Richmond, Kentucky’s Urban Heat Island

Three geography students at Eastern Kentucky University studied urban climate in Richmond, Kentucky during summer 2005. Specifically, they investigated whether or not the city of Richmond generates an urban heat island. The urban heat island effect is the impact that cities have on local air temperature. In most cities, temperatures in and around built-up areas are higher than in surrounding rural areas, especially at night. The urban heat island effect has been studied in numerous cities around the world, but this is the first documented study of this type in Kentucky. Moreover, this project initiated a long-term effort to monitor changes in both the intensity and spatial extent of Richmond’s urban heat island as the city grows over time. Urban heat island studies are important because artificially elevated temperatures adversely affect thermally driven energy costs, human health and comfort levels, air pollution, various biotic processes, and the integrity of long-term temperature records. This study employed a fixed-point network of fifteen temperature stations located at sites that are representative of settings found in the Richmond area. All sites were located using Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and temperature data have been analyzed using statistical methods and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Initial observations show that temperature differences between stations are greatest at night when skies are clear and winds are light. Under ideal conditions, stations in downtown Richmond have recorded temperatures that were more than 7°C warmer than simultaneous observations at rural stations. For more information, visit http://people.eku.edu/yowd/uhisite/index.htm