Trees Can Help Cool Down Cities By Up To 12 Degree Celsius, Study Claims

It's no surprise that trees are nature's regulators - offering us clean air to breathe in while keeping the temperatures bearable. Regardless, humans have proceeded to erase trees from the face of Earth in hopes of making profit.

Now, a research posits that trees can reduce land surface temperature in cities by up to 12 degree Celsius. Published in the journal Nature Communications, the group analysed images from satellites for hundreds of cities in Europe and learned that tree-heavy streets have cooler temperatures.

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Trees cool our cities

Cities are usually hotter than surrounding areas owing to asphalt and cement that are heat absorbent. The satellites analysed by researchers were equipped with surface temperature sensors over 293 cities in Europe. For comparison, they compared urban areas heavy on trees with areas without trees. They also did the same for rural areas.

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Turns out, urban areas that had more trees were two to four times cooler than similar areas nearby with no tree cover. In Southern Europe, the difference was between 0 to 4 degrees, while in Central Europe, the difference was as high as 9 to 12 degrees.

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Not only do trees provide shade, but also keep the ground cooler due to this shade. This, in turn, helps reduce surface temperatures in multiple ways. By extrapolation, having trees in urban areas can help regulate temperatures and keep our cities cool in the face of global warming.

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What do you think - do our cities have enough trees? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of tech and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.

Citation

Yirka, B. (2021, November 26). Trees found to reduce land surface area temperatures in cities up to 12¡ãC. Phys.Org.