The urban climate of small towns in the west of São Paulo: analysis of the thermal characteristics of Presidente Venceslau, Santo Anastácio and Álvares Machado, Brazil

Abstract

This research investigated the urban climate of cities in the tropical environment located in the west of São Paulo (President Venceslau, Santo Anastácio and Álvares Machado), with emphasis on atmospheric heat islands. Despite the proximity between cities and considering the regional circulation of the atmosphere, we assumed that they would respond to the performance of atmospheric systems in a different way due to climate peculiarities that are strictly dependent on their geoenvironmental (relief, relief orientation, vegetation cover) and urban attributes (land use and occupation, structure, manners and urban dynamics). The theoretical-methodological basis of this research was the Urban Climate System proposal, with emphasis on the thermodynamic subsystem, perceived by people through thermal comfort. The geoenvironmental and urban characterization enabled to differentiate the intra-urban environments prior to the acquisition of primary data by the mobile transect. The results, represented through multicriteria spatial modeling, allowed the diagnosis of thermal anomalies in intra-urban areas, taking as reference the nearby rural environments, diagnosing the specific urban climate of these cities expressed by heat islands of weak and very strong magnitudes. It was proven that cities respond differently to the action of atmospheric systems acting in the climate region.