Modeling the Current and Future Urban Climate Using Downscaling Techniques

Abstract

Temperatures rises observed in urban areas can be attributed to global warming as well as the heat island effect. Therefore, these two phenomena must be jointly considered when researching the urban climate. Computer simulations based on downscaling techniques (downscaling simulations) are sufficiently powerful to investigate these two types of warming effect in combination. In particular, downscaling simulation is the only feasible method to make climate forecasts that consider global warming trends and the likely prevalence of urban heat islands. In this chapter we introduce a downscaling simulation to model and project the urban climate using examples from Japan’s third largest metropolitan area (Nagoya). Downscaling simulations from a global scale to the urban scale can function not only as environmental assessment tools but also as tools for urban planning.