A new approach for highly resolved air temperature measurements in urban areas

Abstract

In different fields of applied local climate investigation, highly resolved data of air temperature are of great importance. As a part of the research programme entitled City2020+, which deals with future climate conditions in agglomerations, this study focuses on increasing the quantity of urban air temperature data intended for the analysis of their spatial distribution. A new measurement approach using local transport buses as "riding thermometers" is presented. By this means, temperature data with a very high temporal and spatial resolution could be collected during scheduled bus rides. The data obtained provide the basis for the identification of thermally affected areas and for the investigation of factors in urban structure which influence the thermal conditions. Initial results from the ongoing study, which show the temperature distribution along different traverses through the city of Aachen, are presented

Thermal load in a medium-sized European city using the example of Aachen, Germany

“…The recorded data were assigned to predefined points along the measurement routes (256 points in total) with an average distance of about 250 m to each other. The measurement approach is documented in more detail by Buttstädt et al (2011). Data collected on 44 days between March 2010 and June 2011 were available.…”

"CITY 2020+": assessing climate change impacts for the city of Aachen related to demographic change and health – a progress report

“…First analyses confirm the principally known influence of urban structures. While densely built-up areas show positive temperature anomalies with regard to temperature observations obtained from the suburban weather station Aachen-Hörn, lower temperatures occur mainly in areas covered by forest and suburban sites (Buttstädt et al, 2010). Additionally, the large data base allows detailed statistical analyses of urban structures and their temperature effect.…”

Identifying hot and cool spots in the city centre based on bicycle measurements: The case of Olomouc, Czech Republic

“…Traverses have been carried out using various means of transport, such as bicycle, car, bus or tram, (e.g. Quitt, 1956;Melhuish & Pedder, 1998;Buttstädt et al, 2011) or on foot (Tsin et al, 2016) and usually complement fixed site measurements (Dobrovolný et al, 2012;Lelovics et al, 2014). Currently, the main objectives of mobile air temperature measurements are 1) to analyse physical properties of the environment influencing the spatial pattern of air temperature in urban areas (e.g.…”