Urbanization and a changing climate have encouraged more discussion as to how the urban heat island affects humans and society. This research examines three temperature variables (air temperature, apparent temperature, and surface skin temperature) across the Jackson, Mississippi metropolitan area to determine if intra-city thermal variability in select neighborhoods and business districts is connected to the built environment of each location. Using hand-held observation equipment, official weather observations from nearby airports, and land cover data from the United States Geological Survey, this research suggests that the built environment is contributing to the thermal variability around the city; however, the fine scale variations require closer investigation of the built environment around them to confirm or deny their role in the variations. Some sustainable urban design recommendations such as street shading and increasing the tree canopy are included for select areas throughout the Jackson Metro (Lakeland Drive, the Governor’s Mansion, etc.).

abstract: Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, is one of the most rapidly urbanizing areas in the U.S., which has resulted in an urban heat island (UHI) of substantial size and intensity. Several detrimental biophysical and social impacts arising from the large UHI has posed, and continues to pose, a challenge to stakeholders actively engaging in discussion and policy formulation for a sustainable desert city. There is a need to mitigate some of its detrimental effects through sustainable methods, such as through the application of low-water, desert-adapted low-water use trees within residential yards (i.e. urban xeriscaping). This has the potential to sustainably reduce urban temperatures and outdoor thermal discomfort in Phoenix, but evaluating its effectiveness has not been widely researched in this city or elsewhere. Hence, this dissertation first evaluated peer-reviewed literature on UHI research within metropolitan Phoenix and discerned several major themes and factors that drove existing research trajectories. Subsequently, the nocturnal cooling influence of an urban green-space was examined through direct observations and simulations from a microscale climate model (ENVI-Met 3.1) with an improved vegetation parameterization scheme. A distinct park cool island (PCI) of 0.7-3.6 °C was documented from traverse and model data with larger magnitudes closer to the surface. A key factor in the spatial expansion of PCI was advection of cooler air towards adjacent urban surfaces, especially at 0-1 m heights. Modeled results also possessed varying but reasonable accuracy in simulating temperature data, although some systematic errors remained. Finally, ENVI-Met generated xeriscaping scenarios in two residential areas with different surface vegetation cover (mesic vs. xeric), and examined resulting impacts on near-surface temperatures and outdoor thermal comfort. Desert-adapted low-water use shade trees may have strong UHI mitigation potential in xeric residential areas, with greater cooling occurring at (i.) microscales (~2.5 °C) vs. local-scales (~1.1 °C), and during (ii.) nocturnal (0500 h) vs. daytime periods (1700 h) under high xeriscaping scenarios. Conversely, net warming from increased xeriscaping occurred over mesic residential neighborhoods over all spatial scales and temporal periods. These varying results therefore must be considered by stakeholders when considering residential xeriscaping as a UHI mitigation method. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Geography 2011

Meteorological data from two observation sites in Uppsala, the Observatory Park (Op) andthe Geocentre (Gc), during the period January 1998 to September 2000, have been used tocheck the differences in the temperature climate at the two places. Since Op is situatedcloser to the city centre than Gc the site is thought to be more affected by the so calledurban heat island effect. Dependence on different meteorological parameters, time of theday and time of the year, has been investigated and different methods to correct thetemperature for the inhomogeneity that was introduced when the observation site wasmoved from the Observatory Park to the Geocentre. From the different methods investigated it is shown that to correct the temperaturesmeasured at the Geocentre to make them represent the conditions at the Observatory Parka division according to wind speed, wind direction, cloudiness and time of the year wasshown to be the most reliable method. But if it had been possible to divide the material alsointo hours of the day, this would probably have increased the reliability of the correction.For practical purposes a correction simply based on the monthly mean differences betweenthe two sites is probably accurate enough, as the most important factor is the annual cycle inthe temperature difference between the two urban sites. / Väderdata från två observationsplatser i Uppsala, Observatorieparken (Op) och Geocentrum(Gc), under perioden januari 1998 till september 2000, har använts för att undersökaskillnader i temperaturklimatet vid de två platserna. Eftersom Op ligger närmare stadenscentrum än Gc, anses platsen vara mer påverkad av den så kallade värmeöeffekten. Beroendeav olika meteorologiska parametrar, tid på dygnet och tid på året, har undersökts, samt olikametoder att korrigera för inhomogeniteten i temperaturen som introducerades dåobservationsplatsen flyttades från Observatorieparken till Geocentrum. Bland de olika metoder som undersökts för att korrigera de vid Geocentrum uppmättatemperaturerna så att de ska representera förhållandena vid Observatorieparken, visas enuppdelning med avseende på vindhastighet, vindriktning, molnighet och tid på året vara denmest pålitliga metoden, men hade det varit möjligt att dela in materialet även i tid på dygnet,skulle detta troligtvis ha ökat pålitligheten av korrektionen. För praktisk användning är enkorrektion baserad endast på de månatliga medelskillnaderna mellan de två platsernaantagligen tillräcklig, eftersom den viktigaste faktorn är den årliga cykeln itemperaturskillnaden mellan de två platserna.

This study consisted in the development of a canopy model (CIM), which could be use as an interface between meso-scale models used to simulate urban climate and micro-scale models used to evaluate building energy use. The development is based on previously proposed theories and is presented in different atmospheric conditions, with and without obstable. It has been shown, for example, that to be in coherence with the Monin-Obukhov Similarity Theory, that a correction term has to be added to the buoyancy term of the T.K.E. CIM has also been coupled with the meteorological meso-scale model WRF. A methodology was proposed to take advantage of both models (one being more resolved, the other one integrating horizontal transport terms) and to ensure a coherence of the results. Besides being more precise than the WRF model at the same resolution, this system allows, through CIM, to provide high resolved vertical profiles near the surface.

Ce travail a consisté à développer un modèle de canopée (CIM), qui pourrait servir d’interface entre des modèles méso-échelles de calcul du climat urbain et des modèles micro-échelles de besoin énergétique du bâtiment. Le développement est présenté en conditions atmosphériques variées, avec et sans obstacles, en s’appuyant sur les théories précédemment proposées. Il a été, par exemple, montré que, pour être en cohérence avec la théorie de similitude de Monin-Obukhov, un terme correctif devait être rajouté au terme de flottabilité de la T.K.E. CIM a aussi été couplé au modèle méso-échelle WRF. Une méthodologie a été proposée pour profiter de leurs avantages respectifs (un plus résolu, l’autre intégrant des termes de transports horizontaux) et pour assurer la cohérence de leurs résultats. Ces derniers ont montré que ce système, en plus d’être plus précis que le modèle WRF à la même résolution, permettait, par l’intermédiaire de CIM, de fournir des profils plus résolus près de la surface. / This study consisted in the development of a canopy model (CIM), which could be use as an interface between meso-scale models used to simulate urban climate and micro-scale models used to evaluate building energy use. The development is based on previously proposed theories and is presented in different atmospheric conditions, with and without obstable. It has been shown, for example, that to be in coherence with the Monin-Obukhov Similarity Theory, that a correction term has to be added to the buoyancy term of the T.K.E. CIM has also been coupled with the meteorological meso-scale model WRF. A methodology was proposed to take advantage of both models (one being more resolved, the other one integrating horizontal transport terms) and to ensure a coherence of the results. Besides being more precise than the WRF model at the same resolution, this system allows, through CIM, to provide high resolved vertical profiles near the surface.