Trees cool the land surface temperature of cities by up to 12°C – newscientist.com

Chen Ly
An analysis of satellite data from 293 cities in Europe has found that trees have a big cooling effect while other green spaces don’t
23 November 2021 
The cooling effect of trees reduces the surface temperature of European cities in the summer by up to 12°C in some regions. In contrast, green spaces without trees have a negligible effect, according to a study that strengthens the case for tree planting to help cities adapt to global warming.
Jonas Schwaab at ETH Zurich in Switzerland and his colleagues used land surface temperature data collected by satellites to compare the temperature differences between areas covered by trees, treeless urban green spaces, such as parks, and urban fabric such as roads and buildings. They analysed 293 cities from across Europe.
The land surface temperature measured by satellites isn’t the same as the air temperature, which is more closely linked to what humans would feel, says Schwaab. “Usually, the air temperature difference between tree-covered areas and built-up areas would be much smaller than the land surface temperature differences,” he says.