A method to assess the variation of urban canyon geometry from sky view factor transects

It is now possible to generate large quantities of sky view factor (SVF) values due to advances in digital techniques for calculating SVF from hemispherical images. Coupling image acquisition with Global Positioning System (GPS) data now enables transects to be accurately placed, enabling site-specific SVF analysis in relation to street geometry. This paper examines SVF transects through four land cover classes. The findings indicate that although SVF averages are distinctly different in each of the land cover types, an average SVF value for a particular land use type is not a sufficient estimate at street resolution.     

Effect of asymmetrical street canyons on pedestrian thermal comfort in warm-humid climate of Cuba

Walkability and livability in cities can be enhanced by creating comfortable environments in the streets. The profile of an urban street canyon has a substantial impact on outdoor thermal conditions at pedestrian level. This paper deals with the effect of asymmetrical street canyon profiles, common in the historical centre of Camagüey, Cuba, on outdoor thermal comfort. Temporal-spatial analyses are conducted using the Heliodon2 and the RayMan model, which enable the generation of accurate predictions about solar radiation and thermal conditions of urban spaces, respectively. On these models, urban settings are represented by asymmetrical street canyons with five different height-to-width ratios and four street axis orientations (N-S, NE-SW, E-W, SE-NW). Results are evaluated for daytime hours across the street canyon, by means of the physiologically equivalent temperature (PET index) which allows the evaluation of the bioclimatic conditions of outdoor environments. Our findings revealed that high profiles (façades) located on the east-facing side of N-S streets, on the southeast-facing side of NE-SW streets, on the south-facing side of E-W street, and on the southwest-facing side of SE-NW streets, are recommended to reduce the total number of hours under thermal stress. E-W street canyons are the most thermally stressed ones, with extreme PET values around 36 °C. Deviating from this orientation ameliorates the heat stress with reductions of up to 4 h in summer. For all analysed E-W orientations, only about one fifth of the street can be comfortable, especially for high aspect ratios (H/W > 3). Optimal subzones in the street are next to the north side of the E-W street, northwest side of the NE-SW street, and southwest side of the SE-NW street. Besides, when the highest profile is located on the east side of N-S streets, then the subzone next to the east-facing façade is recommendable for pedestrians. The proposed urban guidelines enable urban planners to create and renovate urban spaces which are more efficient in diminishing pedestrian thermal stress.     

Spectral radiance and sky luminance in Antarctica: a case study

Summary Sky luminance and spectral radiance has been characterised at Neumayer, Antarctica for selected situations during the austral summer 2003/04. Luminance has also been measured at Boulder, Colorado, USA in June 2003. The high reflectivity of the surface (albedo) in Antarctica, reaching values up to 100% in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible part of the solar spectrum due to snow cover, modifies the radiation field considerably when compared to mid-latitudes. A dependence of luminance and spectral radiance on solar zenith angle (SZA) and surface albedo has been identified. For snow and cloudless sky, the horizon luminance exceeds the zenith luminance by as much as a factor of 8.2 and 7.6 for a SZA of 86° and 48°, respectively. In contrast, over grass this factor amounts to 4.9 for a SZA of 86° and a factor of only 1.4 for a SZA of 48°. Thus, a snow surface with high albedo can enhance horizon brightening compared to grass by a factor of 1.7 for low sun at a SZA of 86° and by a factor of 5 for high sun at a SZA of 48°. For cloudy cases, zenith luminance and radiance exceed the cloudless value by a factor of 10 due to multiple scattering between the cloud base and high albedo surface. Measurements of spectral radiance show increased horizon brightening for increasing wavelengths and generally confirm the findings for luminance. Good agreement with model results is found for some cases; however there are also large deviations between measured and modelled values especially in the infrared. These deviations can only partly be explained by measurement uncertainties; to completely resolve the differences between model and measurement further studies need to be performed, which will require an improvement of modelling the spectral radiance. From the present study it can be concluded that a change in albedo conditions, which is predicted as a consequence of climate change, will significantly change the radiation conditions in polar regions as well.     

