Even a single tree lowers the ambient temperature

Research results have shown that even a single tree planted individually, like a street tree, has the effect of lowering the ambient temperature.

The American University research team measured the temperature several times in various locations in Washington DC on a hot summer day, and measured the temperature more than 70,000 times in various places, including paved and unpaved roads, parks and home gardens.

As a result of analyzing the data, it was found that if half of an area’s area was occupied by sunlight from the canopy, the temperature around the trees in the evening was up to 1.4 degrees lower than in areas with few trees. The research team said that one 15-meter-tall tree can shade 56 meters in the evening, meaning that even one tree can create shade over a wide area in the evening.

It is also known that the cooling effect created by the shade of trees continues from evening to dawn. In the area where the crown area occupies 20%, even at dawn, the temperature was lower than in the area without trees.

Climate studies show that average temperatures in urban areas are on an upward trend compared to the past. According to the study, the role of individual trees in mitigating urban warming should not be underestimated, according to the research team. Related information can be found here.