The State-of-the-Art of Urban Climate Change Modeling and Observations

As an effect of climate change, cities need detailed information on urban climates at decision scale that cannot be easily delivered using current observation networks, nor global and even regional climate models. A review is presented of the recent literature and recommendations are formulated for...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Earth systems and environment 2020-12, Vol.4 (4), p.631-646
Main Authors: Hamdi, Rafiq, Kusaka, Hiroyuki, Doan, Quang-Van, Cai, Peng, He, Huili, Luo, Geping, Kuang, Wenhui, Caluwaerts, Steven, Duchêne, François, Van Schaeybroek, Bert, Termonia, Piet
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospheric boundary layer
Atmospheric models
Cities
Climate
Climate change
Climate change models
Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts
Climate effects
Climate models
Coastal hazards
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Earth System Sciences
Emergency communications systems
Energy consumption
Environmental Science and Engineering
Geography
Geometry
Global climate
Monitoring/Environmental Analysis
Outdoor air quality
Parameterization
Population growth
Rain
Review Article
Rural areas
Spatial data
Sustainable development
Trend analysis
Urban areas
Urban heat islands
Urban sprawl
Urban structures
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Summary:As an effect of climate change, cities need detailed information on urban climates at decision scale that cannot be easily delivered using current observation networks, nor global and even regional climate models. A review is presented of the recent literature and recommendations are formulated for future work. In most cities, historical observational records are too short, discontinuous, or of too poor quality to support trend analysis and climate change attribution. For climate modeling, on the other hand, specific dynamical and thermal parameterization dedicated to the exchange of water and energy between the atmosphere and the urban surfaces have to be implemented. Therefore, to fully understand how cities are impacted by climate change, it is important to have (1) simulations of the urban climate at fine spatial scales (including coastal hazards for coastal cities) integrating global climate scenarios with urban expansion and population growth scenarios and their associated uncertainty estimates, (2) urban climate observations, especially in Global South cities, and (3) spatial data of high resolution on urban structure and form, human behavior, and energy consumption.
ISSN:2509-9426
2509-9434
DOI:10.1007/s41748-020-00193-3