Velazquez-Lozada, A., Gonzalez, J. E., and Winter, A., 2006. Urban heat island effect analysis in San Juan,
Puerto Rico. Atmospheric Environment 40, 1731-1741.
Abstract:
A climatological analysis of the differences of air temperature between rural and urban areas (dT(U–R)) corroborates
the existence of an urban heat island (UHI) in the tropical coastal city of San Juan, Puerto Rico that has been increasing at
a rate of 0.06 1Cyear1 for the last 40 years with predicted differences as high as 8 1C for the year 2050. The Regional
Atmospheric Model System (RAMS) was used to validate the presence of this UHI and to simulate and compare three
different land use scenarios consisting of potential natural vegetation, present, and projected future to quantify the impact
of the urban development in the regional climate of Puerto Rico. RAMS simulated the UHI conditions at the lower and
upper atmosphere revealing significant changes in sensible heat fluxes and sinks, and an increasing low turbulent-kineticenergy
zone (LTKEZ) over the urbanized area of San Juan.