Over the last decade, rapidly growing world energy consumption is leading to supply difficulties, exhaustion of fossil energy resources, and global environmental deterioration. More than one-third of energy expenditure is attributable to buildings. Urbanization is intensifying these trends with tighter spatial interrelationships among buildings. This is escalating building energy consumption due to the mutual impact of buildings on each other and, as a result, exacerbating Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects. I sought solutions to this significant engineering issue from nature, and discovered a similar heat island effect in flowers, namely the micro-greenhouse effect. However, a special cooling effect has been observed in a peculiar temperate flower, Galanthus nivalis, which generates cooler intrafloral temperatures. In this research, I studied the special retro-reflectance of the flower petals, which has been suggested as a possible contributor to this cooling effect, and implemented a bio-inspired retro-reflective pattern for building envelopes. I conducted cross-regional energy simulation of building networks in a dynamic simulation environment in order to examine its thermal-energy impact. I found that building surface temperatures dropped considerably when neighboring buildings were retrofitted with my bio-inspired retro-reflective facade. I concluded that my bio-inspired retro-reflective pattern for building envelopes; (1) lessens the reflected heat of solar radiation in spatially-proximal buildings leading to reduced UHI, and (2) reduces the energy required for cooling and, therefore, energy consumption. The research has further implications and contributions on building design, urban planning, development of retro-reflective technology, and environmental conservation. / Master of Science

Consequences of human activity in natural environments can be observed in urban phenomena. Urban Heat Island is one of those consequences, it is characterized by higher temperature levels in surface-cover and air in urban centers compared with its surrounding rural areas. UHIs are present in cities of arid ecosystems such as Phoenix and Tucson. Existing urban development trends contribute to UHI episodes. Urban Agriculture (UA) is an emerging environmental strategy and, contrary to traditional and industrial agricultural methods, UA systems provide the option of not using soil, its geometrical arrangement lets grow crops disregarding of extensive surface of land to be consumed. UA systems can be implemented as building fabric components. Urban Agriculture provides access to healthier and economic food, it is more energy efficient and promotes a more vegetarian diet which can eventually contribute diminishing health problems such as obesity and toxicity. A response for achieving a decrease in temperature levels in an urban arid region scenario can be established by demonstrating the following premise: "Urban Heat Island effect in arid regions can be mitigated if vegetated surface in the form of agriculture is properly integrated in the built environment". Research procedures were applied at building scale. Results involved physical objective data acquisition. Research methods required the use of software and thermodynamic tools to measure thermal behavior of samples. The impact of vegetated cover in temperature levels and thermal comfort in an outdoor scenario was digitally simulated. The selected research case contributed as a source of data for comparison and baseline benchmarking of thermodynamic circumstances. Employment of green infrastructure in cities can contribute to the improvement of energy efficiency in buildings and developing self-sufficient communities. Urban agriculture comprises implications and side beneficial environmental consequences in arid habitats beyond decreasing temperature levels in cities, such effects are energy conservation, reducing air pollution, diminishing food security concerns, improving soil quality and runoff wastewater as well as cutting down fossil fuel use in transportation of food. In that sense, future research fields include water quality and availability, innovative emerging materials, climate analysis, societal and cultural value, Net zero development and energy efficiency as well as solid waste management.

