Urban Meteorology
Urban meteorology studies atmospheric processes in urban environments and how buildings, materials, vegetation, and human activity modify local weather conditions.
Focus
- Surface-atmosphere exchanges in cities.
- Turbulence and flow modification by urban geometry.
- Heat and moisture fluxes, including anthropogenic contributions.
- Process-scale dynamics that shape observed urban climate patterns.
Typical questions
- How do street canyons alter wind speed and direction?
- How is heat stored and released by urban materials across the diurnal cycle?
- Under which synoptic conditions do urban heat islands intensify or weaken?
- How do cities modify turbulence, mixing height, and pollutant dispersion?
Relation to urban climate
Urban meteorology focuses on processes, while urban climate focuses on the resulting climatological patterns and distributions.
Methods
Urban meteorology uses in situ observations, flux measurements, mobile traverses, remote sensing, and numerical models ranging from urban canopy schemes to large-eddy simulation models.
See also: urban climate, urban climatology, urban atmosphere, urban surface, Anthropogenic heat