The urban climate of Itajubá/MG: study of the thermal field in a small city

• Grant number: 23/06816-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• End date: July 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Physical Geography
• Principal Investigator: Aline Pascoalino
• Grantee: Rafael Rodrigues Ferreira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Human action, especially since urbanization, has triggered changes in the climatic parameters of cities, directly affecting the health and well-being of the urban population. In recent years, the number of scientific research dedicated to the investigation of urban climate in small and medium-sized cities has been increasing, since they reproduce predatory environmental dynamics found in large cities. In this sense, this research aims to investigate the spatial configuration of the thermal field in the city of Itajubá/MG, in order to evaluate the influence of local geoecological and geourban attributes in the temporal-spatial variation of air temperature along the urban area and the rural surroundings near the city. For this purpose, episodes of atmospheric dynamics will be observed at different seasonal moments, collecting primary air temperature and relative humidity data at different, previously selected, points in the city using the mobile transects technique. The episodes referring to the data collection period will be analyzed based on the rhythmic analysis technique, while the data collected via transects will be the basis for the production of isotherms and isohygrids charts that will enable the thermohygrometric analysis of the city, as well as the identification of thermal differences between rural and urban areas, the manifestation (or not) of heat islands in the city and the variation of thermal comfort in the intraurban space of Itajubá/MG. With this, it is expected that the thermal field mapping of the city can contribute as a base material for the development of future public policies aimed at environmental planning in the municipality, with a view to improving the life quality of the population of Itajubá/MG.