Local Climate Zones Definition in Relation to ENVI-met in the City of Dubai, UAE.

Abstract

The city of Dubai has experienced a rapid urban growth in the last 60 years. Located in the north west of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai has a linear development expanding mainly towards the coast. However recently this expansion is going towards the desert. Mapping such development creates a history that is relevant to many research entities. WUDAPT is a network that facilitates city mapping. With open source tools it is possible to create Local Climate Zones (LCZ). This zones have similar properties. Therefore, in the end of the process it would be possible to see the most dense urban areas of the city where the UHI phenomena is higher.The process of mapping involves, Google Earth Pro, high definition satellite images and the CFD software, ENVI-met. The first two tools detect the LCZ and create the general map of the city. Then this map is compared with the validated models of ENVI-met. This comparison shows the connection of the UHI between one approach and the other. The site data taken from an open-source are used as a boundary condition in the simulations. The climate of Dubai is hot arid, with high temperatures in the summer and cool winters. The spring and autumn are short periods of 2-4 weeks.The aim of this study is to detect problematic areas in the city in terms of surface/air temperature, high levels of UHI. This detection helps understanding where should be intervened in order to have more walkable districts.