Warming effects on the urban hydrology in cold climate regions.

While approximately 338 million people in the Northern hemisphere live in regions that are regularly snow covered in winter, there is little hydro-climatologic knowledge in the cities impacted by snow. Using observations and modelling we have evaluated the energy and water exchanges of four cities that are exposed to wintertime snow. We show that the presence of snow critically changes the impact that city design has on the local-scale hydrology and climate.

Evaluating methane inventories by isotopic analysis in the London region.

A thorough understanding of methane sources is necessary to accomplish methane reduction targets. Urban environments, where a large variety of methane sources coexist, are one of the most complex areas to investigate. Methane sources are characterised by specific δC-CH signatures, so high precision stable isotope analysis of atmospheric methane can be used to give a better understanding of urban sources and their partition in a source mix.

The Birmingham Urban Climate Laboratory-A high density, urban meteorological dataset, from 2012-2014.

There is a paucity of urban meteorological observations worldwide, hindering progress in understanding and mitigating urban meteorological hazards and extremes. High quality urban datasets are required to monitor the impacts of climatological events, whilst providing data for evaluation of numerical models. The Birmingham Urban Climate Laboratory was established as an exemplar network to meet this demand for urban canopy layer observations.

Influence of ground surface characteristics on the mean radiant temperature in urban areas.

The effect of variations in land cover on mean radiant temperature (T mrt ) is explored through a simple scheme developed within the radiation model SOLWEIG. Outgoing longwave radiation is parameterised using surface temperature observations on a grass and an asphalt surface, whereas outgoing shortwave radiation is modelled through variations in albedo for the different surfaces. The influence of ground surface materials on T mrt is small compared to the effects of shadowing.

Effects of urban density on carbon dioxide exchanges: Observations of dense urban, suburban and woodland areas of southern England.

Anthropogenic and biogenic controls on the surface-atmosphere exchange of CO2 are explored for three different environments. Similarities are seen between suburban and woodland sites during summer, when photosynthesis and respiration determine the diurnal pattern of the CO2 flux. In winter, emissions from human activities dominate urban and suburban fluxes; building emissions increase during cold weather, while traffic is a major component of CO2 emissions all year round.