St. Andrews UHI experiment, January 11, 2008

St. Andrews seen from southeast January 11, 2008.

The general weather situation, measurement equipment and measurement route

The weather was pleasant with patches of frost on the ground. Air temperatures was around 3^oC, and the sky almost clear. Winds were light from southwest, about 0.5-1.5 m/s. 

A thermistor mounted inside a radiation shield was attached to the roof of a car (c. 1.5 m above terrain), and temperatures were logged at 2 sec. intervals. The time given in the diagrams below is according to normal winter zonal time. The measurements were carried out for a route passing through the city from west to southeast, as shown by the map below.

St. Andrews is located at 56^o20'N 2^o50'W, on the east coast of Scotland. The present number of inhabitants is about 14,000 (2007). There is no official meteorological station located in St. Andrews; neither are there any major factories or heat generating industries located in St. Andrews. St. Andrews is on the other hand famous for the invention of golf and for having the famous University of St. Andrews, the oldest university in Scotland, third oldest in UK.

Map showing location of the measurement route (yellow). The map measures 12 km from west to east. The altitude ranges from 5 to 60 m asl., highest at the endpoints of the traverse.

Results

Result of temperature traverse 11 January 2008: Starting in rural landscape west of St. Andrews, passing through St. Andrews, and ending in rural landscape southeast of the town. Winds were from southwest, wherefore there is no temperature influence from the nearby sea (see map above). The maximum urban heat island effect of St. Andrews was about 0.8^oC.