colloquium

128th Colloquium of Center for Computational Sciences

128th Colloquium

Title: Recent progress and challenge in observing and modeling effects of urbanization

Speaker: Dr.Fei Chen 
Research Applications Laboratory (RAL)
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO, USA

Date: November 12, 2019 (Tue)

Time: 10:00-12:00

Venue: Center for Computational Sciences, Meeting Room A

Language: English

Abstract:
  Today’s changing climate poses two formidable challenges: 1) the projected climate change by IPCC will lead to more frequent occurrences of heat waves, severe weather, and floods, and 2) the current trend of population increase and urban expansion is expected to continue. The combined effect of global climate change and rapid urban growth, accompanied with economic and industrial development, will inevitably make people living in cities more vulnerable to a number of the urban environmental problems. It is imperative to employ integrated modeling systems to accurately represent the land-atmosphere interactions cross various temporal and spatial scales in order to assess such problems. In this paper, we will discuss community efforts in modeling urbanization effects in regional and global models (e.g., WRF and CESM), including recent enhancements to urban hydrologic models and new modeling capabilities in addressing urban heat-island mitigation strategies. This paper will also discuss recent observation projects and the observed effects of urbanization on precipitation extremes. We will conclude this paper with a short discussion on current challenges in urban modeling.

Coordinator :Hiroyuki Kusaka