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Challenges in Modelling and Observing Urban Environments: Recent Trends, Current Progress and Future Directions

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A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Atmospheric Techniques, Instruments, and Modeling".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2023) | Viewed by 8611

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Serena Falasca

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Guest Editor

Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: atmospheric modeling; urban modeling; atmospheric boundary layer; urban areas; air quality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Annalisa Di Bernardino

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: atmospheric boundary layer; air quality monitoring; remote sensing; climate change; urban climate; turbulence; atmospheric dynamics; ground-based atmospheric monitoring
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to contribute to the Special Issue “Challenges in modelling and observing urban environments: recent trends, current progress and future directions”, to be published in MDPI Open Access Journal Atmosphere.

The percentage of the global population living in cities is progressively increasing. The study of urban environments and related living conditions is thus crucial for the well-being of more and more citizens. In recent decades, the international scientific community has paid considerable attention to the livability of cities, also identifying the routes to follow for their sustainable development. Usually, urban issues can be addressed both with the observational method, i.e., through measurements obtained from remote sensing tools and with the modeling method, i.e., by analyzing the outputs of numerical simulations, the synergy between the two methods represents the optimal solution.

The motivation of this Special Issue hosted by the journal Atmosphere is to enhance the recent outcomes in the characterization of urban environments based on different methodologies (i.e., both observational and numerical) and from different points of view. The Guest Editors encourage the submission of relevant contributions including, but not limited to, the following topics: air quality, thermo-hygrometric well-being, energy consumption, thermal stress mitigation techniques, effects of climate change, ground- and satellite-based techniques for environmental monitoring, the interaction between circulation systems at different spatial and temporal scales. Submissions concerning multidisciplinary approaches and future challenges are also welcome.

Dr. Serena Falasca
Dr. Annalisa Di Bernardino
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

urban climate and sustainability
climate change
environmental monitoring
numerical modeling and monitoring techniques
remote sensing
ground-based and satellite observations
outdoor thermal comfort
air quality
adaptation and mitigation techniques
nature-based solutions

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1873 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing the Cooling Potential of Tailing Piles for Urban Heat Mitigation in Germany’s Ruhr Metropolitan Area—A Case Study of the Rungenberg in Gelsenkrichen

by Patricia Glocke, Tobias Scholz and A. Martina Grudzielanek

Atmosphere 2023, 14(10), 1492; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14101492 - 27 Sep 2023

Viewed by 647

Abstract

Elevated air temperatures in cities with potential negative effects on, e.g., residents are a major challenge for urban planning. Open green spaces on hills where at night air can cool and drain into residential areas are of great importance to ameliorate the heat load in urban areas. In the Ruhr Metropolitan Region in Germany, tailing piles from the former coal mining industry offer a previously neglected potential for cooling neighbourhoods. The genesis and drainage of cold air on tailing piles have not been extensively investigated so far. Tailing piles are often located in or nearby residential areas and are exposed as open spaces, where cold air can build up and drain into the surrounding neighbourhoods due to their slopes. In the present study, the genesis of cold air and the cold air drainage are empirically investigated using thermal infrared imagery and air temperature measurements during one night in 2019 at the Rungenberg tailing pile in Gelsenkirchen. Furthermore, the cooling effect on the adjacent residential area, Schüngelberg, was studied. The results indicate that cold air builds up at Rungenberg and drains into Schüngelberg. However, the cold air flow into the residential area was blocked by a brick wall located at the foot of the Rungenberg tailing pile. More awareness should be given to the cooling potential of tailing piles, and urban planners should improve this cooling potential by keeping tailing piles open and removing barriers located in the drainage pathways in order to alleviate urban heat. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges in Modelling and Observing Urban Environments: Recent Trends, Current Progress and Future Directions)

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17 pages, 2741 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Using Machine Learning to Predict Wind Flow in Urban Areas

by Nir BenMoshe, Eyal Fattal, Bernd Leitl and Yehuda Arav

Atmosphere 2023, 14(6), 990; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14060990 - 07 Jun 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2052

Abstract

Solving the hydrodynamical equations in urban canopies often requires substantial computational resources. This is especially the case when tackling urban wind comfort issues. In this article, a novel and efficient technique for predicting wind velocity is discussed. Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations of the Michaelstadt wind tunnel experiment and the Tel Aviv center are used to supervise a machine learning function. Using the machine learning function it is possible to observe wind flow patterns in the form of eddies and spirals emerging from street canyons. The flow patterns observed in urban canopies tend to be predominantly localized, as the machine learning algorithms utilized for flow prediction are based on local morphological features. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges in Modelling and Observing Urban Environments: Recent Trends, Current Progress and Future Directions)

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16 pages, 4182 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Recent Urban Issues Related to Particulate Matter in Ploiesti City, Romania

by Mia Sanda, Daniel Dunea, Stefania Iordache, Laurentiu Predescu, Mirela Predescu, Alin Pohoata and Ion Onutu

Atmosphere 2023, 14(4), 746; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14040746 - 20 Apr 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1315

