The Assessment of the air temperature distribution in the Suceava - North-East Romania Metropolitan Agglomeration (2019-2021)
Authors: Prisăcariu Alin , Mihăilă Dumitru , Bistricean Petruţ-Ionel , Horodnic Vasilică-Dănuţ , Lazurca (Andrei) Liliana-Gina 
Published: February 2023

Introduction. Detailed knowledge of the thermal influence of the cities is a necessity of the current climatological research. In the case of smaller cities, such as Suceava, measuring the thermal influence of the city is a challenge due to several factors deriving from the small size of the city, its polynuclear fragmentation, the specificity of the urban topography, of the hydrographic network and of the land use/land cover. The main purpose of this study is to highlight the thermal influence of the city for several specific temporal entities: i) at the multiannual level, ii) for the winter season and for the time interval 2.30-4.30 during the winter, iii) for the spring season, iv) for the summer season and for the time interval 12.30-14.30 during the summer and v) for the autumn season, respectively.Data and methods. Having available hourly data of the air temperature from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2022 obtained from a private network of 27 stations, plus data from Suceava Meteorological Station (SvMS), Salcea Airport Meteorological Office and the stations SV1 and SV2 belonging to the National Air Quality Monitoring Network, we conducted a detailed analysis of the variation and distribution of the air temperature values for Suceava Metropolitan Area (SvMPA). SvMS was taken as a reference for those 14 urban stations, 12 suburban stations and the 4 stations placed in the forests around Suceava and in Zamca urban forest.Results. During the whole analyzed period, the thermal averages were 9.5&#176;C at the forest stations, 9.8&#176;C at Suceava Meteorological Station, 10.2&#176;C at the suburban stations and 10.7&#176;C at the urban stations. At the urban stations SV2, BUO, CCO and SV1 the thermal advance in respect of SvMS was between 1 and 1.3&#176;C, and at the forest stations MDP and SIL the thermal gap in respect of SvMS was between 0.2 and 0.9&#176;C. In winter the temperature was 0&#176;C at SvMS and at the forest stations, rising to 0.3&#176;C at the suburban stations and to 0.5&#176;C at the urban stations. In summer, the coldest was in the forest (19.5&#176;C), the temperature rising to 19.9&#176;C at SvMS, to 20.6&#176;C at suburban stations and to 21.3&#176;C at urban stations. Springs are cooler than autumns (by 1.4&#176;C for the whole of SvMPA). On this background, in spring, the thermal advance of the urban stations (9.7&#176;C) over the forest ones (8.5&#176;C), SvMS (8.8&#176;C) and suburban stations (9.2&#176;C) is obvious, and also in autumn (T urban stations = 11.0&#176;C, T forest = 9.9&#176;C, T SvMS = 10.4&#176;C, T suburban stations = 10.6&#176;C). &#160;Conclusions. At those 14 urban stations the average thermal difference for the interval 1 January 2019 - 31 December 2022, compared to SvMS was 0.9&#176;C (the difference ranged from 0.5&#176;C in winter to 1.4&#176;C in summer). In summer, in the hourly interval 12.30 - 14.30 the overall thermal differences (urban stations - SvMS) rose to 3.1&#176;C, and for the CCO station in the city centre to 5.4&#176;C.&#160;