Influence of Water bodies on Outdoor Air Temperature in Hot and

Humid Climate
Nyuk Hien WONG
1
, Chun Liang TAN
2
, Andrita Dyah Shinta NINDYANI
3
Steve
Kardinal JUSUF
4
AND Erna TAN
5

1
Department of Building, National University of Singapore, 4 Architecture Drive,
Singapore, email: bdgwnh@nus.edu.sg
2
Center for Sustainable Asian Cities, National University of Singapore, 4
Architecture Drive, Singapore, email: sdetcl@nus.edu.sg
3
Department of Building, National University of Singapore, 4 Architecture Drive,
Singapore, email: a0066420@nus.edu.sg
4
Center for Sustainable Asian Cities, National University of Singapore, 4
Architecture Drive, Singapore, email: steve.kj@nus.edu.sg
5
Department of Building, National University of Singapore, 4 Architecture Drive,
Singapore, email: bdgerna@nus.edu.sg

ABSTRACT: Water features, within an urban area have a positive effect on the
microclimate of the surrounding areas when natural cooling from evaporative
process is needed in the hot sunny day. The increased availability of water usually
enhances evaporation, and the associated uptake of latent heat provides and
additional daytime cooling effect. The water bodies of the river operate as the
cooling source on the microclimate of the surrounding area. Air temperature near or
over bodies of water is much different from that over land due to differences in the
way water heat and cool. Water bodies are noted to be about the best absorbers of
radiation, but on the other hand, they exhibit very little thermal response. Many
other researches argued that evaporative cooling from water bodies or water
features is yet one of the most efficient ways of passive cooling for building and
urban spaces. However, evaporative cooling may not work optimally in a hot humid
tropical country due to its relatively high humidity. This paper studies the
evaporative cooling performance of a waterway of approximately 70m to its
surrounding micro-climate. The waterway is situated in Kallang, Singapore. The air
temperature and relative humidity are measured continuously for five months, May
and September 2010, to find the clear extent of the cooling effect from the waterway
horizontally. There is a total of 10 measurement points in each location, where five
points of measurement are located along the waterway and another five points of
measurement are located moving away from the waterway in order to observe the
extent of its cooling effect.
Keywords: Impact, water bodies, air temperature, hot humid, Singapore, tropics,


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1. Introduction
Evaporative cooling from water bodies or water features is perhaps one of the
more common ways of passive cooling. Air temperature near or over bodies of water
is much different from that over land due to differences in the way water heat and
cool. Water bodies are noted to be about the best absorbers of radiation, but on the
other hand, they exhibit very little thermal response. The lack of response can be
attributes to four characteristic (Oke, 1987), which are:
1. Penetration since water allows short wave radiation transmission to
considerable depths, energy absorption is diffused through a large volume;
2. Mixing the existence of convection and mass transport by fluid motion also
permits the heat gains/losses to be spread throughout a large volume;
3. Evaporation unlimited water availability provides an efficient latent heat
sink, and evaporative cooling tends to destabilize the surface layer and further
enhance mixing; and
4. Thermal capacity the thermal capacity of water is exceptional large such
that it requires about three times as much heat to raise a unit volume of water
through the same temperature interval as most soil.
These properties make the surface temperature of water bodies cooler than that
over the land. A cooler surface results in a cooler air temperature above. A study by
Murakawa (1990) in Japan shows a difference about 3-5 C in air temperature
between the river and the city area. The water bodies of the river operate as the
cooling source on the microclimate of the surrounding area. Many other researches
argued that evaporative cooling from water bodies or water features is one of the
most efficient ways of passive cooling for building and urban spaces (Krger, 2008;
Adebayo, 1991). However, this notion is yet to be tested in a high humidity context.
Thus, the present paper studies the cooling performance of water bodies to its
surrounding microclimate of Singapore. The ambient air temperatures are measured
to make a clear extent of the influence of cooling from the water bodies horizontally.

