Opposite Effects of Aerosols on Daytime Urban Heat Island Intensity between Summer and Winter

Abstract. The urban heat island intensity (UHII) is the temperature difference between urban areas and their rural surroundings. It is commonly attributed to changes in the underlying surface structure caused by urbanization. Air pollution caused by aerosol particles can affect the UHII by changing the surface energy balance and atmospheric thermodynamic structure. By analyzing satellite data and ground-based observations collected from 2001 to 2010 at 35 cities in China and using the WRF-Chem model, we found that aerosols have very different effects on daytime UHII in different seasons: reducing the UHII in summer, but increasing the UHII in winter. The seasonal contrast in the spatial distribution of aerosols between the urban centers and the suburbs lead to a spatial discrepancy in aerosol radiative effect (SD-ARE). Additionally, different stability of the planetary boundary layer induced by aerosol is closely associated with a dynamic effect (DE) on the UHII. SD-ARE reduces the amount of radiation reaching the ground and changes the vertical temperature gradient, whereas DE increases the stability of the planetary boundary layer and weakens heat release and exchange between the surface and the PBL. Both effects exist under polluted conditions, but their relative roles are opposite between the two seasons. It is the joint effects of the SD-ARE and the DE that drive the UHII to behave differently in different seasons, which is confirmed by model simulations. In summer, the UHII is mainly affected by the SD-ARE, and the DE is weak, and the opposite is the case in winter. This finding sheds a new light on the impact of the interaction between urbanization-induced surface changes and air pollution on urban climate.