Vertical extension of the urban heat island above Moscow

Abstract

The vertical extension of the urban “heat island” (UHI) has been studied on the basis of long-term data of contact air temperature measurements at three places for the example of Moscow. The existence of steady thermal anomaly related to the city in the form of a UHI in the surface layer at any time of the day and also the existence of a cold layer over it at heights higher than 100 m at night were confirmed. The mean daily altitudinal extension of this anomaly is approximately 300 m.