Effect of COVID-19 Lockdown on Urban Heat Island Dynamics in Prague, Czechia

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68378289%3A_____%2F24%3A00585460" target="_blank" >RIV/68378289:_____/24:00585460 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/60460709:41330/24:98111

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/16/7/1113" target="_blank" >https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/16/7/1113</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/rs16071113" target="_blank" >10.3390/rs16071113</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Effect of COVID-19 Lockdown on Urban Heat Island Dynamics in Prague, Czechia

Original language description

Urban heat islands (UHI) are a well-known phenomenon adversely affecting human health and urban environments. The worldwide COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 provided a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of decreased emission of air pollution and anthropogenic heat flux (AHF) on UHI. Although studies have suggested that reduced AHF during lockdown decreased atmospheric UHI (AUHI) and surface UHI (SUHI), these results contain inherent uncertainties due to unaccounted weather variability and urban-rural dynamics. Our study comprehensively analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on AUHI and SUHI in Prague, Czechia. By selecting days with similar weather conditions, we examined changes in mean SUHI using MODIS satellite images and in AUHI based on air temperature from Prague weather stations for the Lockdown period during March-April 2020 versus a Reference period from March-April 2017-2019. Our results show that, in comparison to the Reference period, the Lockdown period was associated with a 15% (0.1 degrees C) reduction of SUHI in urbanized areas of Prague and a 0.7 degrees C decline in AUHI in the city center. Additionally, the observed decreases in satellite-based aerosol optical depth and nitrogen dioxide by 12% and 29%, respectively, support our hypothesis that the weakened UHI effects were linked to reduction in anthropogenic activities during the lockdown. Revealing the largest decrease of mean SUHI magnitude around the periphery of Prague, which has predominantly rural land cover, our study emphasizes the need to consider the effects of urban-rural dynamics when attributing changes in SUHI to AHF. Our findings provide additional insights into the role of reduced anthropogenic activities in UHI dynamics during the COVID-19 lockdown and offer policymakers a comprehensive understanding of how the complex interaction between urban and rural microclimate dynamics influences the SUHI phenomenon.

Czech name

—

Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10510 - Climatic research

Project

<a href="/en/project/GA22-24920S" target="_blank" >GA22-24920S: Links between weather, epidemics and seasonal mortality patterns</a><br>

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2024

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Remote Sensing

ISSN

2072-4292

e-ISSN

2072-4292

Volume of the periodical

16

Issue of the periodical within the volume

7

Country of publishing house

CH - SWITZERLAND

Number of pages

19

Pages from-to

1113

UT code for WoS article

001201062900001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85190291861