Effects of urbanization on climate of İstanbul and Ankara

Mehmet Karaca*, Mete Tayanç, Hüseyin Toros

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

95 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to study regional climate change and investigate the effects of urbanization on climates of two largest cities in Turkey: İstanbul and Ankara. Air temperature (mean, maximum and minimum) data of İstanbul and Ankara are analyzed to study regional climate change and to understand the possible effects of urbanization on the climate of these regions owing to industrialization and large flux of migration from rural parts of the country. For the trend analysis, linear regression and the sequential version of the Mann-Kendall test is used. A significant upward trend is found in the urban temperatures of southern İstanbul, which is the most highly populated and industrialized part of the city compared to its rural parts. Northern stations do not show any warming trend; instead, they have a cooling trend. Urbanization and industrialization in the southern part of İstanbul has a negative effect on regional cooling. In spite of Ankara's urban geometry and air pollution problem, the urban station in Ankara does not show any warming trend. A significant urban heat island intensity (urban-rural) is not observed in Ankara.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3411-3421
Number of pages11
JournalAtmospheric Environment
Volume29
Issue number23
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 1995

Keywords

  • Climate change
  • trend analysis
  • urban heat island

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