Understanding the impact of urban expansion and lake shrinkage on summer climate and human thermal comfort in a land-water mosaic area

In comparison, urban expansion with lake shrinkage showed a reduced magnitude of warming of 0.8 degrees C and increased magnitude of drying of 1.6 g/kg, with the maximum changes up to 1.4 degrees C and 2.0 g/kg. The presence of water bodies reduced while urban expansion increased the frequency of occurrence of yellow and orange heat alert days; however, both increased the number of days exerting high thermal risks on outdoor workers and those days that were dangerous for outdoor pedestrians.

Our study underlined that both urban expansion and water body existence exerted a strong influence on summer climate and heat stress in Wuhan, and highlighted that mitigation measures should be taken to alleviate the deleterious impacts of high temperature and humidity on human health.