Monitoring and modeling of the urban micro-climate

Abstract

Urban heat island phenomenon (UHI) is considered to be one of the major challenges encountered this century by the human kind. This phenomenon is characterized mainly by air temperatures in the city that are higher than those in the surrounding areas. Reasons are, amongst other things, the morphology and density of urban spaces as well as the thermal and radiative properties of outdoor surfaces. The UHI effect represents a challenge for careful and proper building design and operation, as micro-climatic data are typically available only for few locations in the city. As a result, planning, retrofit, and mitigation measures for buildings cannot count on reliable weather information for the exact locations of intended building projects. In this context, this paper presents results of an ongoing research project, which is concerned with prevention, adaptation, and mitigation measures pertaining to the urban heat island phenomenon. An important component of this project addresses the variation in the mirco-climatic conditions in different locations in the city and if and how such variations could be accounted for. Specifically, weather information was collected with a mobile weather station at various locations within the city of Vienna. Collected data from multiple - morphologically differentiated - locations around the city were compared with the simultaneously monitored general weather conditions via a stationary weather station. The findings are expected to support the development and validation of high-resolution climatic boundary condition models for building design and operation support.