Rola rzeźby terenu w kształtowaniu warunków termicznych i aerosanitarnych obszarów zurbanizowanych
Impact of landform on air temperature and pollution in urban areas

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents a summary and the most important results of studies on the climate of urbanised areas located in depressions (terrain concaves). First, publications on the role of landform in shaping urban thermal conditions are presented. This part of the study addresses issues related to, among others, katabatic flows, the urban heat island (UHI), and the relationships between UHI, the city’s bioclimate, and thermal inversions. Attention is drawn to publications on the subject in foreign and Polish cities, with particular emphasis on Kraków, Poland. The second part of the study focuses on the influence of landform on topoclimatic processes that affect the spread of air pollutants in urbanised areas. Meteorological factors influencing the concentration of pollutants in cities located in areas with varied terrain are indicated and discussed in the light of foreign and Polish studies. The influence of, among others, thermal inversions and atmospheric circulation at various spatial scales on the dispersion dynamics and concentration levels of air pollutants is emphasised. The structure of the urban boundary layer in areas with diversified orography is discussed – at night, the range of the night-time atmospheric stability layer is greater in concave terrain forms, and the nature of the city delays the development of radiation inversions, favouring the occurrence of raised inversions. Katabatic air flows occurring in valley cities are also discussed, often interacting with various types of buildings in urban areas, leading to both the modification of UHI intensity and the deterioration of the ventilation capacity of the area. Based on the current state of research, it should be stated that urbanised areas located in concave landforms are primarily exposed to increased heat load in the summer and to poorer conditions for pollutant dispersion, which may result in more frequent smog episodes compared to cities located on flat terrain.

• Details
• Contents