Undergraduate Research: An Archive - 2021 Program
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Emma McMahon ’21<br />
GEOSCIENCES<br />
Certificate in Environmental Studies<br />
CLIMATE AND<br />
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE<br />
THESIS TITLE<br />
The Response of the<br />
Urban Heat Island to El<br />
Niño-Southern<br />
Oscillation<br />
ADVISER<br />
Gabriel Vecchi,<br />
Professor of<br />
Geosciences and the<br />
High Meadows<br />
Environmental Institute<br />
The Urban Heat Island (UHI) refers to the<br />
tendency of a city to be warmer than surrounding<br />
rural areas. El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)<br />
has been found to contribute to UHI variability.<br />
However, there are few studies in the literature<br />
that examine the relationship between the UHI<br />
and ENSO. We used a coupled climate model<br />
with an urban component to develop a more<br />
comprehensive study of UHI responses to ENSO<br />
on a regional scale. We focused on South Asia,<br />
investigating how the response of UHI to ENSO<br />
differs across different climate regimes and<br />
seasons within the region. We found that there<br />
is an urban cool island during both the arid<br />
pre-monsoon summer and the humid monsoon<br />
season in the mean state. El Niño intensifies this<br />
mean-state trend in humid regions and opposes<br />
it in arid regions. Inversely, La Niña intensifies<br />
the mean state in arid nighttime and opposes it<br />
in humid daytime.<br />
23
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