Scientists from Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) and Dubna State University have studied in detail the long-term changes and annual course of the Moscow “heat island” over the past 30 years. They found that, unlike other megacities in the world, the temperature level in the Russian capital remained stable. Moscow State University reported this to socialbites.ca.
The “heat island” is a meteorological phenomenon in which the temperature of urban areas is significantly higher than the surrounding suburbs. In some cases, the difference can be up to 10-15°C.
According to scientists, the Moscow “heat island” stabilized due to natural and socio-economic factors. The weather in the capital remains relatively constant, and the level of plant mass is responsible for transpiration, the process of evaporation of moisture from the stems and leaves. In addition, city temperature is also affected by deindustrialization, where residents are gradually moving from “old Moscow” to new suburbs, as well as large factories are closed or moved out of the city.
“Air temperature in 1991-2020. it grew rapidly and at approximately the same pace both in Moscow and in the Moscow region. Therefore, over the last 20-30 years there have been no statistically significant, directional changes in the density of the Moscow “heat island” both in the air and at the surface,” the Moscow State University Geographer, who conducted the study, told socialbites.ca.
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