Response- The Urban Heat Island Effect does exist: urban areas are warmer than rural areas, however, no significant number of independent studies has shown that the urban heat island effect is a primary cause of global temperature rise. Furthermore, data has been collected at both urban stations and in remote, rural stations, and graphs comparing temperature trends in both urban and rural areas show there is little variation in temperature trends, even if the exact values are different. The vast majority of climate data collected in a wide variety of locations around the world show a general trend of increasing temperatures. Finally, the urban heat island effect would primarily affect ground-based measurements in urban areas, but they would not affect satellite measurements. If the Urban Heat Island Effect was a primary cause of global warming, on satellite heat maps we would see areas with high levels of urbanization be affected the most by global warming, but in fact areas with little urbanization like Russia, Greenland, Alaska, and Northern Canada see the largest rises in temperature. The urban heat island effect does exist, but its impact on global climate change is minimal, and claims that climate change data is flawed are simply incorrect.

Graphics:

Data from four studies with rural and urban stations differentiated. The plot shows there is little difference in the measurements of rural and urban stations, and that multiple studies confirm the trend of increasing temperatures over the last half century. Image from Cook, J. July, 2015. "Does Urban Heat Island effect exaggerate global warming trends?”. Skeptical Science. 23 October 2017

Last modified: 30 October 2017