Urban-rural temperature differences in Buenos Aires

The hourly temperature differences between Buenos Aires City and Ezeiza Airport were calculated using 3 years of data. This paper describes statistical results on the Buenos Aires urban heat island and how it varies with days of the week, seasons, cloud cover, direction and speed of wind. The average value of the maximal heat island fell in winter from 4.6°C with light winds and little sky coverage to 3.6°C with windy and cloudy conditions. Strong winds from the city toward rural areas and winds from the river over the city facilitated the occurrence of an inverse heat island (rural area warmer than city). The inverse heat island occurred 20% of the time over a total of 22 000 hours studied. Another important factor seems to be the great activity of the city; the average value of the maximal heat island fell between weekdays and weekends 1°C with weak winds and little sky coverage conditions. The hourly average values were analyzed depending on the days of the week.