How relevant are local climate zones and urban climate zones for urban climate research? Dijon (France) as a case study

Surface (2 m) temperature and specific humidity data are measured at 5-minute intervals in a network comprising 33 stations distributed across the city of Berlin, Germany. These data are utilized in order to validate a LES (large eddy simulation) model designed to assess the local climate at a very high resolution of 10 m to 1 m. This model, was developed at the &#8203;Institute of Meteorology and Climatology (IMUK) of the Leibniz Universit&#228;t Hannover, Germany, and is developed into an application tool for city planners within the funding programme "[UC&#178;] - Urban Climate under Change", of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).The evaluation distinguishes between the different Local climate zones (LCZ) in the city, which are defined following the concept of Stewart & Oke (2012). For Berlin, the following LCZ have been identified: 2 (compact midrise), 4 (open high-rise), 6 (open low-rise), 8 (large low-rise), A (dense trees), B (scattered trees), D (low Plants), G (water).We analyzed one cold winter day during an intensive observation period from 06 UTC on 17th January to 06 UTC on 18th January, 2017. The minimum and maximum recorded temperatures were -8.1 &#176;C and +2 &#176;C, respectively, the sun shine duration was 6.5 hours. Daily and hourly mean absolute error, mean square error and root mean square error confirm that the deviation between measurements and the PALM-4U model differs between the LCZ for Berlin, with particularly large negative deviations of up to 5 K in forest areas, as they are not yet well represented in the model. Smallest deviations are found for the industrial zone. In all cases, the observed amplitude of the diurnal cycle is underestimated. The role of the driving model for the deviations found is addressed.Stewart, I.D., Oke, T.R. (2012) Local climate zones for urban temperature studies. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 93 1879-1900. DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00019.1.&#160;

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Mapping the local climate zones of urban areas by GIS-based and WUDAPT methods: A case study of Hong Kong

Urban Climate ◽

10.1016/j.uclim.2017.10.001 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 24 ◽

pp. 567-576 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Ran Wang ◽

Chao Ren ◽

Yong Xu ◽

Kevin Ka-Lun Lau ◽

Yuan Shi

Keyword(s):

Hong Kong ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Climate Zones ◽

Local Climate ◽

Local Climate Zones

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Mapping Local Climate Zones and Their Applications in European Urban Environments: A Systematic Literature Review and Future Development Trends

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information ◽

10.3390/ijgi10040260 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 260

Author(s):

Michal Lehnert ◽

Stevan Savić ◽

Dragan Milošević ◽

Jelena Dunjić ◽

Jan Geletič

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Urban Climate ◽

Well Being ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Outdoor Thermal Comfort ◽

Climate Zones ◽

Local Climate ◽

Local Climate Zones ◽

Scale Modelling

In the light of climate change and burgeoning urbanization, heat loads in urban areas have emerged as serious issues, affecting the well-being of the population and the environment. In response to a pressing need for more standardised and communicable research into urban climate, the concept of local climate zones (LCZs) has been created. This concept aims to define the morphological types of (urban) surface with respect to the formation of local climatic conditions, largely thermal. This systematic review paper analyses studies that have applied the concept of LCZs to European urban areas. The methodology utilized pre-determined keywords and five steps of literature selection. A total of 91 studies were found eligible for analysis. The results show that the concept of LCZs has been increasingly employed and become well established in European urban climate research. Dozens of measurements, satellite observations, and modelling outcomes have demonstrated the characteristic thermal responses of LCZs in European cities. However, a substantial number of the studies have concentrated on the methodological development of the classification process, generating a degree of inconsistency in the delineation of LCZs. Recent trends indicate an increasing prevalence of the accessible remote-sensing based approach over accurate GIS-based methods in the delineation of LCZs. In this context, applications of the concept in fine-scale modelling appear limited. Nevertheless, the concept of the LCZ has proven appropriate and valuable to the provision of metadata for urban stations, (surface) urban heat island analysis, and the assessment of outdoor thermal comfort and heat risk. Any further development of LCZ mapping appears to require a standardised objective approach that may be globally applicable.

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Issues with using Landsat based Surface Temperature for Investigating Linkage between Local Climate Zones and Surface Urban Heat Island in Different Seasons: A Case Study of Manhattan, N.Y.

10.31219/osf.io/m84ne ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Parth Bansal

Keyword(s):

Surface Temperature ◽

Urban Heat Island ◽

Summer Season ◽

Heat Island ◽

Climate Zones ◽

Local Climate ◽

Local Climate Zones ◽

Different Seasons ◽

Urban Heat

This study was conceptualized to investigate differences in surface temperature profile of Local Climate Zones (LCZ) classes in different seasonal conditions. Manhattan was selected as case study due to its dense, but heterogeneous built-up profile and presence of green area which formed the baseline for temperature comparison. However, this study failed to find significant results, in terms of the distinct Urban Heat Island (UHI) feature often reported in literature. Instead, this study suggests that in the case of Manhattan UHI is predominantly within ± 0.5 C° except during summer season. In summer season, where more difference in built and green LCZ is observed, the noise in data, defined by standard deviation of surface temperature in the class, is also higher. Thus, our study concludes that Landsat based surface temperature should be used with extreme caution to investigate UHI since most imagery is taken during day time.

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