Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The overall result is quite conclusive: climatological stations that are located in
an environment dominated by man-made objects (dense built-up areas,
discontinuous urban materials, tarmac areas, etc) are associated with having higher
temperatures than any of the other stations. There is a positive correlation
coefficient, particularly for the months of April to July (inclusive), see Figure 2.12.
Conversely, climatological stations that are located in areas that are recognized by
CLC as being wooded areas (leafy) are associated with having lower temperatures
than the other stations; there is a negative correlation coefficient for the months of
June to September inclusive.
Open spaces induce negative coefficients all year around. In saying this,
however, the coefficients are weaker in winter (similar to the coefficients produced
by wooded areas) than in summer where the coefficient is closer to zero. This fact
alone suggests that crops and meadows might have a slight influence on
temperature. Farming zones have coefficients that are similar to the coefficients of
an urban area in winter. As spring time progresses the coefficients of the farming
zones become increasingly similar to those of open spaces.
Figure 2.12 provides information on the coefficients of the four different land
cover types for each month of the year and mainly represents the influence that
evapotranspiration has on temperature. During the winter months the different land
cover types each have a high humidity level, which is due to high rainfall in winter
and temperature decreases. The gap between the values of the coefficients for each
land cover type is at its lowest during the winter, with all of the values being closer
to zero.
Figure 2.12.
Correlation coefficients between CLC land cover
types for each month of the year
