The rapid development of cities worldwide and the expansion of a global economy have rendered climate change one of mankind's most severe challenges. The built environment has become a major focus for research into ways to reduce the climate effects of urban areas. Researchers who seek to model the performance of a large group of buildings, however, have available only complex simulation methods that

The effectiveness of vegetation coverage in mitigating human heat stress and improving thermal comfort of spaces is indispensable. Outdoor spaces of academic courtyard buildings are not merely used for educational objectives; whereas a wide range of social activities are occurring in their courtyard environments. Tree cover is proposed as a passive strategy to improve thermal and microclimatic conditions

Due to increasing issues of air pollution in urban areas continuous research is being conducted to upgrade models, which can predict the distribution of pollutants and thus enable timely interventions to mitigate their negative effects. To support these efforts, traffic data from an integrated transport model was used to drive the COPERT traffic emission model and the WRF-Chem atmospheric chemistry

As climate change progresses, local governments are being forced to find ways to adapt to worsening environmental, economic, and infrastructure impacts. The city of Fredericton, New Brunswick has a long history of river and overland flooding; however, more recent changes in local weather patterns have led to an increase in flood risk in the area. For more than a decade, decision-makers in Fredericton

There is a downward curve between increasing inversion altitude and the number of coronavirus patients during all periods. As temperature inversion altitude increases, the pollutants are dispersed in a greater thickness of the atmosphere and the concentration of the pollutants decreases on the earth's surface. At the same time, the number of patients with Covid-19 reduces. Although investigation of

The frequency and intensity of heat waves (HW) in cities are on the rise due to climate change as well as urban fabric materials and anthropogenic activities that affect heat accumulation. The efficacy of HW mitigation strategies depends on a city's specific and unique morphology, land use, building materials, climate and geography. In this study, we show the effectiveness of cool roofs and vegetation

Urbanization is the most dominating land use change in the developing countries.There is a considerable growth (30 fold increase) of urban area during recent decades over the central National Capital Region (CNCR) of India. The present study assesses the impact of increasing urban sprawls on precipitation related to thunderstorm and associated meteorological parameters such as convective available

Climate change is intensifying coastal floods and increasing the risks of traffic disruption in low-lying, coastal communities. Efforts to understand the differential impacts of traffic disruption on communities have led to the concept of traffic resilience which captures the degree to which a traffic system can recover from disruption. Existing proxies of traffic resilience are focused on quantifying

We evaluate two mitigation strategies for urban heat island (UHI) in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area (KCMA). Using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, we assess the potential benefits of reflective "cool" roofs and urban irrigation on air temperature in typical summer conditions between 2011 and 2015, and during six of the strongest historical heat waves from 2005 to 2016. Under the

Cities experience overheating due to factors such as urban form and materials, concentration of human activities, reduction in the amount of vegetation and water surfaces. Vegetation is one of the ways to reduce temperature peaks in the city during heat waves. The objectives of this paper are twofold: first, to study the impact on the microclimate of a north-south oriented canyon street at reduced-scale

The objective of this study is to define the effect of Bahía Blanca (Argentina) urban form and function on heat fluxes integrated in its energy balance at a local scale. The most frequent Local Climate Zones (LCZs) were identified in Bahía Blanca. Most of the LCZs are built types, corresponding to LCZ 1 and 2 in the microcenter, LCZ 3 in the macrocenter, and LCZ 6 and 9 in the city peri-urban area

Generalised Extreme Value (GEV) distribution can be used effectually to model extreme climatic events like bushfire. The major predicament of using GEV distribution is accurate determination of three parameters (location, scale, and shape); nevertheless, there are no specific guidelines to identify the most apposite parameter estimation technique of the GEV distribution for bushfire studies. In this

Black carbon (BC), carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide (CO2) were measured in Mexico City (UNAM observatory) with a Photoacoustic Extinctiometer-PAX (BC) and a Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy analyzer-CRDS (CO and CO2), from November 2014 to July 2016. The objective of this study was to determine temporal variations of BC, CO, and CO2, their mutual correlations, and evaluation of the Mexico City

Anthropogenic modification of the natural environment has caused significant impacts on the local atmosphere and far-reaching changes to the global climate. Taking Hong Kong as a case study, high-resolution (250 m) mesoscale simulations are conducted using Meso-NH coupled with the multi-layer Town Energy Balance to investigate the effects of past (early 1960s), present (2018), and future (late 2040s)

The Community Weather Information Network (Co-WIN) was established by the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) and Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in 2007 for promoting weather and climate education. Under Co-WIN, participating members (mainly primary and secondary schools) operate automatic weather stations (AWS) onsite to collect weather data and transmit them to a central database for assimilation

Understanding the major driving forces of CO2 emissions has become indispensable as the challenges of climate change and adaptation become more widely recognized. This systematic review presents a comprehensive overview of the econometric models applied to disentangling the relationships among carbon emissions, energy consumption, and economic growth. The electronic databases Web of Science, SCOPUS

