2022 IAUC Virtual Poster Conference
30 Aug – 1 Sep 2022
Themes and Special Sessions
Themes
Special Sessions
Special Issue of Urban Climate commemorating Decadal Anniversary of the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tool (WUDAPT)
Chaired by Jason Ching – University of North Carolina
The WUDAPT initiative aims to support environmental science-based modeling tools and studies capable of addressing exacerbation of risks challenges to urban dwellers due to climate change. At this juncture, the urban community has succeeded in generating maps of Local Climate Zones (LCZ) and lookup tables of Urban Canopy Parameters Values for urban areas on world-wide bases. A key outcome is that every city has its unique characteristic spatially distributed LCZ map; therefore, intraurban variations in climate induced risks can be expected and the advances in WUDAPT by the village of urban communities can be utilized to perform urban focused model applications pertinent to era of great Anthropocene challenges. We seek both to continue recognizing advances to WUDAPT data generating methodologies and infrastructure capabilities as well as “Fit-for-Purpose” modeling applications and analyses possible and facilitated by the advancements achieved this past decade.
Impact of COVID/pandemic lock-down measures on Urban Climate, Air Quality, and Human Life
Chaired by Rafiq Hamdi – Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium
In the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, a lockdown was ordered by various authorities. This led to a limitation of industrial production, human activities, and mobility and served as a largescale socioeconomic experiment for the urban regions. The effects of the pandemic remain uncertain and need to be consolidated. During the lockdown different hypothesis have be put forward: (1) the change in solar radiation due to the decrease of pollution levels, (2) changes in the greenhouse emissions and air-quality changes which results from the decrease in pollution levels; (3) the reduced anthropogenic heat fluxes due to the change in urban functioning and activities; and (4) social justice, health, educational and socioeconomic impacts across different regions. This session invites studies that add to our understanding of the varied impacts of the lockdown across the globe and helps document the relation of pandemic on urban climate, environment, and functioning using observations, modeling, and synthesis studies.
High-resolution future climate projections for cities: the state-of-the-art and undelaying challenges
Chaired by Quang-Van Doan – University of Tsukuba
Urban areas are exposed to drastic changes in the global climate system caused by atmospheric greenhouse-gases concentrations. Insights into how cities interact with global climate change, especially in modifying their hazardous weather/climate events, are crucial for promoting sustainable development. This special issue will discuss the recent progress and challenges in understanding future urban climate and urban-climate downscaling methods, including both numerical modeling and statistical/machine learning techniques.
Integrated Urban Climate Services for Equitable Heat Resilience
Chaired by Hunter Jones and Marc Coudert – NOAA
In this session, we invite technical presentations from researchers and decision makers who have piloted approaches to sustained observation and monitoring of urban thermal comfort. In particular, we seek presentations exploring the systematization of urban climate observing systems (applying the WMO concept of integrated urban services) to provide longer-term monitoring and empirical evaluation of urban heat island characteristics under various mitigation approaches aimed at equitable heat resilience. The session will focus on a discussion of existing research gaps and the potential for pilot/testbed projects to elucidate them.
