Potential influence of land development patterns on regional climate: a summer case study in the Central Florida

Two land development scenarios based on the Central Florida Regional Growth Vision projection for 2050 were used to explore the developments’ potential influence on regional climate. One scenario is a widespread suburban land development plan, and the other is a higher density urban development plan, both for the same location in central Florida. A series of simulation experiments were conducted using a regional climate model upgraded for this study to include an urban scheme. Noticeable differences in simulated regional climate patterns were found between the land development scenarios, which could potentially influence population requirements for energy and water. In our simulations, the aggregated effect of land cover changes over large suburban areas produced a more intense heat island effect than that produced by high-density urban areas. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012