Estimation of urban heat island intensity and trends in Spanish cities

Abstract Studying urban heat islands (UHIs) in Southern Europe is crucial, as they amplify heat risks under climate change. UHIs and their temporal variability at seven urban–rural pair locations in Spain were analysed from 1970 to 2023. The UHI was defined as the air temperature difference between each urban site and its neighbouring rural sites, and trends were analysed using the non-parametric Mann–Kendall test with Sen’s slope estimator. Based on daily minimum air temperature data, results i