Metropolitan meteorology Dr Valry Masson discusses his project, which - PDF document

Metropolitan meteorology Dr Valéry Masson discusses his project, which aims to model the effects of climate change ACCLIMAT on urban environments, predicting how our cities will adjust to shifting temperatures (IPCC), and are either global or continental. of factors. The geographical position of the One could use any of them as climate warming city is important, since a coastal city may be input. Our coupled model contains on the one subject to sea level rise fl ooding, and local hand some models of the city itself, simulating climate can have effects, such as if the city is how it could grow in the future depending subject to fl ash fl oods. Also important is the on several scenarios, and on the other hand, structure of the city, since old buildings may an atmospheric model joined to an energy be badly insulated; the economic situation consumption model for buildings. The latter of the city; or social aspects like the age of models allow for simulation of the interactions the population, revenue of the people in between the city and its microclimate. relation with energy or transportation costs. Cities can be warmer than the surrounding Consequently, the number of aspects to take countryside by up to 10 °C centigrade at into account is very large and covers a wide night, which has been poetically named the panel of disciplines. ‘Urban Heat Island’. This can reduce the need What have been some of the major for domestic heating in winter, but increase considerations that have needed air conditioning in summer. We have shown deliberating, in order to ensure the project is that, for Paris, the use of air-conditioning can successful? increase the air temperature by up to 2 °C centigrade, leading to greater energy demand Why does the ACCLIMAT project focus for cooling. With a warming climate a distinct The most complex feature was the coupling specifi cally on cities and urban areas? possibility, this trend could increase in the between the economic model and the future. geographical model, in order for the models to Cities bring together 50 per cent of the profi t from one another. A fi ne description of How do you intend to apply this model to world population, and this share exceeds 80 the spatial distribution of population and rents other European cities? per cent in developed countries. Moreover, depending on socioeconomic factors on the urban areas concentrate the vast majority one hand, and the ability to simulate at an even of capital stocks, comprising housing, water The models are based on general economic fi ner scale the geographic implementation of delivery and transportation infrastructures. or physical laws, which are split across the new urban areas depending on geographic and Clearly, such a population concentration gives different models we are using. Beyond this, urban planning considerations on the other. rise to social, economic, and environmental they use some classical data including censuses Are you using any methods to ensure concerns. Furthermore, cities modify their and buildings databases. Some scenarios your research has an impact and effective environment, increasing the local impact of are world or Europe-wide, including energy implementation on educational, societal some meteorological and climatic events, cost and technology availability; some are and political disciplines? such as heat waves, fl oods and sea level rise. across the country, including demographics Such events are likely to occur in the future and building regulations); and some are local in the frame of climate change. This means specifi cally to the city, which covers everything We closely collaborate with territorial planning that cities are particularly vulnerable to the from urban planning to local economic agencies in Toulouse and Paris. They are in our effects of a changing climate, and our research evolutions. The breadth of these inputs and projects from the start, and dissemination of aims to elucidate exactly the nature of this their generic nature means that the models can our research towards local policymakers will vulnerability. be applied to other cities. naturally transit through them. Our research is interdisciplinary, and we plan to present our What advantages are afforded by your What challenges arise from targeting methodology and results in a wide range of model? the issues of climate change in urbanised international conferences. environments? Our model is not a climate change model. The climate simulations are done beforehand Each city is specifi cally vulnerable to one by climate groups in the frame of the or several aspects of climate change, while Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change others may not be. This is linked to a number WWW.RESEARCHMEDIA.EU ??