Monday, February 18, 2013

Expanding Temperatures in China

     China has been experiencing incredible growth since its economic reforms in 1978, though this has been accompanied by severe environmental impacts. One way to measure these impacts is through surface temperature.  Urbanization, which has been occurring rapidly in China, results in the change of land use and temperature. Urban areas, due to the high volumes of concrete and other impervious surfaces, tend to store more heat than rural areas. The increase in surface temperature is most noticeable in areas that were previously used for the main purpose of agriculture, such as the Zhujiang ('Pearl River') Delta.



   


















     The delta has a subtropical climate. Average precipitation ranges from 1600 - 260mm, of which 80% occurs during April - September. Flooding is common, making the Zhujiang Delta one of China's richest agricultural areas. From 1989 to 1997, 12.82% of the land in the Zhujiang Delta has been converted from farms and cropland to urban areas. GIS shows that the areas experiencing urban expansion correlated with those that were experiencing increasing surface temperatures. The Delta's surface temperature increased by 13.01K, demonstrating that changes in one part of the environment can have effects on other parts, as well. This study has also provided alternative and more efficient means of researching environmental impacts without having to collect field data or preform empirical observations.



Weng, Q. "A Remote Sensing-GIS Evaluation of Urban Expansion and Its Impact on Surface         Temperature in the Zhujiang Delta, China." International Journal of Remote Sensing 22.10 (2001): 1999-2014. Web.

     
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3 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 18, 2013 at 2:51 PM

    I'm really seeing a trend throughout the world. While I find it amazing that technology and urbanization is on the rise, it definitely has its pros and cons. A pro is that technology allows for less physical labor by people. A con is that with urbanization comes the elimination of grass and trees which results in temperature rise due to lack of shade coverage and direct exposure to the sun.

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  2. Ivan CruickshankFebruary 21, 2013 at 7:48 PM

    This is a similar situation to that of mapping micro-urban heat islands in Dallas, showing that there are flaws in urbanization like land cover and deforestation; which both lead to rises in temperatures. The area is probably getting a lot less rainfall now that it is much hotter and the increased land cover is also probably causing ground water levels to lower. This could damage the environment around the areas of increased temperature.

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  3. KaliMarch 6, 2013 at 1:09 AM

    This is a really interesting example of the effects man can have when he changes the environment. The Pearl River Delta is considered one of the most polluted areas in China. However, I wish the data was in more user friendly units (instead of millimeters and Kelvin).

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