城市空间形态学参数与晴好天气下热岛强度关系

以澳大利亚阿德莱德中心城区为研究区,基于高分辨率城市三维建筑物数据计算得到天空开阔度 (sky view factor,SVF) 与迎风面积指数 (frontal area index,FAI),并将其与晴好天气下四季的城市热岛强度进行相关性分析。结果表明:晴好天气下,阿德莱德城市热岛强度 (urban heat island intensity,UHII) 在2010—2011年四季均呈现出夜间强、白天弱的变化特征。SVF与UHII在夜间呈显著线性负相关,白天呈线性正相关;而FAI与UHII在四季的夜间和早晨时段呈对数关系,白天呈线性负相关。SVF和FAI对不同季节、不同时刻的城市热岛影响不同,在不同空间尺度下的适用性也存在差异,SVF在不同空间尺度下适用性更强。     

The relationship between synoptic scale airflow direction and daily rainfall: a methodology applied to Devon and Cornwall, South West England

Summary Trans-scale relationships are established between fluctuations in the direction of the geostrophic flow over the British Isles and spatial variations in rainfall over Devon and Cornwall, South West England. The rationale for using such an approach is to provide the basis for assessing changes to the region’s rainfall climatology that may result from possible future enhanced greenhouse effect forced alterations to large-scale wind flow patterns. A new method, the concentration factor (CF), that relates rainfall totals to the frequency of the flow, is applied to investigate spatial variations in rainfall totals at twelve stations in the two counties under eight wind direction groups (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW). S and SW flow types are found to produce the highest daily rainfall totals at all locations, with the three easterly groups (NE, E, SE) yielding higher daily precipitation intensities than the maritime NW group. Inter-annual and seasonal variations in daily wind direction – rainfall (WD/R) relationships are then assessed at two contrasting sites in Cornwall (St. Mawgan, Culdrose) using 40 years of data (1957–96). In general, there is a trend over this period toward maritime airflows (S, SW, W, NW) producing higher daily rainfall totals, with the continental groups (N, NE, E, SE) yielding lower totals relative to their frequency of occurrence. The trend toward maritime airflows producing higher rainfall totals is in line with recent trends in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Notable seasonal variations in WD/R relationships over Cornwall are interpreted in terms of the location’s exposure to the prevailing wind, sea temperature variations and the orography of the South West Peninsula. Received October 23, 2000/Revised February 2, 2001     

基于晴空阈值法的全天空红外图像云量计算

为提高新疆戈壁地区云的自动化观测水平,基于全天空红外成像仪(WSIRCMS)获取的红外辐射图像,利用辐射传输模式SBDART分析了仪器测量波段对有云无云状况的敏感性并构建了拟合方程,同时利用典型季节的晴空辐射样本拟合了晴空曲线并统计形成了晴空阈值,最后利用统计晴空阈值对全天空红外辐射图像进行云像素识别和总云量计算。将不同季节总云量计算结果同人工观测结果对比验证表明：观测时段算法计算总云量和人工观测总云量差值在±2成以下的概率均在80%以上,说明该方法具有较高的准确度和较强的实用性,在观测业务中具有较好的应用前景。     

Sky view factors in forest canopies calculated with IDRISI

Summary  The sky view factor (SVF) is used in forest, road and urban climatology to characterise radiative properties. We now propose a method suitable for forest canopies using the raster based and commercially available software IDRISI. It uses quadratic pixels in rows and columns in a scanned equiangular fish-eye image. A threshold value is chosen to divide the image into sky and non-sky areas. The resulting image is then multiplied with a sky view weight image, where the weights of the pixels depend on the angular distance from zenith. The sum of pixel products gives the SVF. Quality analysis of the method is also performed. The choice of threshold value gives some uncertainties due to leaves reflecting sunlight. This error will be reduced by observing details (branches etc.) in the image and by choosing an overcast day for capturing the image. The precision range for SVF calculations will be better than 0.1. Received November 22, 1999 Revised July 17, 2000     

Comparison of models calculating the sky view factor used for urban climate investigations

The sky view factor (SVF) describes the surface geometry and is a commonly used and important measure in urban climate investigations whose aim is the exploration of effects of a complex urban surface on climatological processes in built-up areas. A selection of methods and models for calculating the SVF was compared. For this purpose, fish eye images were taken at several locations in the city of Szeged, southern Hungary. The fish eye images equidistantly follow linear transects to cover a range of SVF values and to analyze the reaction of the methods to a continuously changing environment. The fish eye pictures were evaluated by three methods: the method according to Steyn (Atmos-Ocean 18(3):245?C258, 1980) implemented in a GIS-Script, the ??Edit free sky view factor?? tool of the RayMan model and BMSkyView. The SVF values at the coordinates of the fish eye pictures were calculated with three numerical models (SkyHelios, ArcView SVF extension, and SOLWEIG) with a 3D building data base as input. After comparing the results of the first run, a deviation occurs. The deviation disappears after implementing an option to include a weighting factor in some of the models.     

