An urban bias in air temperature fluctuations at the Klementinum, Prague, The Czech Republic

The intensification of an urban heat island, and its influence on the seasonal and annual air temperature measurements of the Prague-Klementinum station, is studied through a comparison with rural stations. Urban warming in the period from 1922 to 1995 was most conspicuous in winter and in spring (0.06 degrees C 10 yr(-1)), and the smallest and least significant in summer (0.01 degrees C 10 yr(-1)). Since the 1960s, a stagnation in the development of the urban heat island has appeared. The degree of urban warming prior to 1922 can only be roughly determined because of the lack of a suitable set of homogeneous reference stations. The results of this study are compared with other studies analogous in character. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.