Jul 29 2004
From The Space Library
A NASA-funded study found that artificial surfaces in urban areas often cause temperatures to increase, enabling longer growing seasons in cities than in surrounding rural areas. Using data from NASA's Terra satellite, a team of Boston University scientists led by Xiaoyang Zhang compared the growing seasons of 70 North American cities with those of adjacent rural areas. The scientists discovered that the growing season in urban areas lasted nearly 15 days longer than the growing season in rural areas. In addition, the data revealed that urban climates affect vegetation located up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) from urban land cover. According to the scientists, high concentrations of artificial surfaces in urban areas cause surface temperatures to be relatively higher in urban areas than in surrounding rural areas. In addition, the scientists suggested that their findings demonstrated how land use and other human activities affect Earth's environment. (NASA, “NASA Plays Key Role in Largest Environmental Experiment in History,” news release 04-242, 27 July 2004; X. Zhang et al., “The Footprint of Urban Climates on Vegetation Phenology,” Geophysical Research Letters 31, no. 12 (25 June 2004): L12209.
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