Ultraviolet sky radiance distributions of translucent overcast skies

Summary The diffuse sky radiation component in the ultraviolet wavelengths is often at least 50% of the global irradiance under clear skies, and is the dominant component of ultraviolet global radiation under translucent overcast skies. The distribution of sky radiance was measured in a rural area and modeled for wavelength bands of ultraviolet-B (UVB, 280–320 nm) and ultraviolet-A (UVA, 320–400 nm). Sky radiance measurements were made during the summer of 1993 over a wide range of solar zenith angles using radiance sensors mounted on a hand-operated hemispherical rotation mount. UVB irradiance measurements were also made during each scan. Since the ratio of measured irradiance under overcast skies and that predicted for clear skies was not correlated with cloud base height, opaque cloud fraction, or solar zenith angle, it was concluded that the scattering from the clouds dominated the global irradiance, and this scattering was relatively unaffected by the scattering off opaque clouds in the translucent atmosphere.Analysis of the translucent overcast sky UVA and UVB radiance measurements using a semi-empirical distribution model showed that the spectral influences on multiple scattering, single scattering, and horizon brightening components of the distributions agreed with basic atmospheric radiation theory. The best model used solar zenith, the sky zenith, and the scattering angle with resultant coefficient of determination values of 0.62 and 0.25 for the UVA and UVB respectively. The developed equations can be applied directly to the diffuse sky irradiance on the horizontal to provide radiance distributions for the sky.With 6 Figures     

Performance validation of the Gueymard sky radiance model

Abstract

The Gueymard model of short‐wave sky radiance has been validated against sky radiance date measured in the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta. Except for sky points within the circumsolar region in clear skies and for low sun positions in near overcast skies the model performs as well as other current sky radiance models.     

Thermal bioclimate in idealized urban street canyons in Campinas, Brazil

Among several urban design parameters, the height-to-width ratio (H/W) and orientation are important parameters strongly affecting thermal conditions in cities. This paper quantifies changes in thermal comfort due to typical urban canyon configurations in Campinas, Brazil, and presents urban guidelines concerning H/W ratios and green spaces to adapt urban climate change. The study focuses on thermal comfort issues of humans in urban areas and performs evaluation in terms of physiologically equivalent temperature (PET), based on long-term data. Meteorological data of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and solar radiation over a 7-year period (2003–2010) were used. A 3D street canyon model was designed with RayMan Pro software to simulate the influence of urban configuration on urban thermal climate. The following configurations and setups were used. The model canyon was 500 m in length, with widths 9, 21, and 44 m. Its height varied in steps of 2.5 m, from 5 to 40 m. The canyon could be rotated in steps of 15°. The results show that urban design parameters such as width, height, and orientation modify thermal conditions within street canyons. A northeast–southwest orientation can reduce PET during daytime more than other scenarios. Forestry management and green areas are recommended to promote shade on pedestrian areas and on façades, and to improve bioclimate thermal stress, in particular for H/W ratio less than 0.5. The method and results can be applied by architects and urban planners interested in developing responsive guidelines for urban climate issues.     

A climatological analysis of four-day back trajectories from aliartos,Greece

Summary This study presents a flow climatology for Greece based on a survey of climate and synoptic weather types, and a five-year trajectory climatology. Isobaric back trajectories at the 850 and 700 hPa levels were calculated daily at 0 and 12 Z for the years 1983–1987 for the Aliartos, Greece EMEP station, using the Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) trajectory model. Trajectories were classified by direction and speed to examine monthly, seasonal and annual variability in flow characteristics. The main features of the flow are similar from year to year. Dominant transport sectors are NW and W, followed by N, SW and NE. Four-day back trajectories from NW and W usually originate from beyond 2,400 km, while those from other directions tend to originate closer to Greece. Cases of most rapid transport occur in January and December. Potential pollutant source regions are identified corresponding to preferred trajectory directions and distance ranges.With 6 Figures     

A new algorithm to estimate sky condition based on 5 minutes-averaged values of clearness index and relative optical air mass

Summary This work describes a new algorithm to characterize sky condition in intervals of 5 min using four categories of sun exposition: apparent sun with cloud reflection effects; apparent sun without cloud effects; sun partially concealed by clouds; and sun totally concealed by clouds. The algorithm can also be applied to estimate hourly and daily sky condition in terms of the traditional three categories: clear, partially cloudy and cloudy day. It identifies sky conditions within a confidence interval of 95% by minimizing local climate and measurement effects. This is accomplished by using a logistic cumulative probability function to characterize clear sky and Weibull cumulative probability function to represent cloudy sky. Both probability functions are derived from frequency distributions of clearness index, based on 5 minutes-averaged values of global solar irradiance observed at the surface during a period of 6 years in Botucatu, Southeastern of Brazil. The relative sunshine estimated from the new algorithm is statistically comparable to the one derived from Campbell-Stocks sunshine recorder for both daily and monthly values. The new method indicates that the highest frequency of clear sky days occurs in Botucatu during winter (66%) and the lowest during the summer (38%). Partially cloudy condition is the dominant feature during all months of the year.     

