Influence of a large urban park on the local urban thermal environment

Highlights: • We study the cooling effects of a large park and observed significant cooling effects. • The park was 0.6 to 2.8 °C cooler than the surrounding urban environment. • The park cooling was variable but could extend almost 1.4 km beyond the park's border. • Large differences in temperature exist both within the park and surrounding urban areas. • The air temperature differences depended strongly on land cover features of each site. Green areas in the city can greatly improve the outdoor thermal environment, as well as mitigate the urban heat island effect by reducing summer air temperature. In a context of climate change, with the expected increase in temperature and intensity of heat waves, cooling by green areas is set to become increasingly important. In this study, field observations were carried out to investigate the thermal performance of a large urban vegetated park and its influence on thermal environment of the surrounding urban areas in Beijing, China. Measurements were conducted along a selected path during three summer days with clear skies and light winds by mobile traverses. The results showed that the park was cooler than the surrounding urban areas both during the daytime and at night. The mean air temperature differences between the park and the surrounding areas were in the range of 0.6–2.8 °C at different times, with a maximum of 4.8 °C observed at midnight. The results also found that as the distance from the park border increased, the ambient air temperature exhibited a gradually increasing trend. This indicated the park has a cooling effect on the urban environments adjacent to the park, and this cooling effect extended approximately 1.4 km from the park boundary. The air temperature variations also depended strongly on the land cover characterizing the immediate environment of the measurement sites. Increasing the percent vegetation cover could significantly decrease air temperature, while the increase of percent impervious surface area would significantly increase it.