Case study · US
Phoenix urban heat
Arizona
A desert city that stores heat in asphalt and roofs. The sea breeze lab’s urban-heat toggle, at city scale.
Locator · OpenStreetMap / OpenFreeMap · 33.45°, -112.07°
An urban heat island is a surface-energy-budget story. Dark, dry materials absorb shortwave, emit longwave, and lack the evaporative cooling of vegetation. Nights stay warmer than the surrounding desert. Phoenix is a clear US example; a UK school playground is a small one.
The thermal-circulation lab’s two columns — heat one, watch the loop — is the physics. Land–sea breeze is the coastal cousin. Urban heat is the dry, paved cousin.
Exam-style question
Explain why a city can stay warmer than surrounding desert at night, using albedo and latent heat.
Teacher hint: Low albedo, little evapotranspiration, stored heat released as longwave at night.
Process labs
Sources
- NOAA / NWS urban heat