Geography & Environment Publications
Simulation of Surface Urban Heat Islands under ‘IDEAL’ Conditions at Night Part 1: Theory and Tests against Field Data
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1991
Volume
56
Issue
3
Journal
Boundary-Layer Meteorology
First Page
275
Last Page
294
URL with Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00120424
Abstract
Observations show that the urban heat island in the atmospheric layer below roof level is most strongly developed during calm, cloudless conditions at night. This paper outlines two versions of a numerical model to describe the cooling of rural and street canyon surfaces under these conditions using surface thermal and radiative properties and the radiative geometry of the canyons. One version uses a full system of differential equations and the other the simpler force-restore approach. The two approaches are shown to be in general agreement and the output of the simpler model is shown to give a faithful representation of cooling of rural and urban surfaces, and therefore heat islands, when compared with field observations.
Notes
Dr. James Voogt was not yet affiliated with The University of Western Ontario at the time of publication.