Sensitivity of mesoscale modeling to urban morphological feature inputs and implications for characterizing urban sustainability
Abstract We examine the differences in meteorological output from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model run at 270 m horizontal resolution using 10 m, 100 m and 1 km resolution 3D neighborhood morphological inputs and with no morphological inputs. We find that the spatial variability in t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-12-01
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| Series: | npj Urban Sustainability |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-024-00185-6 |
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| author | Melissa R. Allen-Dumas Levi T. Sweet-Breu Christa M. Brelsford Linying Wang Joshua R. New Brett C. Bass |
| author_facet | Melissa R. Allen-Dumas Levi T. Sweet-Breu Christa M. Brelsford Linying Wang Joshua R. New Brett C. Bass |
| author_sort | Melissa R. Allen-Dumas |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract We examine the differences in meteorological output from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model run at 270 m horizontal resolution using 10 m, 100 m and 1 km resolution 3D neighborhood morphological inputs and with no morphological inputs. We find that the spatial variability in temperature, humidity, and other meteorological variables across the city can vary with the resolution and the coverage of the 3D urban morphological input, and that larger differences occur between simulations run without 3D morphological input and those run with some type of 3D morphology. We also find that the inclusion of input-building-defined roughness length calculations would improve simulation results further. We show that these inputs produce different patterns of heat wave spatial heterogeneity across the city of Washington, DC. These findings suggest that understanding neighborhood level urban sustainability under extreme heat waves, especially for vulnerable neighborhoods, requires attention to the representation of surface terrain in numerical weather models. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bd36bcce7d184b4fbf391324bcb1d5e6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2661-8001 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | npj Urban Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj-art-bd36bcce7d184b4fbf391324bcb1d5e62024-12-08T12:32:42ZengNature Portfolionpj Urban Sustainability2661-80012024-12-014111110.1038/s42949-024-00185-6Sensitivity of mesoscale modeling to urban morphological feature inputs and implications for characterizing urban sustainabilityMelissa R. Allen-Dumas0Levi T. Sweet-Breu1Christa M. Brelsford2Linying Wang3Joshua R. New4Brett C. Bass5Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, Oak Ridge National LaboratoryComputational Sciences and Engineering Division, Oak Ridge National LaboratoryGeospatial Science and Human Security Division, Oak Ridge National LaboratoryArts and Sciences, Earth and Environment, Boston UniversityElectrification and Energy Infrastructure Division, Oak Ridge National LaboratoryElectrification and Energy Infrastructure Division, Oak Ridge National LaboratoryAbstract We examine the differences in meteorological output from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model run at 270 m horizontal resolution using 10 m, 100 m and 1 km resolution 3D neighborhood morphological inputs and with no morphological inputs. We find that the spatial variability in temperature, humidity, and other meteorological variables across the city can vary with the resolution and the coverage of the 3D urban morphological input, and that larger differences occur between simulations run without 3D morphological input and those run with some type of 3D morphology. We also find that the inclusion of input-building-defined roughness length calculations would improve simulation results further. We show that these inputs produce different patterns of heat wave spatial heterogeneity across the city of Washington, DC. These findings suggest that understanding neighborhood level urban sustainability under extreme heat waves, especially for vulnerable neighborhoods, requires attention to the representation of surface terrain in numerical weather models.https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-024-00185-6 |
| spellingShingle | Melissa R. Allen-Dumas Levi T. Sweet-Breu Christa M. Brelsford Linying Wang Joshua R. New Brett C. Bass Sensitivity of mesoscale modeling to urban morphological feature inputs and implications for characterizing urban sustainability npj Urban Sustainability |
| title | Sensitivity of mesoscale modeling to urban morphological feature inputs and implications for characterizing urban sustainability |
| title_full | Sensitivity of mesoscale modeling to urban morphological feature inputs and implications for characterizing urban sustainability |
| title_fullStr | Sensitivity of mesoscale modeling to urban morphological feature inputs and implications for characterizing urban sustainability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sensitivity of mesoscale modeling to urban morphological feature inputs and implications for characterizing urban sustainability |
| title_short | Sensitivity of mesoscale modeling to urban morphological feature inputs and implications for characterizing urban sustainability |
| title_sort | sensitivity of mesoscale modeling to urban morphological feature inputs and implications for characterizing urban sustainability |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-024-00185-6 |
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