Development and testing of a quantitative heat flux estimation method for geographical surfaces. Application to the Urban Heat Island Effect

Abstract

The purpose of this project is the development and testing of a new geographical surface heat exchange measurement technique. The proposed approach is based on the indirect evaluation of advective moist air heat fluxes and employs the most simple instrumentation available at the moment, consisting on a network of automatic meteorological stations. Urban surfaces will play a key role on this project, as it is focused on the evaluation of mean urban heat exchanges. Consequently, this research connects with previous works about urban climatology and, more specifically, its more noted manifestation, the Urban Heat Island (UHI). The Spanish city of Seville will be used to test the model. This document is organized as follows: Chapter 1 reviews the state of the art regarding urban climatology, including basic definitions, thermodynamic basis, general behavior of UHIs and their effects on health, environment and economy. Chapter 2 explains and develops the theoretical framework of the project, discussing its applicability conditions, associated risks and thermodynamic and fluid mechanics background. Chapter 3 will focus on the qualitative explanation of the required tools, explaining the design requirements, limitations and results. Chapter 4 will show an organized set of results for the city of Seville (Spain), which include tables, graphs and statistical distributions for each tested configuration. Chapter 5 will extract key conclusions about this methodology and the obtained results. Future steps are also explored.

El propósito de este proyecto es el desarrollo y comprobación de un nuevo método para la medición de los intercambios de calor y humedad globales en superficies geográficas. Se realizará un análisis convectivo del flujo de aire sobre el terreno, combinando para ello las extensas bases de datos diezminutales de ciertas estaciones de la AEMET y diversas fuentes de radiación solar global. Debido a su especial interés económico, urbanístico y sanitario, el proyecto se centrará en la evaluación del ampliamente conocido Efecto Isla de Calor. Las estaciones meteorológicas automáticas de Sevilla serán utilizadas para probar el modelo teórico y extraer valiosas conclusiones para futuros desarrollos. Los datos meteorológicos empleados en este proyecto han sido cedidos por la Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (AEMET) y su coste asciende a 2340,42 €. Los datos de radiación solar global han sido proporcionados por el Grupo de Termodinámica y Energías Renovables (GTER) de la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de la Universidad de Sevilla.