published_or_final_version / Mechanical Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

<p>As the world population continues to grow past seven billion people and global challenges continue to persist including resource availability, biodiversity loss, climate change and human well-being, a new science is required that can address the integrated nature of these challenges and the multiple scales on which they are manifest. Sustainability science has emerged to fill this role. In the fifteen years since it was first called for in the pages of Science, it has rapidly matured, however its place in the history of science and the way it is practiced today must be continually evaluated. In Part I, two chapters address this theoretical and practical grounding. Part II transitions to the applied practice of sustainability science in addressing the urban heat island (UHI) challenge wherein the climate of urban areas are warmer than their surrounding rural environs. The UHI has become increasingly important within the study of earth sciences given the increased focus on climate change and as the balance of humans now live in urban areas. </p><p>In Chapter 2 a novel contribution to the historical context of sustainability is argued. Sustainability as a concept characterizing the relationship between humans and nature emerged in the mid to late 20th century as a response to findings used to also characterize the Anthropocene. Emerging from the human-nature relationships that came before it, evidence is provided that suggests Sustainability was enabled by technology and a reorientation of world-view and is unique in its global boundary, systematic approach and ambition for both well being and the continued availability of resources and Earth system function. Sustainability is further an ambition that has wide appeal, making it one of the first normative concepts of the Anthropocene. </p><p>Despite its widespread emergence and adoption, sustainability science continues to suffer from definitional ambiguity within the academe. In Chapter 3, a review of efforts to provide direction and structure to the science reveals a continuum of approaches anchored at either end by differing visions of how the science interfaces with practice (solutions). At one end, basic science of societally defined problems informs decisions about possible solutions and their application. At the other end, applied research directly affects the options available to decision makers. While clear from the literature, survey data further suggests that the dichotomy does not appear to be as apparent in the minds of practitioners. </p><p>In Chapter 4, the UHI is first addressed at the synoptic, mesoscale. Urban climate is the most immediate manifestation of the warming global climate for the majority of people on earth. Nearly half of those people live in small to medium sized cities, an understudied scale in urban climate research. Widespread characterization would be useful to decision makers in planning and design. Using a multi-method approach, the mesoscale UHI in the study region is characterized and the secular trend over the last sixty years evaluated. Under isolated ideal conditions the findings indicate a UHI of 5.3 ± 0.97 °C to be present in the study area, the magnitude of which is growing over time. </p><p>Although urban heat islands (UHI) are well studied, there remain no panaceas for local scale mitigation and adaptation methods, therefore continued attention to characterization of the phenomenon in urban centers of different scales around the globe is required. In Chapter 5, a local scale analysis of the canopy layer and surface UHI in a medium sized city in North Carolina, USA is conducted using multiple methods including stationary urban sensors, mobile transects and remote sensing. Focusing on the ideal conditions for UHI development during an anticyclonic summer heat event, the study observes a range of UHI intensity depending on the method of observation: 8.7 °C from the stationary urban sensors; 6.9 °C from mobile transects; and, 2.2 °C from remote sensing. Additional attention is paid to the diurnal dynamics of the UHI and its correlation with vegetation indices, dewpoint and albedo. Evapotranspiration is shown to drive dynamics in the study region.</p><p>Finally, recognizing that a bridge must be established between the physical science community studying the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, and the planning community and decision makers implementing urban form and development policies, Chapter 6 evaluates multiple urban form characterization methods. Methods evaluated include local climate zones (LCZ), national land cover database (NCLD) classes and urban cluster analysis (UCA) to determine their utility in describing the distribution of the UHI based on three standard observation types 1) fixed urban temperature sensors, 2) mobile transects and, 3) remote sensing. Bivariate, regression and ANOVA tests are used to conduct the analyses. Findings indicate that the NLCD classes are best correlated to the UHI intensity and distribution in the study area. Further, while the UCA method is not useful directly, the variables included in the method are predictive based on regression analysis so the potential for better model design exists. Land cover variables including albedo, impervious surface fraction and pervious surface fraction are found to dominate the distribution of the UHI in the study area regardless of observation method. </p><p>Chapter 7 provides a summary of findings, and