Urban Climate Under Change [UC]² 

A National Research Programme for Developing a Building-Resolving Atmospheric Model for Entire City Regions

authored by

Dieter Scherer, Florian Antretter, Steffen Bender, Jörg Cortekar, Stefan Emeis, Ute Fehrenbach, Günter Gross, Guido Halbig, Jens Hasse, Björn Maronga, Siegfried Raasch, Katharina Scherber

Abstract

Large cities and urban regions are confronted with rising pressure by environmental pollution, impacts of climate change, as well as natural and health hazards. They are characterised by heterogeneous mosaics of urban structures, causing modifications of atmospheric processes on different temporal and spatial scales. Planning authorities need reliable, locally relevant information on urban atmospheric processes, providing fine spatial resolutions in city quarters or street canyons, as well as projections of future climates, specifically downscaled to individual cities. Therefore, building-resolving urban climate models for entire city regions are required as a tool for urban development and planning, air quality control, as well as for design of actions for climate change mitigation and adaptation. To date, building-resolving atmospheric models covering entire large cities are mostly missing. The German research programme “Urban Climate Under Change” ([UC]²) aims at developing a new urban climate model, acquiring three-dimensional observational data for model testing and validation, and testing its practicability and usability in collaboration with relevant stakeholders to provide a scientifically sound and practicable instrument to address the above mentioned challenges. This article provides an outline of the collaborative activities of the [UC]² research programme.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Meteorology and Climatology

External Organisation(s)

Technische Universität Berlin
Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP)
Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht Centre for Materials and Coastal Research
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD)
RWTH Aachen University
German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu)

Type

Article

Journal

Meteorologische Zeitschrift

Volume

28

Pages

95-104

No. of pages

10

ISSN

0941-2948

Publication date

21.06.2019

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Atmospheric Science

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13 - Climate Action

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1127/metz/2019/0913 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.15488/10423 (Access: Open)