Urbanization Effects on Surface Wind in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area Using a Fan-Sector Method

Bibliographic Data

ID15470644
AuthorsDong Xia (0000-0003-4571-2776, Macau University of Science and Technology, corresponding author), Huiwen Nie (Qinghai Meteorological Bureau), Lei Sun (0000-0003-0096-7804, Qinghai Meteorological Bureau), Jing Wang (0000-0002-7594-8539, Qinghai Meteorological Bureau), Kim‐Chiu Chow (0000-0003-2512-5670, Macau University of Science and Technology), Kim-Chiu Chow (State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Science, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau 999078, China), K L Chan (0000-0002-2032-3582), Kwing-Lam Chan (0000-0002-6428-1812, Macau University of Science and Technology), Donghai Wang (0000-0001-7261-8510, Macau University of Science and Technology)
Year2022
Volume19
Issue6
Pages3194-3194
Publication date2022-03-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1661-7827 • E-ISSN: 1660-4601
PublisherMultidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3390/ijerph19063194
PMID35328883
OpenAlexW4220812007
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited37

Surface wind directly affects human life, wind energy utilization, the atmospheric environment, and many other aspects. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) megalopolis is experiencing an accelerated progress of urbanization, which may result in the change in surface roughness and atmospheric characteristics. In this study, urbanization effects on surface wind speed (SWS) in the GBA megalopolis, particularly Zhuhai, is investigated by using long-term automatic meteorological measurements, ERA5 reanalysis, and nighttime light data. Results of the analysis show that the averaged SWS has decreased significantly at a rate of -0.53 m s -1 per decade over the past decades. With the help of observation-minus-reanalysis (OMR) method, which excludes the atmospheric circulation effects, we found that the decrease in SWS is mainly contributed by the increase in surface roughness, which may account for as much as 75.5% of the decrease. In other words, it is the rapid development of urbanization, rather than the change in large-scale circulation, that could be mainly responsible for the decrease over the GBA in the context of the increasing global SWS since 2010. In addition, a fan-sector method is established to quantitatively analyze the correspondences between urbanization and roughness changes. It is shown that the decrease in wind speed due to surface roughness change is significantly related to the increase in the nighttime light index (NLI) averaged over the 3 km upstream fan-sectors. Moreover, their correlation reaches to 0.36 (negative) when only accounting for the samples of NLI greater than 10. In general, the fan-sector method offers an additional option for assessing the urbanization effects on SWS

Atmospheric sciences · Bay · Climatology · Context (archaeology · Economic geography · Economic growth · Geography · Megalopolis · Meteorology · Surface roughness · Urbanization · Wind speed · Environmental Science · Impact of Light on Environment and Health · Materials Science · Urban Heat Island Mitigation · Wind and Air Flow Studies · Geology

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