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Geography - Urbanisation > Urban microclimates > Flashcards

Urban microclimates Flashcards

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1
Q

How much warmer are urban areas to the surrounding rural area?

A

0.5-0.8

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2
Q

What is general rule for the effects of buildings in urban areas?

A

The effects of buildings extend downwind by ten-times the height of the buildings

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3
Q

As a result of the general rule for the effects of buildings in urban areas, how much windier are urban areas to rural areas?

A

30%

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4
Q

What are the 3 urban air pollution reduction strategies?

A

Legalisation
Vehicle restriction
Technical innovations

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5
Q

How can legalisation reduce air pollution?

A

Strict controls on emissions
Smoke-free controls
Clean air act
Air quality targets are set and monitored by DEFRA

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6
Q

What are the advantages of legalisation?

A

People will be obliged to obey as consequences will be enforced if rules are broken - this will evidently reduce air pollution as people must follow

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7
Q

What are the disadvantages of legalisation?

A

Difficult to enforce - can take a long time
Expensive
Unfair of LIC

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8
Q

How can vehicle restrictions reduce air pollution?

A

It can reduce the number of vehicles in central urban areas
Park and ride schemes
Congestion charge
Development of GPS to monitor

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9
Q

What are the advantages of vehicle restrictions?

A

The reduction of vehicles on the road will bring down pollution in urban areas
Reduced crashes
Less traffic - quicker journeys
Congestion charge will encourage less people to drive

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10
Q

What are the disadvantages of vehicle restrictions?

A

Inconvenience
Contentious
Strain on public transport

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11
Q

How can technical innovations reduce air pollution?

A

Through industrial pollution controls using filters, lead-free petrol, catalytic converter, development of hybrid electric

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12
Q

What are the advantages of technical innovations?

A

By using filters it reduces toxins

Development of catalytic converters provides entrepreneur opportunities

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13
Q

What are the disadvantages of technical innovations?

A

Unfair of LICs

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14
Q

What does Albedo define as?

A

The reflectivity of a surface. It is the ratio between the amount of incoming insolation and the amount of energy reflected back into the atmosphere.

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15
Q

What has a greater albedo lighter or darker surfaces?

A

Light surfaces as they reflect more

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16
Q

What is photochemical pollution?

A

A form of air pollution that occurs mainly in cities and can be dangerous to health.

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17
Q

How is photochemical pollution formed?

A

Exhaust fumes become trapped by temperature inversions and, in the presence of sunlight, low-level zones forms. It is associated with high-pressure weather systems

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18
Q

What is a temperature inversion?

A

An atmospheric conditions in which, usually, increases with height

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19
Q

Why do inversions trap pollution in the lower layers of the atmosphere?

A

Because they are extremely stable conditions and do not allow convection

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20
Q

What is the urban heat island?

A

The zone around and above an urban area, which has higher temperatures than surround rural areas.

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21
Q

How much of an increase in precipitation is there in urban areas to the surround rural area?

A

5-10% increase

22
Q

How much of an increase in pollution is there in urban areas to surrounding rural areas?

A

1,000% increase

23
Q

Why are cities warmer than rural areas?

A

Surfaces in the city tend to be much less reflective than those in rural areas

24
Q

Why does the fact surfaces in the city being far less reflective than those in rural make the city warmer?

A

Building material have low albedo, and absorb large quantities of heat during the day which is slowly released at night
Air pollution from industries and vehicles increase cloud cover and creates a ‘pollution dome’
Impermeable surfaces dispose of water quickly
Heat is leaked from buildings

25
Q

What is reflect in urban areas which does heat up the city?

A

Windows - they concentrate the heating effect in the surrounding streets by reflecting energy downwards

26
Q

How does air pollution make the urban area warmer?

A

It creates more cloud cover which allows short-wave radiation but absorbs a large amount of the outraging radiation as well as reflecting it back to the surface

27
Q

Why does the fact the surfaces are impermeable in urban areas make the area warmer?

