High resolution thermo-radiative modeling of an urban fragment in Marseilles city center during the UBL-ESCOMPTE campaign

Abstract

The thermodynamic exchanges of the old city center of Marseilles during a summer period are analyzed with the SOLENE thermo-radiative model, using measurements of the UBL-ESCOMPTE experimental campaign in June–July 2001. The selected scene is an actual fragment of the urban canopy composed of 4 streets at right angles, with various 19th century houses and yards. The SOLENE software’s ability to simulate the heat and radiation exchanges of this urban district with the atmosphere is first evaluated by comparing simulation outputs with surface temperatures of individual roof and façade elements measured by infrared radiation thermometers and with integrated fluxes measured on top of a neighboring meteorological mast. This model assessment is reinforced by a sensitivity study to the interior building temperature, a variable of possible influence which is usually not measured in studies at the scale of an urban fragment or district. The flux sensor position influence on the comparison is also studied by introducing a virtual sensor in the simulated scene. The software is further used to analyze the behavior of individual surface elements of the scene with various orientations during a typical summer diurnal cycle. The contributions of the different surface classes (roofs, façades, streets, yards) to the upward radiation and heat fluxes to the atmosphere are then detailed for several canopy morphologies (H/W).