The increasing trend of the urban heat island intensity

This paper examines the urban heat island intensity in detail in the city of Manchester, UK. An increasing intensity is found over time. The urban heat island intensity (UHII) data is examined in more detail giving relationships between weather parameters, cloud cover, wind speed and the urban morphology. The urban heat island intensity in Manchester has a highly significant rising trend which by the end of the century could add 2.4 K to the average annual urban temperature, on top of the predicted climate change increase. An analysis of the urban morphology showed that the urban site had indeed become more urban over 9 years of the study, losing green spaces which mitigate against the UHII.