--- OA_place: publisher OA_type: hybrid _id: '22583' abstract: - lang: eng text: Accurately predicting weather and climate in cities is critical for safeguarding human health and strengthening urban resilience. Multimodel evaluations can lead to model improvements; however, there have been no major intercomparisons of urban-focussed land surface models in over a decade. Here, in Phase 1 of the Urban-PLUMBER project, we evaluate the ability of 30 land surface models to simulate surface energy fluxes critical to atmospheric meteorological and air quality simulations. We establish minimum and upper performance expectations for participating models using simple information-limited models as benchmarks. Compared with the last major model intercomparison at the same site, we find broad improvement in the current cohort's predictions of short-wave radiation, sensible and latent heat fluxes, but little or no improvement in long-wave radiation and momentum fluxes. Models with a simple urban representation (e.g., ‘slab’ schemes) generally perform well, particularly when combined with sophisticated hydrological/vegetation models. Some mid-complexity models (e.g., ‘canyon’ schemes) also perform well, indicating efforts to integrate vegetation and hydrology processes have paid dividends. The most complex models that resolve three-dimensional interactions between buildings in general did not perform as well as other categories. However, these models also tended to have the simplest representations of hydrology and vegetation. Models without any urban representation (i.e., vegetation-only land surface models) performed poorly for latent heat fluxes, and reasonably for other energy fluxes at this suburban site. Our analysis identified widespread human errors in initial submissions that substantially affected model performances. Although significant efforts are applied to correct these errors, we conclude that human factors are likely to influence results in this (or any) model intercomparison, particularly where participating scientists have varying experience and first languages. These initial results are for one suburban site, and future phases of Urban-PLUMBER will evaluate models across 20 sites in different urban and regional climate zones. article_processing_charge: No article_type: original author: - first_name: Mathew J. full_name: Lipson, Mathew J. last_name: Lipson - first_name: Sue full_name: Grimmond, Sue last_name: Grimmond - first_name: Martin full_name: Best, Martin last_name: Best - first_name: Gab full_name: Abramowitz, Gab last_name: Abramowitz - first_name: Andrew full_name: Coutts, Andrew last_name: Coutts - first_name: Nigel full_name: Tapper, Nigel last_name: Tapper - first_name: Jong‐Jin full_name: Baik, Jong‐Jin last_name: Baik - first_name: Meiring full_name: Beyers, Meiring last_name: Beyers - first_name: Lewis full_name: Blunn, Lewis last_name: Blunn - first_name: Souhail full_name: Boussetta, Souhail last_name: Boussetta - first_name: Elie full_name: Bou‐Zeid, Elie last_name: Bou‐Zeid - first_name: Martin G. full_name: De Kauwe, Martin G. last_name: De Kauwe - first_name: Cécile full_name: de Munck, Cécile last_name: de Munck - first_name: Matthias full_name: Demuzere, Matthias last_name: Demuzere - first_name: Simone full_name: Fatichi, Simone id: cf8e546b-a9b0-11f0-a43b-aa89ed1b56d6 last_name: Fatichi - first_name: Krzysztof full_name: Fortuniak, Krzysztof last_name: Fortuniak - first_name: Beom‐Soon full_name: Han, Beom‐Soon last_name: Han - first_name: Margaret A. full_name: Hendry, Margaret A. last_name: Hendry - first_name: Yukihiro full_name: Kikegawa, Yukihiro last_name: Kikegawa - first_name: Hiroaki full_name: Kondo, Hiroaki last_name: Kondo - first_name: Doo‐Il full_name: Lee, Doo‐Il last_name: Lee - first_name: Sang‐Hyun full_name: Lee, Sang‐Hyun last_name: Lee - first_name: Aude full_name: Lemonsu, Aude last_name: Lemonsu - first_name: Tiago full_name: Machado, Tiago last_name: Machado - first_name: Gabriele full_name: Manoli, Gabriele last_name: Manoli - first_name: Alberto full_name: Martilli, Alberto last_name: Martilli - first_name: Valéry full_name: Masson, Valéry last_name: Masson - first_name: Joe full_name: McNorton, Joe last_name: McNorton - first_name: Naika full_name: Meili, Naika last_name: Meili - first_name: David full_name: Meyer, David last_name: Meyer - first_name: Kerry A. full_name: Nice, Kerry A. last_name: Nice - first_name: Keith W. full_name: Oleson, Keith W. last_name: Oleson - first_name: Seung‐Bu full_name: Park, Seung‐Bu last_name: Park - first_name: Michael full_name: Roth, Michael last_name: Roth - first_name: Robert full_name: Schoetter, Robert last_name: Schoetter - first_name: Andrés full_name: Simón‐Moral, Andrés last_name: Simón‐Moral - first_name: Gert‐Jan full_name: Steeneveld, Gert‐Jan last_name: Steeneveld - first_name: Ting full_name: Sun, Ting last_name: Sun - first_name: Yuya full_name: Takane, Yuya last_name: Takane - first_name: Marcus full_name: Thatcher, Marcus last_name: Thatcher - first_name: Aristofanis full_name: Tsiringakis, Aristofanis last_name: Tsiringakis - first_name: Mikhail full_name: Varentsov, Mikhail last_name: Varentsov - first_name: Chenghao full_name: Wang, Chenghao last_name: Wang - first_name: Zhi‐Hua full_name: Wang, Zhi‐Hua last_name: Wang - first_name: Andy J. full_name: Pitman, Andy J. last_name: Pitman citation: ama: 'Lipson MJ, Grimmond S, Best M, et al. Evaluation of 30 urban land surface models in the Urban-PLUMBER project: Phase 1 results. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 2024;150(758):126-169. doi:10.1002/qj.4589' apa: 'Lipson, M. J., Grimmond, S., Best, M., Abramowitz, G., Coutts, A., Tapper, N., … Pitman, A. J. (2024). Evaluation of 30 urban land surface models in the Urban-PLUMBER project: Phase 1 results. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4589' chicago: 'Lipson, Mathew J., Sue Grimmond, Martin Best, Gab Abramowitz, Andrew Coutts, Nigel Tapper, Jong‐Jin Baik, et al. “Evaluation of 30 Urban Land Surface Models in the Urban-PLUMBER Project: Phase 1 Results.” Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. Wiley, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4589.' ieee: 'M. J. Lipson et al., “Evaluation of 30 urban land surface models in the Urban-PLUMBER project: Phase 1 results,” Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, vol. 150, no. 758. Wiley, pp. 126–169, 2024.' ista: 'Lipson MJ, Grimmond S, Best M, Abramowitz G, Coutts A, Tapper N, Baik J, Beyers M, Blunn L, Boussetta S, Bou‐Zeid E, De Kauwe MG, de Munck C, Demuzere M, Fatichi S, Fortuniak K, Han B, Hendry MA, Kikegawa Y, Kondo H, Lee D, Lee S, Lemonsu A, Machado T, Manoli G, Martilli A, Masson V, McNorton J, Meili N, Meyer D, Nice KA, Oleson KW, Park S, Roth M, Schoetter R, Simón‐Moral A, Steeneveld G, Sun T, Takane Y, Thatcher M, Tsiringakis A, Varentsov M, Wang C, Wang Z, Pitman AJ. 2024. Evaluation of 30 urban land surface models in the Urban-PLUMBER project: Phase 1 results. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 150(758), 126–169.' mla: 'Lipson, Mathew J., et al. “Evaluation of 30 Urban Land Surface Models in the Urban-PLUMBER Project: Phase 1 Results.” Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, vol. 150, no. 758, Wiley, 2024, pp. 126–69, doi:10.1002/qj.4589.' short: M.J. Lipson, S. Grimmond, M. Best, G. Abramowitz, A. Coutts, N. Tapper, J. Baik, M. Beyers, L. Blunn, S. Boussetta, E. Bou‐Zeid, M.G. De Kauwe, C. de Munck, M. Demuzere, S. Fatichi, K. Fortuniak, B. Han, M.A. Hendry, Y. Kikegawa, H. Kondo, D. Lee, S. Lee, A. Lemonsu, T. Machado, G. Manoli, A. Martilli, V. Masson, J. McNorton, N. Meili, D. Meyer, K.A. Nice, K.W. Oleson, S. Park, M. Roth, R. Schoetter, A. Simón‐Moral, G. Steeneveld, T. Sun, Y. Takane, M. Thatcher, A. Tsiringakis, M. Varentsov, C. Wang, Z. Wang, A.J. Pitman, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 150 (2024) 126–169. das_tickbox: '1' date_created: 2026-07-27T12:30:25Z date_published: 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-08-12T08:53:18Z day: '01' doi: 10.1002/qj.4589 extern: '1' fulldoi: https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4589 intvolume: ' 150' issue: '758' keyword: - Benchmark - Energy balance - Intercomparison - Model evaluation - Urban climate - Urban meteorology language: - iso: eng