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Enhancing Hydrologic Modelling in the Coupled Weather Research and Forecasting–Urban Modelling System

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An Erratum to this article was published on 27 March 2015

Abstract

Urbanization modifies surface energy and water budgets, and has significant impacts on local and regional hydroclimate. In recent decades, a number of urban canopy models have been developed and implemented into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to capture urban land-surface processes. Most of these models are inadequate due to the lack of realistic representation of urban hydrological processes. Here, we implement physically-based parametrizations of urban hydrological processes into the single layer urban canopy model in the WRF model. The new single-layer urban canopy model features the integration of, (1) anthropogenic latent heat, (2) urban irrigation, (3) evaporation from paved surfaces, and (4) the urban oasis effect. The new WRF–urban modelling system is evaluated against field measurements for four different cities; results show that the model performance is substantially improved as compared to the current schemes, especially for latent heat flux. In particular, to evaluate the performance of green roofs as an urban heat island mitigation strategy, we integrate in the urban canopy model a multilayer green roof system, enabled by the physical urban hydrological schemes. Simulations show that green roofs are capable of reducing surface temperature and sensible heat flux as well as enhancing building energy efficiency.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant number CBET-1435881. Partial financial supports for ZHW and JY from the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research project under NSF grant CAP3: BCS-1026865, and the Summer Visitor’s program by the National Center for Atmospheric Research are gratefully acknowledged. SM is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant No. 41175015.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Jiachuan Yang & Zhi-Hua Wang

  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, 80307, USA

    Fei Chen & Mukul Tewari

  3. Institute of Urban Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, 100089, China

    Shiguang Miao

  4. Department of Geography, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 5C2, Canada

    James A. Voogt

  5. School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Soe Myint

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  1. Jiachuan Yang
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  2. Zhi-Hua Wang
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  4. Shiguang Miao
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Correspondence to Zhi-Hua Wang.

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Yang, J., Wang, ZH., Chen, F. et al. Enhancing Hydrologic Modelling in the Coupled Weather Research and Forecasting–Urban Modelling System. Boundary-Layer Meteorol 155, 87–109 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-014-9991-6

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