Comparative estimates of anthropogenic heat emission in relation to surface energy balance of a subtropical urban neighborhood Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Long-term eddy covariance measurements have been conducted in a subtropical urban area, an older neighborhood north of downtown Houston. The measured net radiation (Q*), sensible heat flux (H) and latent heat flux (LE) showed typical seasonal diurnal variations in urban areas: highest in summer; lowest in winter. From an analysis of a subset of the first two years of measurements, we find that approximately 42% of Q* is converted into H, and 22% into LE during daytime. The local anthropogenic heat emissions were estimated conventionally using the long-term residual method and the heat emission inventory approach. We also developed a footprint-weighted inventory approach, which combines the inventory approach with flux footprint calculations. The results show a range of annual anthropogenic heat fluxes from 20 W m-2 to 30 W m-2 within the study domain. Possibly as a result of local radiation versus heat flux footprint mismatches, the mean value of surface heat storage (Qs) was relatively large, approximately 43% and 34% of Q* in summer and winter, respectively, during daytime.

published proceedings

  • ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT

author list (cited authors)

  • Park, C., Schade, G. W., Werner, N. D., Sailor, D. J., & Kim, C.

citation count

  • 20

complete list of authors

  • Park, Changhyoun||Schade, Gunnar W||Werner, Nicholas D||Sailor, David J||Kim, Cheol-Hee

publication date

  • January 2016