Variation of the North Atlantic subtropical high western ridge and its implication to Southeastern US summer precipitation

Variations of the North Atlantic subtropical high (NASH) western ridge and their implication to the Southeastern United States (SE US) summer precipitation were analyzed for the years 1948–2007. The results show that the movement of the NASH western ridge regulates both moisture transport and vertical motion over the SE US, especially in the last three decades, during which the ridge moved westward towards the American continent. When the NASH western ridge is located southwest (SW) of its mean climate position, excessive summer precipitation is observed due to an enhanced moisture transport. In contrast, when the western ridge is located in the northwest (NW), a precipitation deficit prevails as downward motion dominates the region. Composite analysis indicates that SW ridging results mainly from the NASH center’s intensification; whereas NW ridging is likely caused by stationary wave propagation from the eastern Pacific/US western coast. In recent decades, both the SW and NW ridge positions have been observed to increase in frequency. Our results suggest that the increase in the SW ridging consistently follows the NASH’s intensification associated with anthropogenic forcing as projected by coupled climate models. However, the increased frequency of NW ridging tends to follow the positive Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) index. Thus, the enhanced variability in the SE US summer precipitation in recent decades might be a combined result of anthropogenic forcing and internal variability of the climate system. Results suggest that, as anthropogenic forcing continues to increase, the SE US will experience more frequent wet summers and an increase in the frequency of dry summers during positive PDO phases.     

Calibration of a three‐component angular distribution model of sky radiance

Abstract

A three‐component (isotropic, circumsolar and horizon‐brightening) model of the angular distribution of sky (short‐wave) radiance has been tested and validated against a data base of measured sky radiance. The data base encompasses cloud cover 0.0 to 1.0 and solar zenith angles 30 to 80°. Empirical constants have been derived for the model enabling the prediction of sky radiances for any sky condition.     

1985年1—3月南极长城站风的特征

中国南极长城站建在南极乔治岛上,即62°12′59″S,58°57′52″W。该地属亚南极气候,既受南极大陆冷气团的侵袭,也受到极地海洋气团的影响。该站建于1985年2月20日,但从考察队登陆后,1月1日起就开展了气象观测。本文利用建站初期1—3月的资料,分析长城站地面风和高空风的特征。 在登陆初期,地面风资料使用手持轻便风向风速仪,每天于当地时间08,14,20时观测。1月23日后,架起10m高测风铁塔,使用电接风向风速仪,自动记录24h风的变化。经对比观测校验,轻便风向风速仪观测风速系统性偏小。高空风是用小球测风气球观测的,由于当地天气条件恶劣,能见度差,观测次数受到限制。在这次夏季考察中,我们只获得10次高空风探测资料。     

The effect of slope aspect on the response of snowpack to climate warming in the Pyrenees

The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of slope aspect on the response of snowpack to climate warming in the Pyrenees. For this purpose, data available from five automatic weather stations were used to simulate the energy and mass balance of snowpack, assuming different magnitudes of an idealized climate warming (upward shifting of 1, 2 and 3 °C the temperature series). Snow energy and mass balance were simulated using the Cold Regions Hydrological Modelling platform (CRHM). CRHM was used to create a model that enabled correction of the all-wave incoming radiation fluxes from the observation sites for various slope aspects (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW,W,NW and flat areas), which enabled assessment of the differential impact of climate warming on snow processes on mountain slopes. The results showed that slope aspect was responsible for substantial variability in snow accumulation and the duration of the snowpack. Simulated variability markedly increased with warmer temperature conditions. Annual maximum snow accumulation (MSA) and annual snowpack duration (ASD) showed marked sensitivity to a warming of 1 °C. Thus, the sensitivity of the MSA in flat areas ranged from 11 to 17 % per degree C amongst the weather stations, and the ASD ranged from 11 to 20 days per degree C. There was a clear increase in the sensitivity of the snowpack to climate warming on those slopes that received intense solar radiation (S, SE and SW slopes) compared with those slopes where the incident radiation was more limited (N, NE and NW slopes). The sensitivity of the MSA and the ASD increased as the temperature increased, particularly on the most irradiated slopes. Large interannual variability was also observed. Thus, with more snow accumulation and longer duration the sensitivity of the snowpack to temperature decreased, especially on south-facing slopes.     

