Modelling temperature variations in Birmingham, UK at the neighbourhood scale: Using ADMS-Urban climate model

Cities have higher peak temperatures compared to surrounding rural areas. The urban-rural near surface air temperature difference is known as the urban heat island (UHI) intensity. As extreme heat exposure can lead to adverse health effects, information on UHI characteristics of cities is important for future urban climate planning strategies. This study applied the ADMS-Urban climate model to investigate the key processes driving temperature variations in Birmingham, UK, at the neighbourhood scale. This urban climate modelling was configured with a range of input datasets (such as meteorological data, land use data, building data, etc.) and model performance was evaluated against the temperature measurement datasets from UK Met Office and Weather Underground, and satellite datasets. The spatiotemporal variations of near-surface air temperature in Birmingham, UK were captured by this model. Spatiotemporal absolute temperature and temperature perturbations for different months at 50 m × 50 m resolution were generated. Monthly averaged temperature varies between 2 °C and 20 °C in Birmingham, UK. Urban heat island effect (reflected by the temperature perturbations with regard to upwind rural temperatures) in summer was much stronger (up to 2 °C) than that in other seasons and higher in the built-up areas compared to that in rural areas. Cooling island effects of water bodies and green spaces can bring a monthly temperature reduction of up to 4 °C in the summer season. This modelling study can be further applied to explore the impacts of local urban heat island mitigation strategies.