2. Methodology
2.1. Object of Study
To have better understanding on the evaporative cooling performance of water
bodies to its surrounding microclimate, two locations, namely Kallang and Sungei
Api-api study case area, were being investigated. Both locations are characterized by
having vast water bodies and encircled by greenery. However, the surrounding
conditions are somewhat different. Kallang study case area is surrounded by grass
and only few mature trees. The Sungei Api-api study case area, in the other hand, is
located at the sea side and have more mature trees in the area.
2.2. Field Measurement
The major instruments used in the measurement were HOBO data loggers and
Weather Station. The HOBOs were used to measure ambient temperature and
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relative humidity (RH) for every particular location selected in the measurement. A
weather station was used to measure the general condition of the area, such as wind
speed and solar radiation. Basically, there were ten HOBO sensors, which were
attached to ten different lamp posts and trees; and one weather station, which were
being setup on a nearby HDB rooftop, on each measurement location. The HOBO
sensors were configured to record the data continuously at an interval of every 10
minutes throughout the measurement period and it was obtained by sampling at a
height of 2 m for each of the location denoted by points on Figure 1 for Kallang
study case area and Figure 2 for Sungei Api-api study case area. To reduce the
interference of solar radiation and obtain more accurate ambient air temperature and
RH, every HOBO sensors were protected in a ventilated solar cover. The sensors
were factory calibrated.




Figure 1.(a) Points location along the Kallang waterway (width about 70 meters)
(b) Points location along the Sungei Api-api waterway (width about 25 meters)
The field measurements were conducted during the periods of 12 May 2010 to 15
September 2010, on both locations simultaneously. The measuring points were
chosen based on the consideration to see the relative extent of the influence of
cooling effect from the nearby water bodies, which are translated into, as illustrated
on Figure 1 (a) and (b), five measurement points near the waterway and five other
points lined up away from the waterway.
2.3. Data selection
Table 1. Selected day for analysis
Clear days Cloudy/ rainy days
Kallang waterway
23
rd
and 24
th
of May;
1
st
and 3
rd
of June;
11
th
, 19
th
and 29
th
of July;
24
th
of August
19
th
, 22
nd
and 31
st
of May;
22
nd
and 25
th
of June;
17
th
, 18
th
, 22
nd
and 26
th
of July;
7
th
, 10
th
and 20
th
of August
Sungei Api-api
23
rd
of May;
11
th
, 15
th
,25
th
and 29
th
of July;
12
th
, 25
th
and 28
th
of August;
9
th
of September
31
st
of May;
8
th
, 10
th
and 25
th
of June;
8
th
, 16
th
, 18
th
, 22
nd
and 26
th
of July;
20
th
and 27
th
of August;
8
th
and 10
th
of September


The selected data for the study are chosen by analyzing climate data from the
weather station. Eight typical hot day (clear days) and 12 typical cloudy/ rainy day
N
0 70m
(a)
N
0 25m
(b)
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4
(cloudy days) for Kallang study case area; nine clear day and 13 cloudy days for
Sungei Api-api study case area were then being investigated to have better
understanding on the cooling effect of the water way, as shown on Table 1.

3. Findings and Discussion
Both of the study case area (Kallang waterway and Sungei Api-api waterway) are
discussed separately to have better idea on the effect of evaporative cooling from
nearby waterway which somewhat have different surrounding condition.
Furthermore, the paper is going to discuss the possible impact of evaporative cooling
effect on the ambient temperature in regards of distance.
3.1. Kallang water way
To explore the evaporative cooling effect of the Kallang waterway, the average
temperatures obtained at different points were compared. Figure 2 shows the diurnal
ambient air temperature from points nearby the water way and away the water way.
The average daytime diurnal temperature was developed from the selected clear day,
with the assumption of 12 hour daytime, from 7am to 7pm. As was expected, during
the day the closer the point measurement to the waterway, the cooler it is. It appears
that the temperature variation were relative to the distance. The diurnal difference in
average temperature was found up to 0.4C.





Figure 2. Comparison of daytime average temperature (clear days) of points along
the Kallang waterway
Further investigation shows the temperature difference could easily reach 1.8C at
the hottest hour of the day (Figure 3) with Point k3 as the warmest point (32.5C)
and Point k1 as the coolest point (30.7C). However, after Point k3, the temperature
profile shows a decline trend. And the decline trend was found quite significant. The
possible reason may be that these points were influenced by the nearby trees and may
not actually visualize the cooling effect from the waterway. The average temperature
at the points nearby the water way, in the other hand, shows similar result. With a
fairly constant trend, the average temperature difference show an average
temperature of up to 0.1C, as shown on Figure 4.
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During the night, when humidity is high, the atmosphere retains more heat and
nighttimes temperature stay somewhat high. However, with less heat absorbs by
water vapour, the atmosphere cools rapidly. Using points near the waterways (Point
k1 k4) as a reference, almost all the point are found cooler, except Point k5, which
may be because of the influence of the nearby trees.








Figure 3. Comparison of diurnal average temperatures (clear days) of points away
the Kallang waterway with average temperature of points nears the Kallang
waterway as reference





Figure 4. Diurnal average temperatures (clear days) of points near the Kallang
waterway
To further explore the temperature profiles at Kallang study case area, the diurnal
average temperature for points near and away the waterway was compared with the
average diurnal solar radiation from the nearby weather station, as shown on Figure
5. The figure shows, if the near points (Point k1 k4) to the waterway are used as a
reference, the meeting point of the diurnal graph of Point k1 with other point can be
said as the start and the end of the cooling effect of the waterway due to the intensity
of the solar radiation. Looking at the figure, the cooling effect are likely start at 9am
when the solar radiation reach around 150-200 W/m in the morning and end at the
around 6pm, when the solar radiation was less than 75-100 W/m in the evening.




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6







Figure 5. Comparison of diurnal average temperature (clear days) of points along
the Kallang waterway points with solar radiation
On cloudy days (Figure 6) the temperature profile shows a fairly constant trend
during daytime. There is relatively no evaporative cooling effect found during these
particular times. The temperature profile is found unpredictable with points near the
waterway are warmer compare the nearby Point k1 and Point k2, which are the
points where the evaporative cooling effect should be happening. This finding,
however, supports the early finding that the evaporative cooling seems depend on
solar radiation. On a rainy/ cloudy day the solar radiation was relative low as
compared to clear day condition during daytime.






Figure 6. Comparison of diurnal average temperature of near and away waterway
points with solar radiation
3.2. Pasir Ris
As shown on Figure 7, with the basic understanding that air temperature should be
cooler when its closer to the waterway, the average temperature profile at Sungei
Api-api study case area seems to have unexpected trends. Using the same analysis
method, the result from most of the points show inconsistency compares to the
average temperature profile at points near the Kallang waterway. Point a6, a1 and a2
are likely the only points which fairly show the evaporative cooling effect from the
waterway. There is a slightly increase in average temperature at the points further
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away from the waterway. Looking at Point a6 as the closest point to the waterway,
the temperature difference at the two nearest point further from the waterway are
found only up to 0.2C (at Point a2).





Figure 7. Comparison of daytime average temperature (clear days) of points along
the Sungei Api-api waterway
The next immediate points (Point a3, a4 and a5) from Point a2 are most likely
already influenced by the surrounding condition. The pavements and the mature trees
nearby these points, seems to be the possible reason for the inconsistency profile.
The other points, (Point a7, a8 a9 and a10) having the same reason, are influenced by
the nearby beach and sea breeze.
Looking further at the diurnal average temperature of points away the waterway
(Figure 8), Point a3, a4, and a5 are found warmer as compared to Point a1, a2 and a6
during most of the daytime. As found earlier, the former points are closer to the hard
surface around the center of the park, which may influence the HOBO reading and
mask the effect of evaporative cooling from the waterway. Using Point a6 (the
closest point to the waterway with relatively less influenced by the beach and the sea
breeze) as the reference point, Point a1 and a2 tend to have warmer average
temperatures during early of the daytime and slightly become cooler toward the end
of the day. The morning solar radiation seems to have more impact on the
evaporative cooling of the waterway. Further analysis on the extent of evaporative
cooling in regards of solar radiation is described later on the paper. The hottest point
during the day was found at Point a3 with maximum average temperature of 32C.
During the night, when there is no solar radiation, most of the points are found within
the same range of average temperature (25C 26C).




