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Energy balance in urban Mexico City: observation and parameterization during the MILAGRO/MCMA-2006 field campaign

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Abstract

The parameterization of the energy balance from a residential and commercial neighborhood of Mexico City was investigated using direct measurements of radiative and heat fluxes carried out during the MILAGRO/MCMA-2006 field campaign as a reference. The measured fluxes were used to evaluate different models of the energy balance based on parameterizations that require standard meteorological observations: ambient temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure and cloudiness. It was found that these models reproduce with reasonable accuracy the diurnal features of the radiative and heat fluxes. The largest differences between modeled and observed fluxes correspond to the incoming longwave radiation, mainly due to errors in the cloudiness data. This paper contributes to the understanding of the energy partitioning in (sub)tropical urban environments, particularly in the developing world, where energy balance models have not been evaluated.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation (ATM-0528227) and the Metropolitan Environmental Commission of Mexico. E. Velasco acknowledges the postdoctoral funding provided by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of the National University of Singapore for the data analysis. The assistance and logistical support provided by the Atmospheric Monitoring System of the Federal District Government (SIMAT) was fundamental for the satisfactory development of this study. The cloudiness data were provided by J. Fast and J. Barnard from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and B. de Foy from Saint Louis University. The K↓ data used in the second evaluation of the modeling approach was provided by E. Alvarez from the National Meteorological Service. The authors acknowledge the comprehensive comments made by two anonymous reviewers that helped to improve substantially the original manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Erik Velasco

  2. Molina Center for Energy and the Environment (MCE2), La Jolla, CA, USA

    Erik Velasco & Luisa T. Molina

  3. Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

    Shelley Pressley, Rasa Grivicke, Eugene Allwine & Brian Lamb

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  1. Erik Velasco
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  2. Shelley Pressley
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  3. Rasa Grivicke
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  4. Eugene Allwine
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  5. Luisa T. Molina
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  6. Brian Lamb
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Correspondence to Erik Velasco.

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Velasco, E., Pressley, S., Grivicke, R. et al. Energy balance in urban Mexico City: observation and parameterization during the MILAGRO/MCMA-2006 field campaign. Theor Appl Climatol 103, 501–517 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-010-0314-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-010-0314-7

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