offers a brief analysis of their implications for both the scientific discourse generally, and the study area specifically. In general, the work undertaken does not achieve the full ambition of sustainability science, additional work is required to translate findings to practice and more fully evaluate adoption. The implications for planning and development in the local region are addressed in the context of a major light-rail infrastructure project including several systems level considerations like human health and development. Finally, several avenues for future work are outlined. Within the theoretical development of sustainability science, these pathways include more robust evaluations of the theoretical and actual practice. Within the UHI context, these include development of an integrated urban form characterization model, application of study methodology in other geographic areas and at different scales, and use of novel experimental methods including distributed sensor networks and citizen science.</p> / Dissertation

As urbanization and industrialization progressed during the last decades, Urban Heat Island (UHI) has become a major environmental issue to many cities around the world. The effect of UHI differs from area to area due to varying urban scale, population density, construction of urban surface layer, the level of industrialization and type of climate. Researchers have made great efforts in investigating various approaches to Urban Heat Island studies. Monitoring technologies have been widely used in this field, especially Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing technology. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are also actively applied in wind engineering, which can provide details of air flow over urban areas. The combined application of these technologies can provide the monitoring and simulation of urban wind corridor and thermal environment that can produce relevant information at a lesser time.A research using GIS, remote sensing technology and CFD simulation was done in this project to obtain a holistic view of the urban thermal environment and wind flow for Gävle City. With GIS and remote sensing the thermal image of the city was presented. The temperature data, which were collected from MODIS satellite were transferred and processed by ArcGIS and Global Mapper. The wind flow above the city was simulated through constructing geometric and mathematical model with OpenFOAM. The outcomes of the modeling and simulation identified that the temperature in the city center could possibly reach 35℃ during summers, which can cause the Urban Heat Island to form. Ventilation was also poorer in the city centre, and neither the river nor the green area in the southwest could help ventilate the city. The study result also suggested that certain sites in the city had relatively high wind flow for urban wind turbines to work.This study had used method of Urban Heat Island study with remote sensing and CFD technologies. The model produced from simulation could also be used to further study Gävle city's thermal and wind environment to produce more accurate results.

As modificações impostas pela ação do homem desequilibram o complexo sistema natural, alterando os elementos e características do clima na escala local. A cidade é o exemplo mais significativo destas transformações e o campo térmico urbano é um dos elementos do sistema cidade-atmosfera mais afetados pela mudança do uso e da cobertura do solo. No Brasil, tem-se observado que a grande maioria dos estudos de clima urbano está focada nas grandes cidades, sobre as características do clima urbano para a região Centro-Oeste, especialmente nas cidades de pequeno porte, pouco se conhece. Dessa forma, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi de analisar as influências das características geourbanas na configuração do clima da cidade de Iporá e identificar a variabilidade temporal e espacial das ilhas de calor urbanas. Para tanto, instalou-se oito aparelhos termo-higrômetros para a coleta de dados de temperatura do ar e umidade e duas estação meteorológicas completas, uma na área urbana e a outra na área rural, também foram utilizadas imagens multiespectrais do satélite Landsat 5 e 8. Nas análises dos dados foram utilizadas regressões lineares simples e múltiplas, modelagem, simulações e foi proposto um índice (InGe) para quantificar a influência do homem no clima da cidade. Os resultados evidenciaram que: 1 - em algumas áreas da cidade de Iporá foram observadas tendências significativas de aumento na intensidade das anomalias térmicas; 2 - as variáveis mais influentes na regressão linear múltipla da temperatura de superfície (TS) foram o NDVI que explicou 35% da variabilidade e a densidade demográfica com 25%; 3 - a equação final, proposta como modelo preditor da intensidade máxima da ilha de calor urbana de superfície para a Região do Oeste Goiano obteve r2 de 0,6; 4 - quanto maior a distância da área verde maior a temperatura de superfície, além disso, na primavera ou próximo dela, a intensidade do efeito da área verde na TS foi muito superior ao efeito em outras datas; 5 - os padrões dos desvios da umidade absoluta permitiram afirmar que a área central, mais urbanizada, teve os maiores desvios negativos e áreas com maiores valores de NDVI e próximas aos cursos d\'água apresentaram os maiores desvios positivos de umidade; 6 - as ilhas de calor urbanas em Iporá foram mais frequentes na intensidade de 0,5°C e 1°C, a intensidade máxima observada foi de 3,5°C; 7 - as áreas