Describe why cities are generally warmer than surrounding rural areas

Question

What will be the ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER: For more than 100 years, it has been known that cities are generally warmer than surrounding rural areas. This region of city warmth, known as the urban heat island, can influence the concentration of air pollution. The urban heat island is due to industrial and urban development. In rural areas, a large part of the incoming solar energy evaporates water from vegetation and soil. In cities, where less vegetation and exposed soil exists, the majority of the Sun’s energy is absorbed by urban structures and asphalt. Hence, during warm daylight hours, less evaporative cooling in cities allows surface temperatures to rise higher than in rural areas. At night, the solar energy (stored as vast quantities of heat in city buildings and roads) is slowly released into the city air. Additional city heat is given off at night (and during the day) by vehicles and factories, as well as by industrial and domestic heating and cooling units. The release of heat energy is retarded by the tall city walls that do not allow infrared radiation to escape as readily as do the relatively level surfaces of the surrounding countryside. The slow release of heat tends to keep nighttime city temperatures higher than those of the faster cooling rural areas.?