Accounting for atmospheric stability conditions in urban heat island studies: The case of Glasgow, UK

• Stability effects are analyzed on ambient urban–rural temperature differences.
• Consistent warming pattern between the farthest weather station and the group mean.
• Urban-vs-rural differences not particularly affected with more stable conditions.
• Intra-urban differences affected by atmospheric stability.

We evaluate the effect of atmospheric stability on seasonal ambient temperature differences between a pair of urban and rural weather stations (Urban Heat Island effect) and day/night intra-urban differences between a set of temperature/relative humidity (T/RH) stations in Glasgow, UK. The purpose is to estimate the background atmospheric effects on urban-vs-rural (UHI) as well as intra-urban differences in temperatures so that the effect of urban morphology in terms of local sky view factor (SVF) on local climate can be more clearly observed in high latitude cities such as Glasgow. For the UHI analysis, we used a pair of fully equipped weather stations and for the analysis of intra-urban temperature differences a string of T/RH data loggers located across Glasgow on a N-S transect. The measurement period was classified into three different atmospheric stability groups according to the modified Pasquill–Gifford–Turner (PGT) classification system. A consistent warming pattern was observed both between the farthest T/RH weather station and the group mean (intra-urban stations), although the UHI itself (in terms of temperature and comfort/discomfort levels) was not particularly affected by the choice of more stable conditions for analysis according to the PGT scheme. Urban planning implications of these findings are explored in the paper.