Selecting most tolerant roadside trees in different environmental settings help to mitigate air pollution by serving as a sink for gaseous air pollutants and be tolerant for polluted environments. However, in most of the humid tropics, there is no proper mechanism for roadside tree selection in the absence of scientific research. The present study was designed with the objective of assessing Air Pollution

In an effort to conserve water, conversion of irrigated lawns to “water-saving” landscape designs are being promoted in urban areas. Different materials, with different radiative and thermal properties, are used to accomplish this. We conducted a field study where we measured reflected spectral irradiance, albedo, energy balance, and soil and surface temperatures of grass (GR), artificial turf (AT)

In residential buildings, accurate forecast of time-varying electricity demands is important for the estimation and prediction of electricity consumption. Information of the end user's electricity consumption patterns is necessary as it has a significant impact on the load curve in the utility grid. Thus, this study aims to provide detailed information on the electricity use and indoor thermal environment

Examining the land surface temperature (LST) and its mechanism is very significant for urban planning.The purpose of this study is to determine the factors affecting the surface temperature of urban areas of Shiraz. The OLS and GWR were used o determine the effective factors. Also, satellite data of Landsat 8 for summer 2019 were used to obtain the surface temperature of Shiraz. To this end, the Landsat

The urban heat island is one of the most investigated environmental problems at the local climate scale. It is a thermal anomaly resulting from the difference in temperature between urban areas and the surrounding rural areas that add heat to the atmosphere and lead to thermal discomfort for part of the population. This study aims to identify and analyze the urban heat island in the city of Três Lagoas

Urban flooding is a big problem for developing countries like China. The parameterization of urban water balance schemes is important to urban latent heat flux and urban land-atmosphere interaction studies. Now, various kinds of urban hydrological schemes are developed to simulate the urban water cycle; but some key physical processes about urban water balance still need to be addressed. In this paper

Thermal remote sensing has become widely used to monitor and study Urban Heat Island (UHI) by the use of satellite Land Surface Temperature (LST) data, and the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) scheme has established itself as the standard for assessing Urban Heat Island Intensity (UHII). A lot of research on LST-LCZ relationship has been done, but mainly in flat terrain. Some studies on UHI in mountainous

This paper focuses on land use and land cover (LULC) expansion and local climate zone (LCZ) changes in relation to warming in the future, the study concentrates on three major parts. First, this research analyzes LULC and LCZ changes from 1991 to 2016 using Landsat satellite images data. This reveals the history of urban expansion over the study period, urban growth rate and urban land demand projection

Climate change poses a great threat to humans and the ecosystem of the planet. There are many factors that trigger climate change, and there are many aftereffects. One of the after-effects is Urban Heat Island (UHI), recognized as the most evident characteristic of urban climate which occurs due to dark, non-reflective surfaces. These surfaces absorb the warmth of the Sun, radiate heat; Thus, increase

In sponge city construction in China, rainfall data is the basis for determining rainwater source control objectives. However, drastic change in rainfall caused by urbanization and climate change has dramatically reduced the rainfall data's representativeness. This study examines the impact of spatial-temporal rainfall changes over the past 50 years and evaluates the influence on the stability of rainwater

Changes in land cover and urban canopy structure caused by urbanization have important effects on regional climate. In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting model is used to explore the influences of urbanization on local climate change in Guangzhou, a core city in the rapid urbanization region of the Pearl River Delta of China. Global Land Cover data from 2000 and 2018 are adopted to represent

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries across the world, including India, have imposed nationwide lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus. Many studies reported that the air quality had improved much due to the lockdown. This study examines the variation of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) over the Indian metropolitan cities during the lockdown period by using ground-based and satellite

Air pollution is one of the most important shared challenges among metropolises across the world, especially in developing countries such as Iran.The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of air pollutants and built environment on the number of unhealthy days in Mashhad metropolis in 2018. To achieve this goal, seven variables were used as independent variables (including population density

Cities around the world vulnerable to floods have developed new approaches to urban stormwater management with the aim to increase urban resilience. However, flood risk responses often overlook a broader concept of “resilience” able to address environmental equity issues, including the recognition and participation of communities in urban planning processes. To bridge the gap, this research aims at

We introduce a spatio-temporal model to represent development of atmospheric pollution in an urban area. An important element of this is that recorded measurements are often incomplete which undermines time-series approaches. We identify the multiple imputation by chained equation (MICE) method as effective to complete data sequences synthetically. Following on from this, we develop a vector autoregressive

Nowadays air quality is the main issue in urban areas that have been affecting human health, the environment, and the ecosystem. So, governmental authorities, environmental and health agencies usually need the prediction of daily air pollutants. This prediction is often based on statistical relations between various conditions and air pollution. This study aims to compare the performance of Multiple

