Cities alter the thermal regime of urban rivers in very variable ways which are not yet deciphered for the territory of Romania. The urban heat island of Suceava city was measured in 2019 and its impact on Suceava River was assessed using hourly and daily values from a network of 12 water and air monitoring stations. In 2019, Suceava River water temperature was 11.54 °C upstream of Suceava city (Mihoveni) and 11.97 °C downstream (Tişăuţi)—a 3.7% increase in the water temperature downstream. After the stream water passes through the city, the diurnal thermal profile of Suceava River water temperature shows steeper slopes and earlier moments of the maximum and minimum temperatures than upstream because of the urban heat island. In an average day, an increase of water temperature with a maximum of 0.99 °C occurred downstream, partly explained by the 2.46 °C corresponding difference between the urban floodplain and the surrounding area. The stream water diurnal cycle has been shifted towards a variation specific to that of the local air temperature. The heat exchange between Suceava River and Suceava city is bidirectional. The stream water diurnal thermal cycle is statistically more significant downstream due to the heat transfer from the city into the river. This transfer occurs partly through urban tributaries which are 1.94 °C warmer than Suceava River upstream of Suceava city. The wavelet coherence analyses and ANCOVA (analysis of covariance) prove that there are significant (0.95 confidence level) causal relationships between the changes in Suceava River water temperature downstream and the fluctuations of the urban air temperature. The complex bidirectional heat transfer and the changes in the diurnal thermal profiles are important to be analysed in other urban systems in order to decipher in more detail the observed causal relationships.

This study addresses a current issue concerning spatial and temporal analysis of Moldova's climate resources and is intended for the use of people involved in various tourism and related activities. For researchers in the field, the study will be a source of information, allowing comparison of the results obtained for other locations, and for practitioners an indispensable working tool. The motivation for the present study resides in the sparseness and ambiguity of the analysis of climate resources for tourism included in the assessment of the natural tourism potential of Romania. We aim to improve this approach by constructing for Moldova a statistically relevant, quantitative analysis of what climate offers the tourists. To achieve the proposed objectives, we used TCI and a climate database sufficiently detailed to capture climate patterns up to ten-days time intervals. We showed that in Moldova the May-September interval is the most favorable for developing all forms of tourism. We then customized the analysis at the level of each tourism resort. Our study is among the first in this region to use such analysis and provides clear research results to those involved in tourism to improve their decision-making process. The results are very important in supporting tourism in Moldova and will contribute to raising the economic potential of the region.

The widespread availability of Land Surface Temperature (LST) data from various sources presents a contemporary challenge for urban climate studies: how to efficiently compare these data with the results of traditional methods of temperature monitoring, which typically assume measurements at 2 m under sheltered conditions. In this line, the current study is based primarily on data extracted from a network of 31 points of hourly temperature monitoring at the 2 m level (Tair2m), in use between 2019 and 2021, in the city of Suceava in north-eastern Romania. These data allowed a detailed mapping for each hourly time step through multiple regression, adjusted by IDW, which was identified as the best interpolation method of Tair2m. These data were analyzed in parallel with LST data derived from Landsat imagery available in the analyzed period for 35 summer days with no or low cloud cover. The mapping results of both the Tair2m and LST data describe the main characteristics of the Suceava urban agglomeration (SvMA) heat island, which presents polynuclear features with intensities—as expressed by the temperature difference between the cores of the heat island and the surrounding rural areas—spanning during the summer noontime between 3.0 °C based on Tair2m and 7.1 °C on LST, respectively. The values of the Tair2m–LST differences were 0.68 °C on average, ranging from 5.33 to −19.17 °C, directly proportional to the imperviousness ratio (IMD) values, reaching the highest values in the local climate zones (LCZs) with a high built-up ratio (up to −19.17 °C) and the lowest (0.5 ÷ −0.5 °C) for those with bare soils, with isolated bushes and trees, with few or no buildings. The study results could serve as a tool to downscale the LST data to the level of Tair2m, which is useful for interpretation of the data derived from these commonly used tools in urban climate monitoring.

El presente estudio incluye el análisis diagnóstico y evolutivo del bioclima de la República de Moldavia según Wind Chill Index (WCI) y Cooling Power (CP). Entre 1960 y 2012, el bioclima de la temporada fría (octubre-marzo) presentó una tendencia de calentamiento gradual, evidenciada por la baja de los valores de WCI. Durante la temporada cálida, el bioclima de la República de Moldovia registró un calentamiento gradual, evidenciado por la baja de los valores de CP. Los valores del índice CP han sido analizados según los valores del Índice Climático turístico (TCI), útil para planificar actividades turísticas de cualquier tipo. Los valores actuales de TCI y los anticipados para el futuro indican un clima favorecedor para todo tipo o toda clase de turismo en la República Moldavia.