Spatio-temporal analysis of local thermal environment in waterfront blocks along the both sides of pearl river in Guangzhou, China

Urban water bodies play an important role in regulating the thermal environment in densely populated cities. Typical central urban areas along both sides of the Pearl River in Guangzhou are selected as study sites and have been divided into 25 local zones with different spatial morphology. Mobile surveys are performed on typical summer and winter days. After temporal correction processing, the spatial distribution patterns of air temperature (T_a) and relative humidity (RH) at different times along both sides of the Pearl River are obtained. The daily T_a in the waterfront blocks ranged from 31.5 °C to 39.4 °C during summer, and from 17.50 °C to 27.50 °C during winter. Daily RH ranged from 41.3% to 67.3% during summer and 48.2%–76.4% during winter. This study explored the effects of urban spatial morphology and river wind on the local thermal environment of the waterfront blocks. The results showed that the river wind can have cooling and humidifying effects, especially on the windward side of these waterfront zones. The spatial heterogeneity and spatial autocorrelation characteristics of the block-scale waterfront areas are discovered to be clustered in both seasons. This study contributes to the design and optimization of thermally friendly waterfront blocks.