Is there any research on the quantifiable UHI at a station like PHL?
I ask because in reality - the airport's footprint hasn't really expanded in over 30 years (much to the dismay of locals). PHL isn't DFW or PHX.
PHL sits directly adjacent to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge and the Delaware River. To the northeast, it's mostly vacant land. And the closest "urbanized" areas, Essington and Eastwick have both seen population declines in the past 30 years. As a matter of fact, Eastwick is a shell of its former self, most of the neighborhood abandoned and reclaimed by nature due to white flight and serious flooding issues.
There are certainly macro effects of UHI, one would assume, in which PHL is somewhat well-located to pick up, though not even that ideal given that directly south of PHL the landscape becomes quickly rural and non-urbanized.
I guess I am just wondering how much UHI effect at PHL has actually contributed to the temperature increases in the past 30-40 years?