URBAN HEAT ISLAND IN THE SEMIARID: A CASE STUDY IN THE CITY OF IGUATU/CEARÁ

Abstract

Iguatu, a city located in the interior of the Northeast region of Brazil, is on the list of 299 most populous municipalities in Brazil and the 9 most populous in Ceará, becoming as the main economic center of the Center-South region of the State of Ceará. In that context, this article intends to discuss the composition of the urban climate in a medium-sized city in the Brazilian semi-arid region, as well as the hygrothermal behavior and the thermal sensation, considering that the forms of land use and occupation have direct influence on the modification of the climate of a city. The results showed that the temperature difference along the points studied in the two routes of the transects reached 4.4°C. The sectors furthest from the urban center were characterized by the lowest temperatures between 25.1°C and 27.0°C. The index of effective temperature for the rainy season showed that the thermal sensation of the area of study varies from 19.1°C to 22.3°C (pleasant sensation), and for the dry period, the values Effective temperature ranges ranged from 23°C to 25.5°C (moderately warm feeling). You results found corroborate the existence of heat islands (atmospheric and surface), whose form, intensity and magnitude depend on several factors of natural origin and anthropogenic and that th interfere with the thermal sensation in the city of Iguatu/CE.