Figure 8. Comparison of diurnal average temperatures (clear days) of points away
the Kallang waterway with average temperature of points nears the Kallang
waterway as reference
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8
Similar trend was happening on Point a7, a8, a9 and a10 (Figure 9), in regards to
Point a6 as the same reference point. Point a7 a10, however, are closer to the
beach. These findings suggest that at Sungei Api-api study case area, the surrounding
condition is likely have more impact on the sensors reading, which cover up the
cooling effect from the waterway.




Figure 9. Diurnal average temperatures (clear days) of points near the Sungei Api-
api waterway and the beach







Figure 10. Comparison of diurnal average temperature (clear days) of points along
the Sungei Api-api waterway with solar radiation
Figure 10 shows the relation between the potential evaporative cooling from the
waterway with the solar radiation. Using the similar analysis methods like the
Kallang waterway, the figure suggest that the evaporative cooling at Sungei Api-api
study case area was started at around 8.30am when the solar radiation reach 50 150
W/m and end when the solar radiation is lower than 100 175 W/m at the end of
the day (at 18: 30 hour). This finding, however, further supports the early finding that
the evaporative cooling seems depending on the availability of solar radiation.
3.3. The distance effect
Two typical hot days were chosen (23
rd
of May and 29
th
of July) from the list of
clear day at both study case area for the distance effect discussion. The point nearest
to waterway at both study case area (Point k8 and Point a6) was used as the reference
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y = 0.011x - 0.308
R = 0.449
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
0 20 40 60 80 100

T

(

C
)
point location
Series1
Linear (Series1)

Distance from waterway (meters)
point to find the temperature reduction, as shown on Figure 11. Using simple
mathematical calculation, the figure suggests that there is a reduction of evaporative
cooling impact on the range of 0.1C - 0.2C on every span of 35m away from the
waterway. This finding, however, only apply during daytime, with clear day
condition.





Figure 11. Correlation between temperature reduction and distance
4. Conclusion
Air temperature near water bodies is different from that over the land due to
different properties. Water is a transparent medium and land is opaque. Water allows
short-wave radiation transmission to considerable depth, leaving the surface layers
cooler. A cooler water surface results in cooler air temperatures above. Hence, the
study tried to find the extent of cooling benefit of two vast waterways on tropical
climate of Singapore.
The waterways on both locations are clearly improves the thermal environment by
cooling the air. Looking at the diurnal profile of the field measurement, the solar
radiation seems has an essential role in the process; it provides the energy needed to
change liquid into water vapour. The cooling effect, however, was limited and the
temperature drop was found relative to the distance from the waterway. The study
found that the air temperature merely reduce by 0.1C on every 30m away from the
waterway. The high humidity climate and the low wind condition might be one of the
possible reasons with it.
5. References
Adebayo, Y.R. (1991). Heat island in a humid tropical city and its relationship with
potential evaporation, Theoretical and applied climatology, 47, 137-147.
Krger, E.L. and Pearlmutter, D. (2008). The effect of urban evaporation on
building energy demand in an arid environment, Energy and buildings, 40, 2090-
2098.
Murakawa, S., Sekine, T. and Narita, K. (1991). Study of the effects of river on
thermal environment in an urban area. Energy and buildings, 15-16, 993-1001.
Oke, T.R. (1987). Boundary climate layer. Routledge, London and New York.

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