Research Projects

Urban climate refers to climatic conditions in an urban area that differ from neighbouring rural areas, and are attributable to urban development. Temperatures are higher in cities than the surrounding rural areas— which is popularly manifested as Urban Heat Island (UHI). Urban climate is an effective issue on the local and global climates which is influenced by several factors such as urban morphology and density, the properties of urban surfaces and vegetation cover. The urban builtform due to its dense development, high-rise character and increase in impervious, absorptive surfaces is responsible for the trapping of heat and reduction in evaporative cooling due to decrease in vegetated, soft, pervious surfaces in urban areas. The study of urban climate is gaining further importance in the scenario of climate change. Research is ongoing for the generation of 3D urban database, urban parameterization in numerical weather models, urban canopy parameters estimation and understanding the micro and meso scale urban climate phenomenon. Currently, the emphasis is given to development of urban parameterization and micro and meso scale modelling. It will be further extended to the simulation of urban growth vis-à-vis urban climate.