Abstract
Increasing urbanization impacts the local meteorology and the quality of life for residents. Urban surface characteristics and anthropogenic heat stress lead to urban heat island effects, changes in local circulations, precipitation alteration, and amendment of the local fluxes. These modifications have a direct effect on the life and health of residents. In this study, we assessed the impact of urbanization in Sofia (Bulgaria) using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model at 500 m resolution for the summer period of 2016. We utilized the CORINE (coordination of information on the environment) 2012 land cover database to represent the urban areas in four detailed land cover types, i.e., high-intensity residential areas, low-intensity residential areas, medium/industrial areas, and developed open spaces. We performed two experiments; in the first, we substituted an urban area with the most representative rural land cover to delineate the current impact of urbanization, while in the second, we replaced the existing built-up area (all four categories) with a hypothetical scenario of high-density residential land cover showing aggressive urban development. These experiments addressed the impact of land use changes as well as the extreme effects of ongoing high-density construction on the local meteorological conditions. The results showed that urban temperatures can increase by 5 °C and that moisture can decrease by 2 g/kg in the central part of Sofia in comparison to surrounding rural areas. The results also showed that building higher and dense urban areas can significantly increase heat flux and add additional stress to the environment.
Highlights
More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and this proportion is expected to increase to 68% by the year 2050 [1]
The surface observations were taken at standard height 2 m for temperature and relative humidity
The land-surface model was validated by the soil temperature (Table 3) at 10 cm depth
Summary
More than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and this proportion is expected to increase to 68% by the year 2050 [1]. The increasing urban population trend is common in metropolitan areas, and in smaller urban regions. The problem with the lack of compulsory address registration, makes the city’s management believe that there are between 1.6 and 1.8 million people in the capital, approximately a quarter of the country’s population. This large-scale and relatively fast migration trend has taken
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call