Numerical analysis of the impact of anthropogenic emissions on the urban environment of Singapore

Vivek Kumar Singh; M. O. Mughal; Alberto Martilli; Juan A. Acero; Jordan Ivanchev; Leslie K. Norford

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150534

Numerical analysis of the impact of anthropogenic emissions on the urban environment of Singapore

Vivek Kumar Singh, M. O. Mughal, Alberto Martilli, Juan A. Acero, Jordan Ivanchev, Leslie K. Norford

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

Increased urbanization and anthropogenic activities in tropical cities lead to the temperature gradient between the urban and rural environments, causing the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon. This study is a pioneering attempt that examines the changes in the temporal evolution of the surface energy budget induced by urbanization known as the Anthropogenic Influence (AI) in modifying the urban climate of a tropical city using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical modeling system. The AI from buildings, traffic and power plants is determined in five different scenarios and the model is validated with high temporal resolution in-situ data. These increased AIs provide improved WRF capability with root mean square error (RMSE) less than 2 °C and mean bias error (MBE) less than 0.5 °C between different performance indicators. Building envelopes (without indoor activity/equipment) are found to be a major contributor in exacerbating the island wide urban heat ∆T_{a_{AI, max}} to 3.7 °C compared to baseline all green scenario. This is followed by the air-conditioner (AC) systems that contribute up to 1.4 °C. The maximum local contribution of traffic and power plants to urban heat is 0.9 °C and 0.4 °C, respectively.

Original language	English
Article number	150534
Journal	Science of the Total Environment
Volume	806
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150534
State	Published - Feb 1 2022
Externally published	Yes

Funding

The work was funded by Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) under its Virtual Singapore programme. Cooling Singapore is a collaborative project led by the Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC), with the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), TUMCREATE (established by the Technical University of Munich), the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Singapore Management University (SMU), and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). The authors would like to thank researchers in CENSAM-SMART, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore ETH-Centre (SEC) and Technical University of Munich (TUMCREATE) for the fruitful collaboration in the framework of the ‘Cooling Singapore’ project. The work was funded by Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) under its Virtual Singapore programme. Cooling Singapore is a collaborative project led by the Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC), with the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), TUMCREATE (established by the Technical University of Munich), the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Singapore Management University (SMU), and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

Keywords

Anthropogenic heat
Power plants
Traffic
Urban heat island

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10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150534

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title = "Numerical analysis of the impact of anthropogenic emissions on the urban environment of Singapore",

abstract = "Increased urbanization and anthropogenic activities in tropical cities lead to the temperature gradient between the urban and rural environments, causing the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon. This study is a pioneering attempt that examines the changes in the temporal evolution of the surface energy budget induced by urbanization known as the Anthropogenic Influence (AI) in modifying the urban climate of a tropical city using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical modeling system. The AI from buildings, traffic and power plants is determined in five different scenarios and the model is validated with high temporal resolution in-situ data. These increased AIs provide improved WRF capability with root mean square error (RMSE) less than 2 °C and mean bias error (MBE) less than 0.5 °C between different performance indicators. Building envelopes (without indoor activity/equipment) are found to be a major contributor in exacerbating the island wide urban heat ∆TaAI, max to 3.7 °C compared to baseline all green scenario. This is followed by the air-conditioner (AC) systems that contribute up to 1.4 °C. The maximum local contribution of traffic and power plants to urban heat is 0.9 °C and 0.4 °C, respectively.",

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AU - Ivanchev, Jordan

AU - Norford, Leslie K.

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AB - Increased urbanization and anthropogenic activities in tropical cities lead to the temperature gradient between the urban and rural environments, causing the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon. This study is a pioneering attempt that examines the changes in the temporal evolution of the surface energy budget induced by urbanization known as the Anthropogenic Influence (AI) in modifying the urban climate of a tropical city using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical modeling system. The AI from buildings, traffic and power plants is determined in five different scenarios and the model is validated with high temporal resolution in-situ data. These increased AIs provide improved WRF capability with root mean square error (RMSE) less than 2 °C and mean bias error (MBE) less than 0.5 °C between different performance indicators. Building envelopes (without indoor activity/equipment) are found to be a major contributor in exacerbating the island wide urban heat ∆TaAI, max to 3.7 °C compared to baseline all green scenario. This is followed by the air-conditioner (AC) systems that contribute up to 1.4 °C. The maximum local contribution of traffic and power plants to urban heat is 0.9 °C and 0.4 °C, respectively.

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Numerical analysis of the impact of anthropogenic emissions on the urban environment of Singapore

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