@article{8f9de1efb9394311ac48f2834b01f378,
title = "Urban Expansion and Drying Climate in an Urban Agglomeration of East China",
abstract = "Urban land expansion is one of the most conspicuous aspects of urbanization and has profound impacts on regional climate change. Most studies, however, focus on its impacts on surface temperature, and possible effects on atmospheric humidity are less known. By examining the humidity changes in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration of China during 1961–2014, we find a prominent urban dry island (UDI) effect in this urban agglomeration, as characterized by reduced humidity and increased vapor pressure deficit in the urban core area. In the past decades, the UDI effect has been significantly intensified by rapid urban land expansion. Urban expansion contributes to around half of the decrease in atmospheric humidity and the increase in vapor pressure deficit in urban areas. These effects are particularly stronger in wet hot summer and relatively weaker in cold dry winter. We suggest that the UDI effect should be considered in future urban planning, landscape design, and climate change assessment and mitigation.",
keywords = "atmospheric humidity, climate change, long-term trend, urban dry island, urban expansion, urbanization effect",
author = "Ming Luo and Lau, {Ngar Cheung}",
note = "Funding Information: This study is partially funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41871029 and 41401052) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (18lgzd04). The appointment of N.‐C. Lau at The Chinese University of Hong Kong is partially supported by the AXA research fund. Daily meteorological observations are collected from the China Meteorological Data Service Center (http://data.cma.cn). The time‐ varying land use/land cover maps are provided by the Data Center for Resources and Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (http:// www.resdc.cn). The authors are very grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and sug gestions on earlier version of the paper. Funding Information: This study is partially funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41871029 and 41401052) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (18lgzd04). The appointment of N.-C. Lau at The Chinese University of Hong Kong is partially supported by the AXA research fund. Daily meteorological observations are collected from the China Meteorological Data Service Center (http://data.cma.cn). The time-varying land use/land cover maps are provided by the Data Center for Resources and Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (http://www.resdc.cn). The authors are very grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions on earlier version of the paper. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright}2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.",
year = "2019",
month = jun,
day = "28",
doi = "10.1029/2019GL082736",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "46",
pages = "6868--6877",
journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",
issn = "0094-8276",
publisher = "American Geophysical Union",
number = "12",
}