Publications

Gondocs, J; Breuer, H; Pongracz, R; Bartholy, J (2017). Urban heat island mesoscale modelling study for the Budapest agglomeration area using the WRF model. URBAN CLIMATE, 21, 66-86.

Abstract
The present paper evaluates modelled surface urban heat island intensities (SUHI) and other essential urban meteorology-related variables for Budapest(located in the central part of the Carpathian Basin). This analysis uses the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with updated surface characteristics databases (i.e. land use, albedo, topography, emissivity, soil texture). The horizontal resolution of the newly created land use-land cover (LULC) database is around 90 m, and is compiled on the basis of the OpenStreetMap (OSM) and Google Earth satellite images. The urban classes of the new LULC database have been expanded to five, and the urban parameter spatial distribution database was also created. Three simulations with different LULC databases (MODIS, USGS, and newly defined OSM) are validated against remotely-sensed observations (MODIS Land Surface Temperature Product). The results from the WRF using the OSM (WRF/OSM) show the best agreement with the observations both in rural and urban areas, in contrast to the simulation using the USGS LULC, which results in the greatest errors. According to the mean normalised bias calculations, the WRF/OSM simulation estimates the lowest bias in urban areas, nevertheless, an overestimation can be detected over the surrounding rural areas, which results in weaker SUHI intensity. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOI:
10.1016/j.uclim.2017.05.005

ISSN:
2212-0955