urban heat island

The aim of this paper is to experimentally investigate and analyze the thermal and optical behavior of a Green Roof System (GRS) installed in the 10000 m2 roof of a fully insulated, bioclimatic office building in Peania. More specifically, during the experimental procedure, measurements of the outdoor temperature and relative humidity have been performed, as well as of the air temperature inside the building and the surface temperature of the ceiling.

An urban park located in a densely built area of  Western Athens, Greece is monitored. Temperature data from 15 urban and suburban stations are also used to perform comparative analysis at the city level. The park presents an important temperature inhomogeneity during day and night due to the variable radiative cooling capacity and shading potential between its various zones. Average nocturnal Cool Island Intensities (CII) against the reference urban stations varied between – 0.7 K to – 2.8 K while during the daytime the maximum CII was between -0.2 to -2.6 K.

Increase of energy consumption and deforestation within cities has already begun raising average urbantemperature: this phenomenon is called urban heat island (UHL). A phenomenon in which there is aconsistent increase in urban air temperature and a decrease in the relative humidity as compare to ruralareas. Generally, research on this topic has been based on observational, theoretical and modelingapproaches.

Urban development is unavoidable as the result of country’s economic growth. Without a careful planning, a city may cause environment destruction. Singapore is known to have the best environmental quality in the world. However, in the previous research on