localizadas nos fundos de vale apresentaram os menores valores térmicos, o que sugere uma drenagem de ar frio. Contudo, constatou-se que a cidade de Iporá, mesmo se tratando de uma cidade pequena, modifica seus parâmetros atmosféricos. / The changes imposed by man unbalance the complex natural system, changing the climate elements and features at local scale. The city is the most significant example of these transformations and the urban thermal field is the element of the city-atmosphere most affected by the use and land cover change system. In Brazil, it has been observed that the vast majority of urban climate research is focused on big cities, so that little is known on urban climate characteristics for the Midwest, especially in small towns. Thus, the objective of this research was to analyze the influence of Geourban characteristics in the climate setting of the city of Iporá and to identify the temporal and spatial variability of urban heat islands. Therefore, eight Thermo-Hygrometer devices for collecting air temperature and humidity data and two complete weather stations were settled, one in the urban area and the other in the rural area; Landsat 5 and 8 multi-spectral images of were also used. In data analysis simple and multiple linear regressions, modeling and simulations were used and an index (InGe) was proposed to quantify the man influence on the city climate. The results showed that: 1 - in some areas of Iporá city significant trends of increasing intensity of thermal anomalies were observed; 2 - the most influential variables in the multiple regression of surface temperature (TS) were explained by NDVI (35% of the variability) and population density (25%); 3 - the final equation, proposed as a maximum intensity predictive model of the urban surface heat island for the West Region of Goiás, we obtained an R2 0.6; 4 - the greater the distance from the green area, the higher surface temperature; moreover, in the spring, or close to it, the intensity of the green area effect on TS was by far superior to the effect at other periods; 5 - the patterns of the absolute humidity deviations allow us to affirm that the central area, urbanized, had the highest negative variances, while the areas with higher NDVI values and nearby watercourses showed the highest positive deviations moisture; 6 - urban heat islands on Iporá were more frequent at the intensity of 0.5°C to 1°C, while the maximum intensity was observed at 3.5°C; 7 - the areas located in the valley bottoms had the lowest thermal values, suggesting a cold air drainage. However, it was found that the city of Iporá, despite being a small town, modifies its atmospheric parameters.

Eventos de brisa marítima (BM) são comuns na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP). No verão, em particular, estão associados com tempestades, chuvas, rajadas de vento, granizo e descargas atmosféricas intensas na RMSP. Utilizou-se o método de OLIVEIRA e SILVA DIAS (1982) para identificar os eventos de BM. Todos os eventos de BM entre 2005 e 2008 foram analisados por meio de medições de superfície, altitude, radares meteorológicos, satélite e modelagem numérica da atmosfera. Em geral, a penetração da frente de BM na RMSP ocorre entre o meio e o fim da tarde com aumento da temperatura do ponto de orvalho. Ainda, o ambiente urbano mais aquecido tende a intensificar as tempestades que podem produzir enchentes, alagamentos, queda de árvores, entre outros impactos socioeconômicos muito significativos. A partição anual pluviométrica devido a BM foi estimado com o radar meteorológico de São Paulo. Os resultados indicam um núcleo de máxima precipitação acumulada com pico de 600 mm sobre a RMSP, muito maior que no entorno dessa. A modelagem com o ARPS permitiu simular condições médias espaciais em baixos, médios e altos níveis de diversas variáveis dos eventos analisados. As simulações de controle e específicas com ARPS sugerem um impacto significativo da cobertura do solo na distribuição espacial da precipitação. As análises foram complementadas com medições do radar meteorológico MXPOL e demonstram a importância desse tipo de sensoriamento remoto na detecção e previsão a curtíssimo prazo da penetração de BM, com alta resolução espaço-temporal. / Sea breeze events (SB) are common in Metropolitan area at São Paulo (MASP). Particularly, in the summer, SB triggers over MASP deep convection, heavy rainfall, wind gusts, hail and lightning. OLIVEIRA and SILVA DIAS (1982) method was used to identify the SB events. SB events between 2005 and 2008 were analysed by means of surface and upper air measurements, weather radar, satellite and numerical modelling. In general, the SB front penetrates in MASP between midafternoon and evening increasing dew point. Moreover, the warmer urban environment tends to intensify storms that produce flooding, falling trees, among other large socioeconomic impacts. The annual rainfall partition due to SB was estimated using the São Paulo weather radar. The results indicate a core of maximum rainfall accumulation of 600 mm over MASP, much larger than that in the vicinity. The modelling with ARPS allowed simulate conditions spatial average in low, medium and upper levels of several variables of the analysed events. Moreover, the ARPS system was used to simulate SB with control and specific runs. Results suggest significant impact of surface cover on rainfall distribution. MXPOL weather radar measurements of SB were important in detecting and nowcasting SB inflow at very high spatial and temporal resolution.

