Urban Climate and Monitoring Network System in Central European Cities (original) (raw)

Atmospheric conditions and human thermal comfort in urban areas

2000

Climate and air quality must be taken into account in urban and regional planning at regional level in a manner which is relevant to human health and well being. In view of the combined effects of atmospheric conditions on man, thermal, air quality and actinic factors are particularly important in preventive planning.

THE CLIMATE AS A KEY FACTOR OF PUBLIC LIFE IN EUROPEAN CITIES

Is weather a factor that determines the efficiency of public life in European cities? It can be said that every six months public life changes radically in European cities in response to changes in the weather, such as, the type of activities that take place. Furthermore, in these European cities, culture is another important characteristic of public life. In the first stages the results of this research, identified the following characteristics as factors of efficiency of public life in these cities: climate, the mobility system, the historic area, vitality, materials, vegetation and buildings. These variables define the quality of public life in the cities studied. Weather conditions determine many of the patterns of urban organization. All these features would require the analysis of multiple variables which would be impossible to carry out manually. Thus, this article suggests the design of a software application that could enable the analysis of public life in light of these efficiency factors, to guide the city to sustainability.

Classifying Urban Meteorological Stations Sites by "Local Climate Zones": Preliminary Results for the City of Novi Sad (Serbia)

Conventional approach in the investigation of urban climate of Novi Sad has been done through simple urban-rural air temperature differences. These inter-urban air temperature differences showed how much is city warmer than its surroundings, so-called urban heat island (UHI) effect. Temperature differences exist inside the city as well. To get to know the intensity of these intra-urban temperature differences, installation of meteorological stations in different parts of the city or mobile measurements are needed. In 2012 started IPA HUSRB project made by Department of Climatology and Landscape Ecology (University of Szeged) and Faculty of Sciences (University of Novi Sad). The main goal of this project is the development and installation of wireless urban meteorological network (temperature and relative humidity sensors) in Szeged and Novi Sad. Before the deployment of sensors, necessary metadata about each potential urban meteorological station site needs to be collected. Field work, collected metadata and Stewart and Oke climate-based classification system from 2012 were used for defining the potential urban meteorological stations sites on the territory of the city of Novi Sad (Serbia) and its surroundings.

Monitoring and evaluation of thermal comfort in urban areas: application to Valencia city

Proceedings 5th CARPE Conference: Horizon Europe and beyond, 2019

In this paper, it is presented preliminary results of a methodology for thermal comfort monitoring and evaluation in urban areas based on local metering of ambient conditions and Rayman model application. In the framework of GROWGREEN European project it was installed six monitoring stations for data acquisition of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, solar radiation and black globe temperature. Data of first 5 months of monitoring and modelling of one location with Rayman model to calculate PET (physiological equivalent temperature) is presented. Based on PET it was calculated the percentage of hours with thermal comfort per month, and it was made a comparison between PET and black globe temperature (GT) in order to evaluate the suitability of GT as a single, low cost and robust indicator of thermal comfort in urban areas.

Thermal comfort in outdoor urban spaces: Analysis across different European countries

Building and Environment, 2006

This paper presents some of the findings of the European project, RUROS, primarily concerned with the environmental and comfort conditions of open spaces in cities. The results of the microclimatic and human monitoring, in relation to the thermal environment and comfort conditions in open spaces are presented. The database consists of nearly 10,000 from field surveys in 14 different case study sites, across 5 different countries in Europe. The findings confirm a strong relationship between microclimatic and comfort conditions, with air temperature and solar radiation being important determinants of comfort, although one parameter alone is not sufficient for the assessment of thermal comfort conditions. Overall comfort levels are over 75% for all cities on a yearly basis. There is also strong evidence for adaptation taking place, both physically, with the seasonal variation in clothing and changes to the metabolic rate, as well as psychologically. Recent experience and expectations play a major role and are responsible for a variation over 10 °C of neutral temperatures, largely following the profile of the respective climatic temperatures on a seasonal basis, across Europe. In this context, perceived choice over a source of discomfort is another important parameter for people in open spaces.

Urban climate research in Warsaw: the results of microclimatic network measurements

Geographia Polonica, 2014

The paper presents some aspects of Warsaw's climate, in particular the urban heat island. UHI changes in different seasons and in different air mass types were analysed over the years 2011-2012. Average UHI in Warsaw is of a diamond shape which reflects the distribution of the densest built area and exceeds 2.0°C in the city centre compared to the airport station. In subtropical air mass, the intensity of UHI on the left side of the Vistula River reached 7.7°C. The basis for the analysis is the microclimatic measurement network of 28 permanent points in Warsaw and its surroundings, operated by IGSO PAS and completed by data from 7 other stations. This dense network became the IGSO PAS' input into an UHI project titled 'Development and application of mitigation and adaptation strategies and measures for counteracting the global Urban Heat Islands phenomenon (UHI)' implemented through the Central Europe Program and co-financed by the ERDF.

Sensors and The City: A Review of Urban Meteorological Networks

The heterogeneous nature of urban environments means that atmospheric research ideally requires a dense network of sensors to adequately resolve the local climate. With recent advances in sensor technology, a number of urban meteorological networks now exist with a range of research or operational objectives. This paper reviews and assesses the current status of urban meteorological networks, by examining the fundamental scientific and logistical issues related to these networks. The paper concludes by making recommendations for future deployments based on the challenges encountered by existing networks, including the need for better reporting and documentation of network characteristics, standardised approaches and guidelines, along with the need to overcome financial barriers via collaborative relationships in order to establish the long-term urban networks essential for advancing urban climate research.