Pune City’s Microclimate: An Assessment of Selected Local Climate Zones Using ENVI-Met

Abstract

The urban fabric of Pune city has undergone massive changes due to diversifying urban functionalities. The study attempts to identify different urban morphological landscapes within the city based on Local Climate Zones (LCZs) configurations. After identification of urban morphology in accordance with the LCZ scheme, the microclimatic simulations for the performance and attenuation of the meteorological parameters that is air temperature (Ta), relative humidity (RH), mean radiant temperature (Tmrt), and wind speed (WS) was accomplished through ENVI-met during the warmest month for the city. The urban landscapes characteristics similar to the proposed LCZ configuration and to collect field data for the chosen meteorological parameters ground survey was done. In addition to field observations, climatological normals and long-term trends for the meteorological parameters were also analyzed. The simulation results revealed that barren lands are warmer (by ~18℃) than the compact city core due to the heat sink effect. For Ta and RH the simulation is more reliable in case of open LCZs (R2~0.9) compared to compact LCZs (R2~0.5). With changing LCZs, there is no significant change in the simulation except continuous underestimation of the Tmrt and the role of wind flow in modifying Tmrt was noticed.