A modificação das condições iniciais do clima é conseqüência inerente da substituição da cobertura natural do solo pelo ambiente construído. Nesse processo, um dos mecanismos do sistema cidade-atmosfera mais afetado pela mudança do uso e da cobertura do solo é o campo térmico urbano. Assim, esta pesquisa objetivou estudar a configuração do campo térmico da cidade de São Carlos nas suas dimensões espaços-temporais, com vistas a conhecer a intensidade da ilha de calor urbano no período de verão, dentro de suas variações diurnas e das condições impostas pelos diferentes tipos de tempo habituais, com o aporte da abordagem dinâmica do clima. A análise da intensidade do campo térmico urbano foi feita a partir de registros de dados climáticos contínuos tomados em superfície por quatro estações automáticas instaladas em diferentes regiões da malha urbana. Os resultados obtidos denotaram que a maior intensidade da ilha de calor urbano, no período de verão, ocorreu na atuação da massa Tropical Atlântica sobre a região, cujo tipo de tempo habitual foi caracterizado por cenário atmosférico com predominância de céu claro, alta incidência de radiação solar direta e valores de temperatura do ar elevados com máxima diária acima da média das máximas indicadas pelas normais climatológicas. Sob essas condições, observou-se que as características do entorno construído exerceram maior influência no comportamento térmico urbano, na qual as diferenças térmicas entre diferentes regiões dentro da malha urbana de São Carlos foram superiores a \'5 GRAUS\' Celsius. Observou-se, ainda, que a maior expressão da ilha de calor urbano ocorreu após o pôr-do-sol, nos horários entre 21:30h e 22:00h. / The initial conditions of the climate are consequence of replacing the natural ground cover by the built environment. In this process, one of the most affected mechanics of the city-atmosphere system due to the change of use and land cover is the urban thermal field. Thus, this research aim to study the configuration of the thermal field of São Carlos in the spatial and temporal dimensions for understanding the intensity of urban heat island in the summer, taking into account its diurnal temperature variations and imposed conditions by different weather types, guided by the climate dynamics approach. The analysis of the intensity of urban thermal field is made from records of climatic data observed in solid ground for four automatic weather stations placed in different areas of the city. The obtained results denote that the highest intensity of urban heat island in summer occurs in the activity of Tropical Atlantic air mass over the region, where the habitual weather was clear skies with high incidence of direct solar radiation and values of air temperature with high daily maximum above the average of the levels indicated by the climate normals. Under these weather conditions, it is observed that the characteristics of the built environment have a greater influence on urban thermal behavior, in which the temperature variations between different regions within the urban area of San Carlos were above 5 Celsius \'DEGREES\'. It is also observed that the highest intensity of urban heat island occurred after sunset, at times between 21:30 and 22:00h.

A Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP) conta com mais de 20 milhões de habitantes em 7958 km², o que a caracteriza como uma megacidade. Este fato ocasiona o efeito de ilha de calor que pode resultar em interações complexas com circulações de mesoescala, tais como a brisa marítima, podendo influenciar nos padrões de circulação local e afetar diretamente o tempo e o clima da região. Dessa forma, através da modelagem numérica com o modelo de mesoescala WRF este trabalho se propôs a analisar e avaliar os possíveis efeitos da expansão da mancha urbana - passada e futura - na modificação destes padrões em duas estações do ano de 2007: inverno (18/08) e verão (07/03). Para isto introduziu-se diferentes manchas urbanas no modelo, supondo nenhuma urbanização, urbanização observada em 1952 e em 2007, bem como uma suposta urbanização prevista para o ano de 2030. O acoplamento de um modelo de dossel urbano junto ao WRF também foi avaliado, e os resultados mostraram que para o inverno a inclusão do mesmo se mostrou dispensável, enquanto para o verão as simulações em que o módulo esteve ativo se mostraram mais coerentes à realidade. Para as duas estações observou-se a influência da expansão da mancha urbana nos eventos de brisa marítima, sendo que quanto maior a área urbanizada maior o tempo de deslocamento da frente de brisa continente adentro, podendo a diferença chegar a 2 horas. Diferenças na temperatura também puderam ser vistas, principalmente à noite no período de inverno, de forma que algumas regiões chegaram a apresentar 6 °C a mais em 2007. Observou- se uma frente de umidade acompanhando a frente de brisa marítima e quanto maior a urbanização, menor a quantidade de umidade associada, chegando a uma redução de 22% durante o inverno e de 33% durante o verão. No inverno não foram observadas grandes diferenças na precipitação, enquanto que no verão foram encontradas diferenças significativas em praticamente todo o domínio de simulação, chegando a 50 mm em determinadas regiões (a mais ou a menos). Tais diferenças na precipitação não se mostraram lineares com a expansão da mancha urbana. Cortes verticais não evidenciaram circulações bem definidas associadas à ilha de calor, nem para o inverno nem para o verão, no entanto, claramente pôde-se observar a influência que a expansão urbana tem sobre os episódios de brisa marítima, em quaisquer das variáveis meteorológicas analisadas. / The Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) has over 20 million inhabitants over a 7958 km² area, which characterizes a megacity. This fact causes the heat island effect that can result in complex interactions with mesoscale circulations such as the sea breeze and can influence the local circulation and directly affect the weather and climate of the region. Therefore, through numerical modeling of the atmosphere using the WRF mesoscale model this work analyses and evaluates the possible effects of urban expansion - past and future on the modification of these patterns in two days representatives of the winter and summer (18/08 and 07/03, respectively). For that purpose we introduced different types of urban areas in the model, assuming no urbanization, using the urbanization observed in 1952 and 2007 as well as a hypothetical urbanization numerically predicted for the year of 2030. The coupling of an urban canopy model (UCM) along with WRF was also evaluated and the results showed that the inclusion of UCM proved to be unnecessary during wintertime. However, in the summer, the simulations where the module was activated were more consistent with reality. For the two seasons we observed the influence of urban expansion in the events of sea breeze, and the higher the urbanized area more increased was the travel time of the sea breeze front inland, being the time difference as high as 2 hours. Differences in temperature were also observed, especially at night in the winter, so that some regions were as high as 6 °C hotter in 2007. A moisture front accompanying the sea breeze front and the higher the urbanization the lower the amount of moisture associated, reaching a reduction of 22% during winter and 33% during the summer. During the winter no major differences were observed in precipitation, while in the summer significant differences were found almost over all simulation domain, reaching 50 mm in certain regions (positive or negative). Such differences in precipitation were not linear with the expansion of urban area. Vertical sections did not show well-defined circulations associated with urban heat island, neither for the winter nor for summer, however, we can clearly observe the influence that urban area extension has on episodes of sea breeze in any of the weather variables.

