GIS-BASED SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF URBAN HEAT ISLAND IN FUKUOKA METROPOLITAN AREA

<p> This study provides the analytical results based on a geographic information system, i.e., GIS, for direct measurement data of air temperature near the land surface and the land-use data in the Fukuoka metropolitan area. The results visualized by GIS confirmed a typical heat island pattern of the surface air temperature to be seen more distinctly in nighttime. We proposed a new index called the temperature fluctuation intensity, indicating how the air temperature varies temporally compared to the mean value. The spatial patterns of the surface air temperature in nighttime and the thermal inertia estimated from the land-use categories were found to be correlated approximately with each other. In addition, we examined the meteorological condition when the temperature drop in the urban area occurs due to local winds such as the sea breeze. This results suggested that the clear temperature-drop appears under unstable meteorological conditions and it is generated by more localized winds. For the case of the clear temperature-drop, the intrusion time of the sea breeze is relatively late and the wind velocity varies rapidly.</p>