Development of a parameterization for simulating the urban temperature hazard using satellite observations in climate model

Urban surface temperature is hazardously higher than surrounding regions (so-called urban heat island effect UHI). Accurately simulating urbanization-induced temperature hazard is critical for realistically representing urban regions in the land surface-atmosphere climate system. However, inclusion of urban landscapes in regional or global climate models has been overlooked due to the coarse spatial resolution of these models as well as the lack of observations for urban physical properties. Recently, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observing System (EOS) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations illustrate important urban physical properties, including skin temperature, surface albedo, surface emissivity, and leaf area index, It is possible to identify the unique urban features globally and thus simulate global urban processes. An urban scheme is designed to represent the urban-modified physical parameters (albedo, emissivity, land cover, roughness length, thermal and hydraulic properties) and to include new, unique physical processes that exist in urban regions. The urban scheme is coupled with National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Land Model Version 2 (CLM2) and single column coupled NCAR Community Atmosphere Model CAM2/CLM2 to assess the mechanisms responsible for UHI. There are two-steps in our model development. First, satellite observations of albedo, emissivity, LAI, and in situ observed thermal properties are updated in CLM2 to represent M. Jin (&) Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland, College Park, NASA-GSFC Code 612.2, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA e-mail: [email protected] J. M. Shepherd Department of Geography, Atmospheric Sciences Program, Physical Meteorologist/Climatologist, The University of Georgia, Athens, MD, USA C. Peters-Lidard Hydrological Sciences Branch, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Greenbelt, MD, USA 123 Nat Hazards DOI 10.1007/s11069-007-9117-2