Reconciling Debates on the Controls on Surface Urban Heat Island Intensity: Effects of Scale and Sampling
Jiameng Lai, Wenfeng Zhan, Jinling Quan, Zihan Liu, Long Li, Fan Huang, Falu Hong, Weilin Liao
Abstract
Abstract Variations in the surface urban heat island intensity (SUHII) are regulated mainly by three types of control: surface property, background climate (or weather) conditions, and overall urban metric. However, intensive debates arise over the relative importance of these three control types. Here, over 896 Chinese city clusters, we reconcile these debates by showing that the priorities of the three SUHII control types depend closely on the scale and sampling criteria, although they are all crucial in regulating SUHII variations. With increasing temporal scale, the contributions from climate (or weather) conditions decrease, while those from surface property and overall urban metric increase. We find no consistent ranking in the relative importance of these three control types on various spatial scales. The sampling style of city cluster also contributes to disagreements regarding SUHII controls. Our findings potentially help resolve the long‐standing debate on the relative importance of SUHII controls.