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Development of a parameterization for simulating the urban temperature hazard using satellite observations in climate model

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Abstract

Urban surface temperature is hazardously higher than surrounding regions (so-called urban heat island effect UHI). Accurately simulating urbanization-induced temperature hazard is critical for realistically representing urban regions in the land surface-atmosphere climate system. However, inclusion of urban landscapes in regional or global climate models has been overlooked due to the coarse spatial resolution of these models as well as the lack of observations for urban physical properties. Recently, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observing System (EOS) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations illustrate important urban physical properties, including skin temperature, surface albedo, surface emissivity, and leaf area index, It is possible to identify the unique urban features globally and thus simulate global urban processes. An urban scheme is designed to represent the urban-modified physical parameters (albedo, emissivity, land cover, roughness length, thermal and hydraulic properties) and to include new, unique physical processes that exist in urban regions. The urban scheme is coupled with National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Land Model Version 2 (CLM2) and single column coupled NCAR Community Atmosphere Model CAM2/CLM2 to assess the mechanisms responsible for UHI. There are two-steps in our model development. First, satellite observations of albedo, emissivity, LAI, and in situ observed thermal properties are updated in CLM2 to represent the first-order urban effects. Second, new terms representing the urban anthropogenic heat flux, storage heat flux, and roughness length are calculated in the model. Model simulations suggest that human activity-induced surface temperature hazard results in overlying atmosphere instability and convective rainfall, which may enhance the possibility of urban flood hazard.

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Notes

  1. Previously, urban effects have been primarily indicated by urban-to-rural surface air temperature differences, namely the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect (Oke 1976; Landsberg 1975). In this paper, satellite land surface skin temperature is examined. Skin temperature, retrieved from upward longwave radiation, is closely related to the surface radiative properties and is more suitable than the conventional surface air temperature in studies of climate change (Jin et al. 1997; Jin and Dickinson 1999, 2000, 2002), since the latter has shortcomings such as irregular spatial coverage, site changes, and coarse resolutions (Karl et al. 1988).

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Year 2003 NASA GSFC DDF, EOSIDS. and the TRMM program for supporting the initial study of this work. We also thank Robert E. Dickinson for extremely useful discussion on urban roughness length. Thanks go to our NASA Academy summer student, Mr. Miguel Roman-Colon, who helped assess early versions of the MODIS products.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland, College Park, NASA-GSFC Code 612.2, Greenbelt, MD, 20771, USA

    Menglin Jin

  2. Department of Geography, Atmospheric Sciences Program, Physical Meteorologist/Climatologist, The University of Georgia, Athens, MD, USA

    J. Marshall Shepherd

  3. Hydrological Sciences Branch, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Greenbelt, MD, USA

    Christa Peters-Lidard

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  1. Menglin Jin
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  2. J. Marshall Shepherd
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  3. Christa Peters-Lidard
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Correspondence to Menglin Jin.

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Jin, M., Shepherd, J.M. & Peters-Lidard, C. Development of a parameterization for simulating the urban temperature hazard using satellite observations in climate model. Nat Hazards 43, 257–271 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-007-9117-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-007-9117-2

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