URBANIZATION EFFECTS ON THE MICROCLIMATE OF MANAUS: A MODELING STUDY

abstract Article history:Received 6 February 2015Received in revised form 13 August 2015Accepted 24 August 2015Available online 31 August 2015Keywords:UrbanizationUrban heat islandAmazonAtmospheric modeling Activitiesassociatedwithlanduseandlandcoverchangesandurbanizationinducelocalimpacts,suchaschang-es in atmospheric composition in water and energy balances and changes in the ecosystem. Therefore, morestudies are needed to evaluate the possible relationship between urban growth and local and regional changes.In the last 30 years, the population of Manaus grew by over 500%, with approximately 1.9 million inhabitantsin2010.TryingtounderstandtheeffectsoftheurbangrowthofthecityofManausonitsmicroclimateandatmo-spheric processes, the present study aims to evaluate the possible physical mechanisms relatedto the urbaniza-tion process observedthrough a study of atmospheric modeling. The results allowedto assess that the presenceoftheurbanareasignificantlymodifiesthesurfaceenergybalance(SEB),generatingathermalgradientbetweenthecityandthesurroundingregions,favoringtheformationandintensificationoflocalatmosphericcirculations.The results indicated that with urban growth there is an increase in temperature, decrease in the atmosphericwatercontentandsignificantchangesintheflowatlowlevels,mainlyinthebreezecirculations,withsignificantchangesobservedinthestructureandcharacteristicoftheplanetaryboundarylayer(PBL)overthestudyarea.Apositive correlation between the increase of the urban area and increased rainfall was also observed. From theresults, it was possible to observe that there is a direct relationship between urban growth and changes in thelocal microclimate in Manaus.© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.