Environmental Systems and Societies

Internal Assessment

How does the change in land cover type (asphalt, urethan, artificial turf, bare soil, and grass) affect each of their surface temperature pattern in Hanoi, Vietnam, as measured using an infrared thermometer?

Environmental issue: Urban Heat Island effect due to the rise of urbanization

Urban Heat Island (UHI) refers to a metropolitan area that experiences much warmer temperature compared to its surrounding suburban areas (“Heat Island Impacts”). According to EPA, UHI effect can increase the annual mean air temperature up to 3°C. The raise in temperature can result in a range of adverse effects on human beings and the natural environment, from local to global scale.

Firstly, UHI can lead to major health risks by intensifying the heat waves within the city, increasing the heat related mortality rate up to 24.6% (Pyrgou et al). Moreover, UHI impact can expose the animal species to danger by disturbing their natural habitat. The higher surface temperature of pavements in the city warms up the rainwater running off to the habitats of aquatic species, causing a reduction in their reproduction rate and thermal stress (Dodds et al.453–60). Furthermore, UHI contributes to the wider environmental issues such as global climate change. The raise in temperature leads to greater energy demand, as evidenced by the research showing that 0.6°C of increase in air temperature can cause up to 2.0% of higher energy demand for cooling purposes (“Heat Island Impacts”). Consequently, the increase in emission of greenhouse gases accelerates global climate change by trapping heat to the Earth’s surface (“Ground-Level Ozone”)…