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Atmosphere
Special Issues
Recent Advances in Urban Climatology: New Challenges, Methods, and Applications
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Recent Advances in Urban Climatology: New Challenges, Methods, and Applications

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Climatology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 8823

Special Issue Editors

Dr. António Saraiva Lopes

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
IGOT—Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, Center of Geographical Studies, University of Lisbon, Rua Branca Edmée Marques, 1600-276 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: urban climatology; urban planning; climate guidelines; human comfort and health; thermal remote sensing; climate services
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Toshiaki Ichinose

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Social Systems Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba-City, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
Interests: urban climatology; urban environment; energy systems; urban heat island mitigation; climate change; urban wind; Chinese environmental issues
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Changes to the urban climate present challenges to our lives and will be aggravated by the increase in the urban population worldwide. The tendency is that as cities keep growing, they densify and produce more and more intense urban heat islands. Along with this anthropogenic overheating, more severe heat waves, flash floods, and air quality worsening threaten thousands or even millions of people each year. Another certain aspect of urban life has also arisen, bringing a new set of environmental problems such as excessive noise, smells and other nuisances, which until now have had little attention from the scientific community.

A great revolution is underway before our eyes, and a vast set of “citizen science” has been produced to stand for our common future: urban meteorological networks, along with traditional ones, that can connect with the IoT, can provide real time data and information. It is now common to have tracking systems that can give good suggestions regarding people’s preferences for shaded and green areas to undertake leisure or work activities, or to have smartphone apps that can help tourists and visitors to find more pleasant outdoor spaces.

This Special Issue aims to give the scientific community the possibility to present new ideas, methods, and applications that aim to create “cool”, sustainable, and healthy cities and livelihoods.  We welcome papers focusing on: urban heat island mitigation; nature-based solutions to tackle climatic changes in cities; urban climate applications to adapt societies to a more rational use of energy and transport; proposals forbetter and more suitable outdoor spaces; extreme events and human health; and the climates of our neighborhoods.

Prof. Dr. António Lopes
Dr. Toshiaki Ichinose
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Urban heat islands
  • Green, blue, and white surfaces
  • A new way of life for urban climate adaptation
  • New methods and data
  • Measures to reduce atmospheric pollution
  • Impacts of city size
  • Impacts of city form
  • Achieve thermal comfort through good design
  • Urban ventilation benefits
  • Climatic guidelines for urban planning

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 7617 KiB  
Article
Urban Canyon in the CBD of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil): Thermal Profile of Avenida Rio Branco during Summer
by Lidiane de Oliveira Lemos, Antonio Carlos Oscar Júnior and Francisco Mendonça
Atmosphere 2022, 13(1), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13010027 - 25 Dec 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2672
Abstract
This study aims to evaluate the thermal field of the central business district (CBD) of Rio de Janeiro during summer from land surface temperature (LST) and the thermal characteristics of the urban canopy layer (UCL) of the urban canyon in Avenida Rio Branco. [...] Read more.
This study aims to evaluate the thermal field of the central business district (CBD) of Rio de Janeiro during summer from land surface temperature (LST) and the thermal characteristics of the urban canopy layer (UCL) of the urban canyon in Avenida Rio Branco. In order to conduct this evaluation, two methods were employed: (1) TIRS Landsat-8 sensor for data selection and processing (latest generation, 2011–2020); (2) a field survey using nine sampling points—seven along two mobile transects, one fixed point, and one vertical measurement point, which required the use of an RPA (remotely piloted aircraft). Three categories of analysis were established for the field survey based on the prevailing synoptic situations: stability, instability, and post-instability. The CBD is characterized by extensive areas with surface heat islands, in which temperatures were higher than 38.9 °C; the areas with milder LSTs were Campo do Santana, Avenida Rio Branco, and one of the mixed-use zones (Praça Mauá). With respect to Rio Branco Avenue, the LST niches of lowest elevation were derived through building shadowing; however, due to the nature of the data, the orbital data diverged from the observation data of the 10 field-study days. In situ data revealed that the characteristics urban morphology of Avenida Rio Branco, by contrast with the LST result, is susceptible to the formation of atmospheric heat islands, presenting heat islands of very strong magnitude (over 6.1 °C) in atmospheric stability, strong magnitude (4.1–6.0 °C) in atmospheric instability, and moderate magnitude (2.1–4.0 °C) in post-atmospheric instability. Despite the synoptic situation, thermal cores were concentrated at 1 p.m. The intersection between Avenida Rio Branco, Rua do Ouvidor, and Praça Mauá stored most of the solar energy received during the day due to the greater sky obstruction caused by the verticalization. Finally, vertical analysis demonstrated the formation of a thermal inversion on the night of the highest mean air temperature (29.5 °C), probably due to the roughness and number of buildings in the urban canyon. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Urban Climatology: New Challenges, Methods, and Applications)
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23 pages, 8954 KiB  
Article
Heatwaves and Summer Urban Heat Islands: A Daily Cycle Approach to Unveil the Urban Thermal Signal Changes in Lisbon, Portugal
by Ana Oliveira, António Lopes, Ezequiel Correia, Samuel Niza and Amílcar Soares
Atmosphere 2021, 12(3), 292; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12030292 - 24 Feb 2021
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 4904
Abstract
Lisbon is a European Mediterranean city, greatly exposed to heatwaves (HW), according to recent trends and climate change prospects. Considering the Atlantic influence, air temperature observations from Lisbon’s mesoscale network are used to investigate the interactions between background weather and the urban thermal [...] Read more.
Lisbon is a European Mediterranean city, greatly exposed to heatwaves (HW), according to recent trends and climate change prospects. Considering the Atlantic influence, air temperature observations from Lisbon’s mesoscale network are used to investigate the interactions between background weather and the urban thermal signal (UTS) in summer. Days are classified according to the prevailing regional wind direction, and hourly UTS is compared between HW and non-HW conditions. Northern-wind days predominate, revealing greater maximum air temperatures (up to 40 °C) and greater thermal amplitudes (approximately 10 °C), and account for 37 out of 49 HW days; southern-wind days have milder temperatures, and no HWs occur. Results show that the wind direction groups are significantly different. While southern-wind days have minor UTS variations, northern-wind days have a consistent UTS daily cycle: a diurnal urban cooling island (UCI) (often lower than –1.0 °C), a late afternoon peak urban heat island (UHI) (occasionally surpassing 4.0 °C), and a stable nocturnal UHI (1.5 °C median intensity). UHI/UCI intensities are not significantly different between HW and non-HW conditions, although the synoptic influence is noted. Results indicate that, in Lisbon, the UHI intensity does not increase during HW events, although it is significantly affected by wind. As such, local climate change adaptation strategies must be based on scenarios that account for the synergies between potential changes in regional air temperature and wind. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Urban Climatology: New Challenges, Methods, and Applications)
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