Effects of rapid urbanisation on the urban thermal environment between 1990 and 2011 in Dhaka Megacity, Bangladesh

This study investigates the influence of land-use/land-cover (LULC) change on land surface temperature (LST) in Dhaka Megacity, Bangladesh during a period of rapid urbanisation. LST was derived from Landsat 5 TM scenes captured in 1990, 2000 and 2011 and compared to contemporaneous LULC maps. We compared index-based and linear spectral mixture analysis (LSMA) techniques for modelling LST. LSMA derived biophysical parameters corresponded more strongly to LST than those produced using index-based parameters. Results indicated that vegetation and water surfaces had relatively stable LST but it increased by around 2 °C when these surfaces were converted to built-up areas with extensive impervious surfaces. Knowledge of the expected change in LST when one land-cover is converted to another can inform land planners of the potential impact of future changes and urges the development of better management strategies

Simulation of Fall and Winter Surface Energy Balance over a Dense Urban Area Using the TEB Scheme

The Town Energy Balance (TEB) scheme computes the surface energy balance for urban areas. It is intended to be coupled with atmospheric models for numerical weather prediction, air quality forecasts or research applications. Up to now, it has been evaluated for dry and hot seasons over light industrial (Vancouver) or dense urban (Mexico City, Marseille) areas. In this study, the evaluation of TEB is extended to two other seasons, fall and winter, using measurements conducted over a dense urban area of Toulouse (France) instrumented from February 2004 to March 2005. Most of the model outputs were measured (individual components of the net radiation, sensible heat flux) as well as state variables of the model (surface temperatures of roofs, roads, walls). Great care has been taken in the design of the surface temperature measurement strategy in order to provide comparable observations to modelled estimates. Focusing on the fall and winter season, this study also proposes an evaluation of the parameterization of anthropogenic heat sources against an inventory of energy consumption

The Canopy and Aerosol Particles Interactions in TOulouse Urban Layer (CAPITOUL) Experiment

The CAPITOUL experiment is a joint experimental effort in urban climate, including the energetic exchanges between the surface and the atmosphere, the dynamics of the boundary layer over the city and its interactions with aerosol chemistry. The campaign took place in the city of Toulouse in southwest France, for one year, from February 2004 to February 2005. This allowed the study of both the day-to-day and seasonal variability of urban climate processes. The observational network included surface stations (meteorology, energy balance, chemistry), profilers and, during intensive observing periods, aircraft and balloons. The urban Surface Energy Balance differs between summer and winter: in summer, the solar heat stored during the previous daytime period is enough to maintain the heat release at night, but in winter, almost all the energy comes from the anthropogenic heat released by space heating. Both processes produce the well known Urban Heat Island (UHI). The city is shown to impact the entire boundary layer on specific days, when an urban breeze is observed. In wintertime, fog is found to be modified due to the vertical structure of the nocturnal boundary layer above the city (which is slightly unstable and not stable). The measurements of aerosol properties in and downwind the city permitted documentation of the urban aerosol as well as the chemical transformation of these aerosols, in particular the ageing of carbonaceous aerosols during transport. The Toulouse aerosol is mainly composed of carbonaceous particles. There is important seasonal variation in the ratio of black carbon to organic carbon, in the concentration of sulfates and nitrates and in the related radiative aerosol impacts. SF6 was released as a tracer in a suburban area of Toulouse during anticyclonic conditions with weak winds. The tracer measurements show dispersion was mainly driven by the surface sensible heat flux, and was highly sensitive to the urban heat island and also to the transport of boundary layer clouds. Modeling was fully integrated into the campaign. Surface energy balance and urban boundary layer processes have already been used to complement the analyses of the physical processes observed during the campaign. Companion papers detail most of these observation or modeling studies