Temporal modes and spatial patterns of urban air temperatures and limitations of heat adaptation

A hot-spot region of climate change is the Middle East where temperatures actually have a rising tendency and this will increase in future. To mitigate the progressing thermal burden urban planning has to develop adaptation measures. On the basis of micrometeorological simulations for a quarter in Cairo we suggest a decomposition of air temperatures into two temporal and two spatial patterns, respectively explaining 97% and 94% of the temperature variability. We find that land-use has a significant impact on the spatial temperature distribution and should be modified for the purpose of heat adaptation. However, just 13% of the spatial temperature variability are explained by land-use, which is a quite limited impact. Regional weather conditions are the dominant factor for the spatial as well as the temporal development of urban heat. •Spatiotemporal fields of urban air temperatures are characterized by temporal modes and spatial patterns.•Patterns occur due to strong auto-correlations in urban atmospheric data and can be utilized for adaptation measures.•The diurnal cycle explains 73% of temporal temperature variability.•13% of the spatial temperature variability depend on land-use and land cover (LULC).•Adaptation strategies based on LULC changes have limited effectiveness in air temperatures.