Several ground-based remote sensing and in-situ instruments were used to investigate the development of the sea-breeze front and its effect on both the optical and physical aerosol properties, the Particulate Matter (PM) content and the tropospheric and near-surface NO2 concentrations. Most of the instruments belongs to the Boundary-layer Air Quality-analysis Using Network of Instruments (BAQUNIN)

The purpose of this study was to make quantitative connections between changes in social and economic activities in northern California urban areas and related Earth system environmental responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. We tested the hypothesis that the absence of worker activities during Shelter-in-Place in the San Francisco Bay Area detectably altered the infrared heat flux from parking

The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification scheme, initially designed to distinguish between standard built (urban) and non-built (land cover) types in terms of screen-level air temperature relevant for urban heat island (UHI) studies, has been widely used for land surface temperature (LST) and surface urban heat island (SUHI) studies. However, some concerns remain about the global suitability of

High precisive fine-scale temperature forecast serves as an important tool in quantifying human comfort, health threats with extreme temperature and energy consumption. In this study, Urban Microscale Temperature Forecast (UMTF) model was developed using machine learning techniques (k-means clustering and support vectors machine) with reference to global ensembles and geomorphometry datasets (sky view

Climate change can cause a cascade of effects from the individual organisms to ecosystem-scale where in nature, all species are elements of complex networks of interactions. Hence, every impact on every scale has a significant role. Those properties of the networks are decisive on the global ecosystem, so how they will be modified by climate change needs serious studies. The vast population of the

This paper presents seasonal variation of 12 PM10-bound trace elements (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, V), which were studied in a coastal-urban region of northern Poland, from 01 April 2019 to 27 May 2020. Trace elements such as As, Ni and Pb revealed the highest enrichment factor levels in winter, followed by autumn, spring and summer, whereas the seasonal distribution of EF for V presented

Pre-monsoon dust storms also known as “Andhi” are one of the common phenomena occurring over the northern part of Indian sub-continent. Using the synergetic information from multiple platforms, the life cycle of an infamous dust storm event has been investigated, which impacted the urban megacity of New Delhi on May 30, 2014. The analysis from the radar revealed that the storm resulted from the merger

The present study used Angstrom Exponent (AE) and relationship with Precipitable water vapor (PW) and cloud fraction (CF) obtained from space-based direct sky-radiometer of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and direct Sun algorithm surface-based AERONET network (level 2.0 version 3) to evaluate aerosol optical depth (AOD) predominance and characterization at the Middle East sites:

The present study was carried out for size distribution of aerosols at indoor environments covering six different locations in the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus using TSI AeroTrak Portable Particle Counter (APPC), during the year 2014–15. The instrument provides the particle counts in the ranges from 0.3 μm to 20 μm. After the investigation, total suspended particulate matters (TSPM) were observed

The understanding of intra-urban air temperature variations is crucial to assess strategies for cities' adaptation to impacts of present and future anthropogenic climate change. Depending on extensive measurement networks, high-resolution air temperature measurements in urban environments are challenging due to high instrumentation and maintenance costs. Here, we present a low-cost measurement device

Spatial changes in urban areas are closely associated with the increasing impervious land and thus, monitoring the spatio-temporal changes in impervious area is crucial for identifying urban growth. The capital city of India, Delhi has become one of the most populated cities of the world for its fast-growing economy and infrastructural development. Although the city is expanding since the last couple

This paper employs spatial econometric models to depict the impact of CO2 emissions on extreme temperature of Chinese cities. Ten indicators are used to measure the extreme temperature, including extreme heat and extreme cold. Meanwhile, both the geographical and climatic factors and the economic factors are considered to control the model. The results show that CO2 emissions have significant effect

The phenomenon of urban areas becoming warmer than surrounding rural areas, known as urban heat island, is one of the biggest urban issues due to human activities. The study adopted random forests (RF) based downscaling land surface temperature (LST) to assess the surface urban heat island (SUHI) of Fukuoka, Japan. The LST images were first downscaled to 250 m spatial resolution, and then the seasonal

The local climate zone (LCZ) mapping scheme classifies urban lands into multiple types according to their climate-relevant surface properties, enabling forecasts of changes in urban climate. However, stationary LCZ maps are insufficient for forecasts in the rapidly urbanizing regions, where there are frequent transitions among multiple urban lands and thus changing surface properties. To facilitate

To evaluate air quality changes along with public health in Jinan, a typical polluted city of North China, spatial and temporal features of six criteria pollutants and relative health risk were conducted from 2013 to 2017. In general, the concentrations of criteria air pollutants except ozone had obviously decreased. For spatial pattern, the air qualities in north Jinan were influenced by dust, vehicle

Spatial planning can function as a switchboard for mitigation, adaptation, and low-carbon development objectives. However, its role in tackling climate change remains ambiguous as there exist considerable differences in the outcomes of limited studies. A vast diversity in spatial planning factors, along with the indirectness and complexity in the influencing mechanism, can be possible reasons behind