High density temperature measurements within the urban environment (HiTemp)

Lead Research Organisation: King's College London
Department Name: Geography

Abstract

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) is a direct consequence of anthropogenic influences on our local climate. Many studies have been devoted to the study of UHI extent and magnitude, as well as the impacts increased urban temperatures have on meteorology, climatology, human health and society. Although the UHI phenomenon is well documented and studies have increased our understanding, the basic measurement of temperatures across urban areas remains very limited. Birmingham is the UK's second most populous city, with a population in excess of 1 million people and a well defined UHI. However, Birmingham has only two climate stations which when linked with the complex heterogeneous urban morphology results in extremely poor data coverage. The overall aim of this project is to provide a demonstration sensor network designed to measure air temperature across the Birmingham conurbation. This aim will be met by the following objectives: 1. Instrument Birmingham via nested arrays of sensors comprising of the following: a Coarse array of 29 weather stations across Birmingham located in secure primary electrical substations b Wide area array consisting of 131 Wi-Fi air and humidity sensors located at schools across the conurbation (1 per ONS Super Output Area) c Fine scale array covering the Central Business District and consisting of approx. 50 sensors per square kilometre 2. Analyse, process and make available the data sets to the user community. Data will be made available for analysis on web-based GIS platforms to inform decision-makers and the wider user community including schools and colleges. 3. To instigate knowledge exchange with industry and decision-makers. The proposed sensor network would provide an unparalleled data set that would benefit many users including project partners. Users are at the heart of this proposal. Academic investigators on this project already have two established Knowledge Transfer Partnerships with project partners who will directly benefit form the data collected during this project: 1. KTP with EON Central Networks to investigate power-grid/temperature dependency in Birmingham (TSB/NERC funded) 2. KTP with Birmingham City Council to investigate environmental risk (e.g. Urban Heat and Flooding) at a neighbourhood scale (TSB/NERC funded) Both these partners are committed to this project and are crucial to the success of establishing the network. EON Central Networks will provide access to the secure sites across the conurbation where as Birmingham City Council will be instrumental in the installation of the sensors on council owned lighting columns. The majority of the equipment will also be procured from project partners on specially negotiated deals. The University has recently completed a KTP with Campbell Scientific Ltd who will be responsible for the coarse array of weather stations where as Aginova Inc. are the technical partners responsible for the Wi-Fi sensors. This is an ambitious project which seeks to provide three different sensor networks at three different scales. A unique selling point of this proposal is the strengthening of already mature partnerships, where as collaboration with SI-KTN will further ensure future engagement activities with new partners. In summary, data from this project will be instrumental in answering key research questions currently under investigation such as what is the impact of the current and future climate on the people and infrastructure of a major conurbation.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Title SUEWS 
Description Urban Energy and Water balance scheme (note current version pre-2006) New version named SUEWS since 2011 
Type Of Material Computer model/algorithm 
Year Produced 2011 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Use for modelling urban energy and water exchanges at the neighbourhood scale. Being used in a number of contexts and locations for water sensitive urban design. It is also linked to models for human comfort. 
URL http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/micromet/lumps-suews-fraise/
 
Description Honjo 
Organisation Chiba University
Department Department of Chemistry
Country Japan 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Suggested an analysis that would be interesting to explore. Discussed analyses, Prepared Paper
Collaborator Contribution Provided Extensive Temperature data set across Tokyo. Understook detailed analysis. Lead on paper
Impact Honjo et al. Publication Mult-disciplainary
Start Year 2013
 
Description SIMS 
Organisation Chinese Meteorological Administration
Country China 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Co-Authorship of papers Extensive discussions of data analyses
Collaborator Contribution Data Model evaluation and application
Impact Ao et al. (2016) International J. Climatology Tan et al. (2015) Ao et al. (2016) JAMC Peng et al. (2017)
Start Year 2013
 
Title SUEWS 
Description SUEWS - Surface Urban Energy and Water Balance Scheme 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2011 
Impact 1) People in multiple countries working on the development 2) Participated in a number of model evaluations 3) Being used for a wide range of applications to provide ongoing continuity 4) Provide long term heat stress impacts 
URL http://www.urban-climate.net/umep/SUEWS
 