As modificações impostas pela ação do homem desequilibram o complexo sistema natural, alterando os elementos e características do clima na escala local. A cidade é o exemplo mais significativo destas transformações e o campo térmico urbano é um dos elementos do sistema cidade-atmosfera mais afetados pela mudança do uso e da cobertura do solo. No Brasil, tem-se observado que a grande maioria dos estudos de clima urbano está focada nas grandes cidades, sobre as características do clima urbano para a região Centro-Oeste, especialmente nas cidades de pequeno porte, pouco se conhece. Dessa forma, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi de analisar as influências das características geourbanas na configuração do clima da cidade de Iporá e identificar a variabilidade temporal e espacial das ilhas de calor urbanas. Para tanto, instalou-se oito aparelhos termo-higrômetros para a coleta de dados de temperatura do ar e umidade e duas estação meteorológicas completas, uma na área urbana e a outra na área rural, também foram utilizadas imagens multiespectrais do satélite Landsat 5 e 8. Nas análises dos dados foram utilizadas regressões lineares simples e múltiplas, modelagem, simulações e foi proposto um índice (InGe) para quantificar a influência do homem no clima da cidade. Os resultados evidenciaram que: 1 - em algumas áreas da cidade de Iporá foram observadas tendências significativas de aumento na intensidade das anomalias térmicas; 2 - as variáveis mais influentes na regressão linear múltipla da temperatura de superfície (TS) foram o NDVI que explicou 35% da variabilidade e a densidade demográfica com 25%; 3 - a equação final, proposta como modelo preditor da intensidade máxima da ilha de calor urbana de superfície para a Região do Oeste Goiano obteve r2 de 0,6; 4 - quanto maior a distância da área verde maior a temperatura de superfície, além disso, na primavera ou próximo dela, a intensidade do efeito da área verde na TS foi muito superior ao efeito em outras datas; 5 - os padrões dos desvios da umidade absoluta permitiram afirmar que a área central, mais urbanizada, teve os maiores desvios negativos e áreas com maiores valores de NDVI e próximas aos cursos d\'água apresentaram os maiores desvios positivos de umidade; 6 - as ilhas de calor urbanas em Iporá foram mais frequentes na intensidade de 0,5°C e 1°C, a intensidade máxima observada foi de 3,5°C; 7 - as áreas localizadas nos fundos de vale apresentaram os menores valores térmicos, o que sugere uma drenagem de ar frio. Contudo, constatou-se que a cidade de Iporá, mesmo se tratando de uma cidade pequena, modifica seus parâmetros atmosféricos. / The changes imposed by man unbalance the complex natural system, changing the climate elements and features at local scale. The city is the most significant example of these transformations and the urban thermal field is the element of the city-atmosphere most affected by the use and land cover change system. In Brazil, it has been observed that the vast majority of urban climate research is focused on big cities, so that little is known on urban climate characteristics for the Midwest, especially in small towns. Thus, the objective of this research was to analyze the influence of Geourban characteristics in the climate setting of the city of Iporá and to identify the temporal and spatial variability of urban heat islands. Therefore, eight Thermo-Hygrometer devices for collecting air temperature and humidity data and two complete weather stations were settled, one in the urban area and the other in the rural area; Landsat 5 and 8 multi-spectral images of were also used. In data analysis simple and multiple linear regressions, modeling and simulations were used and an index (InGe) was proposed to quantify the man influence on the city climate. The results showed that: 1 - in some areas of Iporá city significant trends of increasing intensity of thermal anomalies were observed; 2 - the most influential variables in the multiple regression of surface temperature (TS) were explained by NDVI (35% of the variability) and population density (25%); 3 - the final equation, proposed as a maximum intensity predictive model of the urban surface heat island for the West Region of Goiás, we obtained an R2 0.6; 4 - the greater the distance from the green area, the higher surface temperature; moreover, in the spring, or close to it, the intensity of the green area effect on TS was by far superior to the effect at other periods; 5 - the patterns of the absolute humidity deviations allow us to affirm that the central area, urbanized, had the highest negative variances, while the areas with higher NDVI values and nearby watercourses showed the highest positive deviations moisture; 6 - urban heat islands on Iporá were more frequent at the intensity of 0.5°C to 1°C, while the maximum intensity was observed at 3.5°C; 7 - the areas located in the valley bottoms had the lowest thermal values, suggesting a cold air drainage. However, it was found that the city of Iporá, despite being a small town, modifies its atmospheric parameters.