LAUSR

AbstractIncorporating satellite-based urban surface data for the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s in China, contributions to regional warming, and changes in the precipitation due to urban surface expansion were explored using the nested Fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–NCAR Mesoscale Model version 3.7 (MM5V3.7) with urban effects considered. The impact on surface air temperature at 2 m (SAT) due to urban surface expansion between the 1980s and the 2010s revealed that annual urban-related warming was lower over East Asia (0.031°C) and China (0.075°C) but higher in eastern China (0.14°C), which experienced dramatic urbanization. Greater warming could be detected over urban surface areas in the three city clusters [Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) and the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas (YRD and PRD, respectively)], which reached 1.06°, 0.84°, and 0.92°C, respectively. Urban-related warming was not limited to a single city or city clusters but extended over a SAT-increased belt that covered the easter...