8 ways how historical weather data can help in Urban Planning

1. 8 Ways How Historical Weather Data Can Help in Urban Planning

2. Introduction • Over the past few centuries, people have gathered in huge settlements more and more, where the world's urban population has surpassed its rural population. These cities, which range in size, occupy 1-3% of the planet's geographic area. In 2015, there will be 59 cities with a population of more than 5 million, up from 4 in the 1950s. These cities, many of which are in developing nations, suffer high air pollution levels. In 2009, cities with more than five million residents were home to 16% of the world's population. 2 Young individuals under the age of 35 are responsible for a sizable percentage of the population shift into cities. Cities offer a dynamic setting for innovation, cross-cultural contact, and economic advancement. Due to the employment and educational prospects, they also draw young people.

3. The Impact of Urban Climate And Weather • Cities will further influence local, regional, and global climates through two key methods. First, local temperature, air circulation, precipitation, and the intensity and frequency of thunderstorms will continue to be influenced by urban elements such as morphology or heat emissions. Furthermore, historical weather data and climate will change both locally and globally due to altering chemical emissions or feedbacks brought on by air pollution. • The microclimate, turbulence regime, and atmospheric flow are all influenced by various urban factors. These characteristics can alter how air pollutants are transported, dispersed, and deposited both within and upstream of metropolitan areas (one form of that is acid rain).

4. Key illustrations Include: • The location of structures and other obstructions (or, more broadly, all roughness elements) impacts the flow's turbulence regime, speed, and direction. • Hydro-meteorological regimes and pollution deposition are impacted by the broad use of waterproof materials and frequent vegetation removal in metropolitan areas. • Human activities that release anthropogenic heat, such as transportation, building heating and cooling, impact the thermal regime. • Radiation transfer, cloud formation, and precipitation are all impacted by the emission of pollutants, especially aerosols. • Street geometry (also known as "street canyons") has an impact on the flows and heat transfer across various surfaces (such as roads or walls). • Additionally, although a per head of population position is based on their emissions intensity may be marginally lower than rural areas, cities contribute significantly more to climate change via greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels than do rural areas, primarily due to geysers of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission levels from urban as well as nearby supporting areas.

5. Climate Change And Air Quality in Large Cities • A slew of recent studies has been launched to investigate these challenges. These studies aim to quantify the feedback mechanisms connecting megacity air quality, regional and local climates, as well as global climate change; to assess the effects of megacities as well as large air-pollution hubs on local, regional, and global air quality; and to develop better tools for forecasting pollution levels in megacities. Even though significant progress has been made, a more interdisciplinary study is required to better understand how emissions, air quality, and local and global historical weather data by zip code interact. Studies must cross the temporal and spatial scales connecting local pollutants, air quality, and historical weather data with climate or global atmospheric chemistry. They must also address both basic and practical research. To help national meteorological agencies better manage meteorology and related aspects of urban pollution, WMO developed the Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) Urban Researchers Meteorology & Environment (GURME) project.

6. Future Research Priorities And A Plan of Action • To map each city's unique vulnerabilities and determine the solutions that would be most helpful, each city's needs and requirements should be guided by the results of impacts and risks. Coastal towns have different problems than landlocked cities, while metropolitan areas in the tropics have different needs than those that experience harsh winters. When determining priority services and designing and establishing urban observational networks which capture the events of interest at the necessary spatial and temporal resolution, authorities use data sharing agreements between city agencies as a vital building component. High-resolution coupled environmental prediction models with real city-specific processes, boundary conditions, and energy and physical property fluxes play a significant role in providing city services. New urban-focused observational methods are required to power these models and generate the high-quality forecasts employed in these new services. To ensure sure services, advice, and warnings result in appropriate action and feedback that enhances the services, new, targeted, and personalized methods of communication with users are necessary. To generate and provide innovative services in a complex and changing urban context, new skills & capacities will be needed.