A

Because it changes the urban moisture and heat budget - evapotranspiration means that more energy is available to heat the atmosphere

28
Q

Why is the urban heat island a matter of concern?

A

Vulnerable groups like those who have asthma will be affected by the warmer temperatures
High pollution levels
Strain on supply of energy for air - conditioning
Increased water consumption because of heat - strain - water restrictions?
More plants - hay fever
Climate change

29
Q

Why high pollution levels greater in urban areas?

A

Chemical reactions that produce ozone and smog are accelerated by high temp while the lower wind speeds keep heat and pollution trapped in city

30
Q

What are the strategies for managing urban heat island?

A 
Cool surfaces 
Green roofs
Urban greening 
Sky view factor
Cool cars
31
Q

How does cool surfaces act as a strategy for managing the urban heat island?

A

Cool roofs built from materials with high albedo store less solar energy during the day - not major emitters of heat

32
Q

How does green roods act as a strategy for managing the urban heat island?

A

Reduce rainwater run-off, act as an insulators and increase urban biodiversity by providing habitat spaces

33
Q

How does urban greening act as a strategy for managing the urban heat island?

A

Planting trees and vegetation provides shade having a natural cooling effect
Trees are a carbon store, filter pollutants
Reduce flooding through intercepting rainfall

34
Q

How does sky view factor act as a strategy for managing the urban heat island?

A

Lets heat escape

35
Q

What is the sky view?

A

It describes the relative openness between buildings in an urban area - narrow streets have a restricted sky view

36
Q

Why is restricted sky view not good for the urban heat island?

A

It reduces the escape of heat from street and building surfaces

37
Q

How does cool cars act as a strategy for the urban heat island?

A

A lighter coloured car shell reflects more sunlight than a traditional dark shell - this cools the inside of the car and reduced the need for air conditioning

38
Q

What did a recent study find about ‘car cooling’?

A

After parking in the sun for an hour, a silver Honda Civic had a cabin air temp about 5-16 degrees lower than an otherwise black shell car

39
Q

Why is precipitation higher over urban areas than rural areas?

A

Urban heat island develops convection
High-rise buildings increases vertical motion of winds
City pollution can increase cloud formation (condensation nuclei)
Increased production of water vapour through industrial sources

40
Q

Why does city pollution increase chance of rainfall?

A

Through pollutants which are hygroscopic (water attracting)

41
Q

What is channelling?

A

Wind redirected down long straight canyon-like streets where there is less friction (sometimes known as urban canyons)

42
Q

What is the Venturi effect?

A

The squeezing of wind into an increasingly narrow gap resulting a pressure decrease and velocity increase

43
Q

What are the main effects which buildings have on wind?

A

Uneven surfaces cause turbulence as wind is forced around them
Exert a frictional drag through rigid surfaces - slower wind speed

44
Q

What is case study of an area ‘coping with the wind’?

A

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai

45
Q

What is the Burj Khalifa?

A

The tallest building in the world

46
Q

At what speeds of wind is the Burj Khalifa built to withstand?

A

240km per hour

47
Q

How has the Burj Khalifa been modified to cope with wind?

A

Softened edges deflect wind around
The structure prevents whirl whirlpools being formed
Its been orientated relative to the prevailing wind direction

48
Q

What are the Amin strategies to reduce the number of cars in urban areas?

A 
Mass transit system
Park and ride
Banning cars from driving on certain days and alternating between cars with licence plates that end in uneven or even numbers 
Greater provision for cyclists
Road schemes like the urban bypass 
Bus lanes 
Congestion charge
49
Q

What is an example of a mass transit system?

A

Metrolink in Manchester

50
Q

What is an example of an area with greater provision for cyclists?

A

‘Snake’ bridge I’m Copenhagen

51
Q

What is an example of an urban congestion charge?

A

London in 2003

Geography - Urbanisation (9 decks)

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