Abstract

The present work aimed to assess the ambient levels of air pollution with particulate matter for both mass concentrations and number of particles for various fractions in Ploiesti city during the lockdown period determined by the COVID-19 pandemic (March–June 2020). The PM10 continuously monitored data was retrieved from four air quality automatic stations that are connected to the Romanian National Network for Monitoring Air Quality and located in the city. Because no other information was available for other more dangerous fractions, we used monitoring campaigns employing the Lighthouse 3016 IAQ particle counter near the locations of monitoring stations assessing size-segregated mass fraction concentrations (PM0.5, PM1, PM2.5, PM5, PM10, and TPM) and particle number concentration (differential Δ) range between 0.3 and 10 microns during the specified timeline between 8.00 and 11.00 a.m., which were considered the morning rush hours interval. Interpolation maps estimating the spatial distribution of the mass concentrations of various PM fractions and particle number concentration were drawn using the IDW algorithm in ArcGIS 10.8.2. Regarding the particle count of 0.5 microns during the lockdown, the smallest number was recorded when the restriction of citizens’ movement was declared (24 March 2020), which was 5.8-times lower (17,301.3 particles/cm³) compared to a common day outside the lockdown period (100,047.3 particles/cm³). Similar results were observed for other particle sizes. Regarding the spatial distribution of the mass concentrations, the smaller fractions were higher in the middle of the city and west (PM0.5, PM1, and PM2.5) while the PM10 was more concentrated in the west. These are strongly related to traffic patterns. The analysis is useful to establish the impact of PM and the assessment of urban exposure and better air quality planning. Long-term exposure to PM in conjunction with other dangerous air pollutants in urban aerosols of Ploiesti can lead to potential adverse effects on the population, especially for residents located in the most impacted areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges in Modelling and Observing Urban Environments: Recent Trends, Current Progress and Future Directions)

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17 pages, 690 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Simultaneous Quantification of Real-World Elemental Contributions from the Exhaust and Non-Exhaust Vehicular Emissions Using Road Dust Enrichment Factor-Elemental Carbon Tracer Method (EFECT)

by Duran Karakaş, Ercan Berberler, Melike B. Bayramoğlu Karşı, Tuğçe Demir, Özge Aslan, Hatice Karadeniz, Ömer Ağa and Serpil Yenisoy-Karakaş

Atmosphere 2023, 14(4), 631; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14040631 - 27 Mar 2023

Viewed by 1730

Abstract

Emission control regulations have been essential in reducing vehicular exhaust emissions. However, the contribution of exhaust and non-exhaust emissions to ambient particulate matter (PM) has not yet been accurately quantified due to the lack of standardized sampling and measurement methods to set regulations. The identified sources and the source profiles generated have not been comparable as none of the emission data collection techniques and the receptor models applied in the literature have produced a standard or reference method to simultaneously identify and quantify the non-exhaust emission sources. This study utilized and thoroughly characterized PM samples including 32 major and trace elements from a mixed fleet in a mountain highway tunnel atmosphere in Bolu, Türkiye. This work proposed a two-stage, simple, and robust method based on road dust enrichment factor (EF) and elemental carbon (EC) tracer methods (EFECT) for the identification and prediction of the exhaust (exh), and non-exhaust (n-exh) emissions in PM. The indicated method revealed that road dust resuspension emissions are the most significant contributor to the concentrations of crustal elements. This method was used successfully to determine the real-world elemental contributions of road dust resuspension (rdrs), emissions (em), exhaust (exh), and non-exhaust (n-exh) emission sources to the elemental concentrations in PM samples. This study provided significant insights into generating actual source profiles, source-specific emission factors, and the source apportionment results for vehicular emission sources worldwide. Considering this, PM data of any particle size fraction (PM₁₀, PM_10-2.5, and PM_2.5, for example) can be used as input for the EFECT, provided that the data include the analytical results of elemental carbon in both the atmospheric PM and road dust samples having similar PM sizes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges in Modelling and Observing Urban Environments: Recent Trends, Current Progress and Future Directions)

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Graphical abstract

16 pages, 12761 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Temporal Variation of NO₂ and O₃ in Rome (Italy) from Pandora and In Situ Measurements

by Annalisa Di Bernardino, Gabriele Mevi, Anna Maria Iannarelli, Serena Falasca, Alexander Cede, Martin Tiefengraber and Stefano Casadio

Atmosphere 2023, 14(3), 594; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14030594 - 21 Mar 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2077

Abstract

To assess the best measures for the improvement of air quality, it is crucial to investigate in situ and columnar pollution levels. In this study, ground-based measurements of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and ozone (O₃) collected in Rome (Italy) between 2017 and 2022 are analyzed. Pandora sun-spectrometers provided the time series of the NO₂ vertical column density (VC-NO₂), tropospheric column density (TC-NO₂), near-surface concentration (SC-NO₂), and the O₃ vertical column density (VC-O₃). In situ concentrations of NO₂ and O₃ are provided by an urban background air quality station. The results show a clear reduction of NO₂ over the years, thanks to the recent ecological transition policies, with marked seasonal variability, observable both by columnar and in situ data. Otherwise, O₃ does not show inter-annual variations, although a clear seasonal cycle is detectable. The results suggest that the variation of in situ O₃ is mainly imputable to photochemical reactions while, in the VC-O₃, it is triggered by the predominant contribution of stratospheric O₃. The outcomes highlight the importance of co-located in situ and columnar measurements in urban environments to investigate physical and chemical processes driving air pollution and to design tailored climate change adaptation strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges in Modelling and Observing Urban Environments: Recent Trends, Current Progress and Future Directions)

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