Assessment of the Paris urban heat island in ERA5 and offline SURFEX-TEB (v8.1) simulations using the METEOSAT land surface temperature product

Abstract. Cities concentrate people, wealth, emissions, and infrastructure, thus representing a challenge an opportunity for climate change mitigation adaptation. This urgently demands accurate urban projections to help organizations individuals make climate-smart decisions. However, most of the large ensembles global regional model simulations do not include sophisticated parameterizations (e.g., EURO-CORDEX; CMIP5/6). Here, we explore this shortcoming in ERA5 (the latest generation reanalysis from European Centre Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) simulation with SURFEX (Surface Externalisée) land surface employing widely used bulk bare rock approach. The city Paris is considered as case study. Subsequently, apply more complex scheme – coupled Town Energy Balance (TEB) canopy assess its benefits on characterizing climate. Both were compared LSA SAF (Satellite Application Facility Land Surface Analysis) temperature product evaluate Parisian heat island (SUHI). Our results show significant added value SURFEX-TEB reproducing SUHI during daytime UHI both nighttime (with overall reductions bias root mean square error improvements representation statistics SUHI/UHI displayed by Perkins skill score or S score). improvement simulated lower due lack land–atmosphere feedbacks proposed offline framework. Nonetheless, framework applied here clearly demonstrates using comprehensive parameterization schemes simulate and, therefore, allowing projections.