Urban Green Space in a Tropical Area—Quantification of Surface Energy Balance and Carbon Dioxide Flux Dynamics

Abstract

Integrating green spaces into urban designs and planning for ecosystem services has become vital; however, in creating these spaces, the growth phase is often overlooked. This study provides insight into the changing energy and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes in a developing forest, “The Forestias” project in Thailand. The eddy covariance technique was applied to determine real-time surface energies and CO2 fluxes from December 2021 to September 2023. The results suggest that under fast growing conditions of the green areas, the diurnal latent energy flux corresponded with the area gained. This effect was supported by increasing evapotranspiration through the byproduct of canopy gas exchange. Consequently, the influence of green areas on lowering the average ambient temperature compared with the urban non-green surroundings was observed. In terms of CO2 flux dynamics, the increasing efficacy of photosynthesis was parallel with the growing forest canopy. Changes in flux dynamics due to urban green areas show their potential as a mitigation tool for moderating ambient air temperatures. Moreover, they can serve as a carbon sink within tropical cities and provide a pivotal contribution in reaching carbon neutrality.