Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration and temperature across an urban–rural transect

Abstract The heat island effect and the high use of fossil fuels in large city centers are well documented, but by how much fossil fuel consumption is elevating atmospheric CO2 concentrations and whether elevations in both atmospheric CO2 and air temperature from rural to urban areas are consistently different from year to year are less well known. Our aim was to record atmospheric CO2 concentrations, air temperature and other environmental variables in an urban area and compare it to suburban and rural sites to see if urban sites are experiencing climates expected globally in the future with climate change. A transect was established from Baltimore city center (Urban site), to the outer suburbs of Baltimore (suburban site) and out to an organic farm (rural site). At each site a weather station was set-up to monitor environmental variables for 5 years. Atmospheric CO2 was consistently and significantly increased on average by 66 ppm from the rural to the urban site over the 5 years of the study. Air temperature was also consistently and significantly higher at the urban site (14.8 °C) compared to the suburban (13.6 °C) and rural (12.7 °C) sites. Relative humidity was not different between sites whereas the vapor pressure deficit (VPD) was significantly higher at the urban site compared to the suburban and rural sites. An increase in nitrogen deposition at the rural site of 0.6% and 1.0% compared to the suburban and urban sites was small enough not to affect soil nitrogen content. Dense urban areas with large populations and high vehicular traffic have significantly different microclimates compared to outlying suburban and rural areas. The increases in atmospheric CO2 and air temperature are similar to changes predicted in the short term with global climate change, therefore providing an environment suitable for studying future effects of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems.