Effects of Urbanization on Extreme Warmest Night Temperatures During Summer near Bohai

Many previous studies have focused on the impacts of urbanization on regional mean temperatures. Relatively few have analyzed changes in extreme temperatures. Here, we examine the impact of urbanization on extreme warmest night temperatures from 33 stations in the Bohai area between 1958 and 2009. We compute the Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution of extreme warmest night temperatures and analyze long-term variations in its characteristic parameters. A new classification method based on the factor analysis of changes in extreme night temperatures is developed to detect the effects of urbanization in different cities. Of the three parameters that characterize the GEV distribution, the position parameter is the most representative of long-term changes in extreme warmest night temperatures. During the period of rapid urbanization (i.e., after 1978), all three parameters of the GEV distribution are larger for the urban station group than for the reference station group, so are the magnitudes of their variations, and the urban areas have been experiencing higher extreme warmest night temperatures with larger variability. Different types of cities in the Bohai area have all experienced an urban heat island effect, with an average urbanization effect of approximately 0.3℃ per decade.