In the 21st century, Europe and the rest of the world are experiencing unprecedented numbers and severity of weather extremes. Prolonged heat and cold waves significantly deteriorate the urban environmental quality and thermal comfort. Air pollution caused by local transportation, industry, heating, and other activities increases morbidity and mortality of city dwellers.
The changing climate invalidates empirical statistics used to evaluate the impact of weather extremes on urban districts. In such a situation, a novel approach to assess the urban local atmospheric conditions is urgently in demand. The complex structure of the urban canopy calls for applications of fine-scale dynamic turbulence-resolving models. Such models are broadly utilized to solve engineering tasks such as designing wind parks or bridges construction, but their application to the whole-scale urban problems remains limited.
The TURBAN project focuses on solving these problems. It is realized in cooperation of several institutions focused on meteorological and air quality modelling on regional and urban scale as well as on its practical application.
Detailed descriptionMain goals of the project:
Project is divided into six work packages (WP):
A large dataset from a dedicated campaign utilizing air quality sensors and remote sensing tools (aerosol LIDAR and microwave radiometer) will be collected and complemented by measurements from existing air quality and meteorological stations. Data will provide new information about spatial distribution of pollution and will be used for model validation.
The newly developed detailed models of the urban environment need careful validation and further improvements before they can become standard tools for urban planning. The TURBAN project will build up on a validation of the PALM model done as part of the Urbi Pragensi project in Prague 6 - Dejvice, this time focusing more on air quality and vertical profiles of meteorological parameters.
Various model scenarios will be produced for elected areas in Prague and Bergen, focusing on air quality and heat stress during extreme meteorological conditions.
Increasing diversity and complexity of the in situ, citizen, remotely sensed, modelling and emission inventory datasets urgently calls for a robust approach to combine (fuse) these heterogeneous data collections in a transparent, interpolated and quality controlled data resources. The project proposes a novel data fusion technology based on statistical universal kriging with external drift from a turbulence-resolving urbanized model.
The comparison will allow city authorities to better understand common air pollution studies created using Gaussian models from the perspective of a complex urban environment. Possibilities of updating the current modelling approach or even replacement of the Gaussian models by more advanced tools will be examined.
This WP includes the creation and publishing of comprehensible outputs for city authorities (esp. for urban planning) and detailed research papers for experts. This WP also includes creation and maintenance of web pages and organization of workshops in accordance with the communication plan.
The TURBAN project ("TURBAN - Turbulent-resolving urban modeling of air quality and thermal comfort") benefits from a 1.1 mil. EUR grant from Norway and Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TA CR). Aim of this project is to improve the tools and methods used to assess the atmosphere in urban environment and to support mitigation measures aiming to reduce thermal stress and air pollution.
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1. to considerably improve spatial resolution and quality of the urban atmospheric environment assessment on the basis of state-of-the-art modeling, observation and data analysis technologies |
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2. to improve and validate advanced modelling tools with a focus on modelling of the turbulent flow and air quality in the complex urban environment |
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3. to improve methods for combining observational and model data |
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4. to compare environmental effects of selected urban policy measures in Prague and Bergen |
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5. to provide public authorities with a set of tools to support urban governance: focus on air quality and thermal comfort |
Principal investigator: RNDr. Jaroslav Resler, Ph.D.
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