Spatio-temporal variability of moisture conditions within the Urban Canopy Layer

Abstract

Summary Re-analysed data from an urban climate research project in Munich, Germany, were used to investigate the spatiotemporal variability of moisture conditions (expressed here in vapour pressure VP) within the Urban Canopy Layer UCL. The results, which apply to three main sites and additional subsidiary ones, cover both summer and winter months. The summer month variation of VP is characterised by higher monthly mean values of VP for all three sites, howbeit with considerable inter-site differences. The temporal variability of mean VP values at diurnal time scales is also examined. With respect to the UCL, they reveal different amplitudes and times of occurrence of their extreme values. In addition, results of car traverses performed during clear sky conditions in downtown Munich show a remarkable small-scale spatio-temporal variability of VP. In relation to a sealed downtown site within a courtyard in Munich, a time-dependent urban moisture excess (UME) was formed. A positive correlation between UME and the urban heat island (UHI) could be verified in general. However, it was slightly negative with a very low coefficient of determination in the summer month when the maximum UME preceded the maximum UHI up to 5 hrs. As example for the effects of air moisture on the urban climate within the UCL, the role of VP on a thermal index (physiologically equivalent temperature PET) was investigated. Based on one-year data from another urban climate project in Munich, a positive correlation between PET and VP was found, although the coefficient of determination was somewhat low. However, during a human-biometeorological case study on a typical summer day in the northern downtown of Freiburg, a medium-sized city in southwest Germany, PET and VP showed a negative correlation (possibly because the specific temporal course of VP at the measuring points was mainly influenced by thermally induced turbulence).