Sensitivity analysis of climatic parameters for sky classification

Climatic variables are frequently used as weighting factors to indicate the degree of clearness for interpreting sky patterns. However, such important parameters are not always widely available and their criteria to define a sky condition are not clear-cut. In addition, certain variables may be more effective than the others in terms of sky identification. This paper studies the capability of various daylight parameters, namely zenith luminance, global, direct-beam and sky-diffuse illuminance, and solar altitude for categorizing the 15 International Commission on Illumination (CIE) standard skies. A new form of artificial neural networks called probabilistic neural network (PNN) which is a powerful technique for pattern recognition was used for the analysis. The findings suggested that the PNN is an appropriate tool when a number of climatic parameters of various criteria for differentiating sky standards are employed, and the ratio of zenith luminance to diffuse illuminance (L _z/D _v) and solar altitude (?? _s) are respectively the most and the least significant input parameters for discriminating between the 15 CIE skies.     

Statistical Characterization of the Flow Structure in the Rhine Valley

The flow structure at the intersection between the Rhine and the Seez valleys nearthe Swiss city of Bad Ragaz has been documented by means of wind and pressuremeasurements collected from 9 September to 10 November 1999 during the MesoscaleAlpine Programme (MAP) experiment. To understand better the dynamics of theageostrophic winds that develop in this part of the Rhine valley, some key questionsare answered in this paper including the following: (i) How does air blow at theintersection of the Rhine and Seez valleys? and (ii) what are the dynamical processes(mechanical or thermal) driving the flow circulations in the valleys? Statistical analysis of the wind and pressure patterns at synoptic scale and at the scaleof the valley shows that five main flow patterns, SE/S, NW/W, NW/N, NW/S, SE/N(wind direction in the Seez valley/wind direction in the Rhine valley) prevail. The SE/S regime is the flow splitting situation. It is mainly driven by a strong pressure gradient across the Alps leading to foehn, even though some nocturnal cases are generated bylocal thermal gradients. The NW/W and NW/N regimes are mechanically forced bythe synoptic pressure gradient (as the flow splitting case). The difference between thetwo regimes is due to the synoptic flow direction [westerly (northerly) synoptic flowfor the NW/W (NW/N) regime], showing that the Rhine valley (particularly from BadRagaz to Lake Constance) is less efficient in channelling the flow than the Seez valley.The NW/S (occurring mainly during nighttime) and SE/N (occurring mainly duringdaytime) regimes are mainly katabatic flows. However, the SE/N regime is also partlyforced at the synoptic scale during the foehn case that occurred between 18 October and 20 October 1999, with a complex layered vertical structure. This analysis also shows that, contrary to what was observed in a broad section of theupper Rhine valley near Mannheim, very few countercurrents were observed near BadRagaz where the valley width is much smaller.     

Generation of daylight reference years for two European cities with different climate: Athens,Greece and Bratislava,Slovakia

In this work, daylight reference years (DRYs), based on daylight and solar radiation measurements, are designed for two European cities, Athens, Greece and Bratislava, Slovakia, by using the Danish method, the Festa–Ratto technique and the Modified Sandia National Laboratories methodology. The data basis consists of 5-minute values of global and diffuse horizontal illuminance, global and diffuse horizontal irradiance, zenith luminance and solar altitude as well as of daily values of sunshine duration for 5 years for Athens and 8 years for Bratislava. Moreover, Linke's turbidity factor, luminous turbidity factor and relative sunshine duration are calculated and utilized. Then, for each DRY, the predominant sky-luminance distributions over Athens and Bratislava are identified, by using the methodology of Kittler et al., who corresponded the main sky conditions to 15 theoretical sky standards in diagrams of the ratio of zenith luminance to diffuse horizontal illuminance against solar altitude.For both cities the three aforementioned methods do not create identical DRYs. Despite the differences, the sky types defined for each of the two places seem not to depend on the choice of DRY. The predominant sky standard, for all of them, is a cloudless, polluted sky with a broad solar corona for Athens and an overcast sky with slight brightening towards the sun as well as very clear sky with low atmospheric turbidity for Bratislava. However, the selection of the DRY, which represents best the daylight conditions, is necessary for studies in saving energy in buildings. The DRY, which is created by the Modified Sandia National Laboratories method, is chosen for most cases, while the one created by the Danish method is also useful on certain occasions.