Description Cities and Vegetation: impact on heat, water and carbon excahnges, Wageningen University, Netherlands 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Interaction with PhD students

A number of students continued to interact across a range of research areas
Interest in our models
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
 
Description Cities today and in the future: Applications and challenges in urban climatology. Kuehnast Endowment Lecture 20 th Anniversary, University of Minnesota, USA 8 November 2012 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Interest from a number of the public about urban climate/atmospheric processes

Invited to give other talks to students (declined as not at a time I could travel)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
URL http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/kuehnast_lecture/
 
Description Micrometeorology: Benefits to society from its numerous applications Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, China Meteorological Adminstration Shanghai 23 July 2014. 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Discussed interpretation of ongoing measurements
Discussion of future applications and needs

Made me start to think of wider applications/needs for urban meteorological data
Encouraged me to apply for Met Office funding for Climate Services
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
 
Description Observing London: Weather data needed for London to thrive, Retrofitting homes for a future climate: emerging trends from recent industry surveys on climate change adaptation, Wednesday 24th April 2013 King's College London 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Cross-disciplinary discussion of urban climate in a very broad sense
Applications of research to users

Wide range of interdisciplinary discussions
Informed about user needs
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2013
 
Description Presentation at CIBSE Build2Perform 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Big data is rising up the agenda as cities, buildings, and the internet of things produce ever increasing amounts of data about their activities. What form do these data sets take? Some are mapped over various scales, some are valuable in the moment while others build into a chronological picture, some are very specific whilst others are more subjective. Specifically, what should building services engineers be aware of? And how could innovative use of data sets help us create better buildings? The invited talk was given as part of this bigger session to general practitioners at Build2Perform. An audience of around 50 attended the particular session.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.build2perform.co.uk/
 
Description Relevance of Vegetation to Urban Surface-Atmosphere Exchanges: Current Needs and Challenges in Urban Meteorology, Urban Symposium, Finish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland, 14 May 2012 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Detailed discussion about research activities

They published a number of connected research papers
We have plan other research activities
There have been a number of research visits to the UK (KCL, Reading)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
URL http://urban.fmi.fi/workshops.html
 
Description Somerset House: Contrasting studies of urban climatology in the 19th and 21st Century Royal Meteorological Society National Wednesday Meeting, Classic Papers Meeting On Urban Meteorology, University Of Reading, 21 November 2012 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? Yes
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Discussion

Awareness of the long term link of Sommerset house to research activities
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
URL http://www.rmets.org/events/hot-city-advances-urban-meteorology-measurement-and-modelling
 
Description The importance of Vegetation on Urban Surface-Atmosphere Exchanges: Evidence from measurements and modelling, Meteorologisches Institut, Universität Hamburg, Germany, 17 November 2011 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.)
Results and Impact Talked to a range of different researchers

Discussed research activities
Invited people to participate in other activities
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011
 
Description Urban Meteorological Observations: New approaches Workshop on urban rainfall and air quality. Institute Urban Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, China 12 March 2014 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Discuss research plans

Develop research proposal

http://www.cma.gov.cn/en2014/news/News/201408/t20140812_256160.html
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2014
URL http://www.ium.cn/en/
 
Description Urban Meteorology Activities At King's College London, Met Office, Exeter, 22 January 2013 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Discussed ongoing measurements and modelling in London

Initiated research linkages - including model testing using ongoing measurements
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2013
 
Description Urban Meteorology: Support for Urban Environmental Problems from City to Person Scales, Shanghai Meteorological Service, Shanghai, China 20 May 2013 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Discussion of activities relative to Shanghai/China

Awareness of different approaches and challenges
Interpretationand and informed of other activities
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2013
 
Description Urban meteorology and climatology: Some features & needs, Vaisala, Helsinki, Finland, 16 May 2012 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Discussion with instrument manufacturer
Informed and discussed new instruments they are considering developing

Ongoing contact with the company at a variety of levels.
Helped with trying to sort out some issue with ceilometer data processing
Invited to participate in a number of activities internationally by the Chief Scientific Officer
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2012
 
Description Urban meteorology: Support for Future Urban Environmental Challenges, Risk Management Solutions, London, 5 June 2013 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Discussion of common research interests

Preparation of a case-studentship application (that has been funded)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2013