate Change Vol. 2
This study aims to investigate the urban heat island (UHI) effect of San Antonio, Texas (USA), and its temporal changes over the time period 1991-2010. It is an extension of previous work that used historical air temperature data from 1946 to 1990. The study was designed to compare 20 years of daily air temperature records (1991-2010) of San Antonio, Texas (USA), with three small surrounding communities; New Braunfels, Poteet, and Boerne. These towns are all within 50 kilometers of San Antonio and have contemporary temperature records. Temperature differences between San Antonio and the surrounding communities indicate changes in the thermal environment due to urbanization. The results are as follows. The daily UHI intensity in autumn and winter is increasing and decreases in the spring and summer seasons. Autumn is the only season where the daily UHI intensity increased and spring is the only season where it decreased during the years 1991-2010. The results for Poteet and Boerne we...