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• Spatially averaged near surface temperature.<br />

• REI for the near surface temperature and wind speed.<br />

• DTR, the minimum diurnal temperature and the maximum diurnal temperature.<br />

• UHI intensity and diurnal cycle.<br />

6.3.1 Effect <strong>of</strong> urban growth on the spatially average near surface potential temperature<br />

Table 6.6 shows the maximum variation in the near surface (z = 10 m) domain averaged<br />

potential temperature for the three series <strong>of</strong> simulations, for both night time (04:00) and<br />

daytime (12:00). This quantity was calculated as the difference in domain averaged near<br />

surface potential temperature <strong>of</strong> the most urbanised compared to the least urbanised<br />

simulation. Very little variation was found in the daytime near surface potential<br />

temperature for the series where the radial extent <strong>of</strong> the urban area is varied (RADIUS),<br />

whereas a much larger variation was seen for the DENSITY series. For both the RADIUS<br />

and DENSITY series a larger variation was seen during night time.<br />

Table 6.6: Comparison <strong>of</strong> the maximum variation in near surface potential temperature (%) for<br />

daytime and night time for each series <strong>of</strong> model runs.<br />

Maximum variation in near surface Maximum variation in near surface<br />

potential temperature (%) at 04:00 potential temperature (%) at 12:00<br />

RADIUS series 0.22 0.03<br />

DENSITY series 0.20 0.13<br />

COMBINED series 0.11 0.01<br />

For the COMBINED series, which represented both changes in radial extent and in urban<br />

grid cell density, the maximum change across the series in the mean potential temperature<br />

at 12:00 remained very small (0.01%) whereas the maximum change at night time was<br />

0.11%. These results must however be understood in the context <strong>of</strong> the much smaller<br />

variation in the mean urban land cover fractions which was covered by this series. For this<br />

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