Evidence of the effect of an urban heat island on air quality near a landfill

In Guadeloupe (French West Indies), the main municipal solid waste is surrounded by highly urbanized areas. An urban heat island (UHI) behavior has been identified in the landfill environment. It has been measured and its intensity (up to more than 4 °C) has been shown to be negatively correlated with nebulosity and Tradewinds strength. Conditions for urban breeze detection have been examined. The breeze westerly direction brought some cool air over the urban area. The urban breeze generated by this UHI should also be responsible for a nocturnal pollution from the VOCs emitted by the landfill. Two different methods have been proposed for the breeze intensity estimation. The calculated breeze intensity values, about 1 m s−1, was of the same order of magnitude as measured wind data. Temperature measurements performed during 2 weeks have shown no occurrence of temperature gradients between sea and land air masses, able to generate other breeze processes in the studied area.