Abstract
The urban energy balance (UEB) is useful for elucidating unique urban climate phenomena such as localized heavy rains and the urban heat island effect. The Comprehensive Outdoor Scale Model Experiment for Urban Climate(COSMO) was conducted to investigate urbanization effects (i.e., surface geometry changes) on UEB. COSMO incorporates idealized miniature cities with no vegetation, no human activity, and no heterogeneity of the surface geometry. This study provides a review and examination of UEB obtained from COSMO and field observations.Urbanization enhances daytime heat storage and nighttime sensible heat flux, thereby increasing the thermal inertia of the system. The reasons for such changes using COSMO data are explained. Furthermore, variation of UEB among cities and seasons is presented. Its causes are explained. Additionally, UEB modelling is presented along with a case of COSMO data application in parameterization of roughness length for heat, a key aerodynamic land surface parameter for UEB modelling.