license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ main_file_link: - open_access: '1' url: https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4589 month: '01' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version page: 126-169 publication: Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society publication_identifier: eissn: - 1477-870X issn: - 0035-9009 publication_status: published publisher: Wiley quality_controlled: '1' scopus_import: '1' status: public title: 'Evaluation of 30 urban land surface models in the Urban-PLUMBER project: Phase 1 results' tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: journal_article user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd volume: 150 year: '2024' ... --- DOAJ_listed: '1' OA_place: publisher OA_type: gold _id: '22537' abstract: - lang: eng text: "Urban heat islands (UHIs) are a widely studied phenomenon, while research on urban-rural differences in humidity, the so called urban dry or moisture islands (UDIs, UMIs), is less common and a large-scale quantification of the seasonal and diurnal patterns of the UDI is still lacking. However, quantification of the UDI/UMI effect is essential to understand the impacts of humidity on outdoor thermal comfort, building energy consumption, and urban ecology in cities worldwide. Here, we use a set of globally distributed air temperature and humidity measurements (1089 stations) to quantify diurnal and seasonal patterns of UHI and UDI resulting from rapid urbanization over many regions of the world. The terms ‘absolute UDI’ and ‘relative UDI’ are defined, which quantify urban–rural differences in actual and relative humidity metrics, respectively.\r\n\r\nResults show that absolute UDI is largest during daytime with the peak humidity decrease in urban areas occurring during late afternoon hours. In contrast, relative UDI is largest during night and the peak urban relative humidity (RH) decrease and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) increase occurs in the late evening hours with values of around −10% to −11% for RH and 2.9–3.6 hPa for VPD between 20–00 local time during summer. Relative and absolute UDIs are largest during the warm season, except for daytime RH UDI, which does not show any seasonal pattern. In agreement with literature, canopy air UHI is shown to be a nighttime phenomenon, which is larger during summer than winter. Relative UDI is predominantly caused by changes in actual humidity during day and UHI during nighttime." article_number: '054044' article_processing_charge: No article_type: letter_note author: - first_name: Naika full_name: Meili, Naika last_name: Meili - first_name: Athanasios full_name: Paschalis, Athanasios last_name: Paschalis - first_name: Gabriele full_name: Manoli, Gabriele last_name: Manoli - first_name: Simone full_name: Fatichi, Simone id: cf8e546b-a9b0-11f0-a43b-aa89ed1b56d6 last_name: Fatichi citation: ama: Meili N, Paschalis A, Manoli G, Fatichi S. Diurnal and seasonal patterns of global urban dry islands. Environmental Research Letters. 2022;17(5). doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac68f8 apa: Meili, N., Paschalis, A., Manoli, G., & Fatichi, S. (2022). Diurnal and seasonal patterns of global urban dry islands. Environmental Research Letters. IOP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac68f8 chicago: Meili, Naika, Athanasios Paschalis, Gabriele Manoli, and Simone Fatichi. “Diurnal and Seasonal Patterns of Global Urban Dry Islands.” Environmental Research Letters. IOP Publishing, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac68f8. ieee: N. Meili, A. Paschalis, G. Manoli, and S. Fatichi, “Diurnal and seasonal patterns of global urban dry islands,” Environmental Research Letters, vol. 17, no. 5. IOP Publishing, 2022. ista: Meili N, Paschalis A, Manoli G, Fatichi S. 2022. Diurnal and seasonal patterns of global urban dry islands. Environmental Research Letters. 17(5), 054044. mla: Meili, Naika, et al. “Diurnal and Seasonal Patterns of Global Urban Dry Islands.” Environmental Research Letters, vol. 17, no. 5, 054044, IOP Publishing, 2022, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac68f8. short: N. Meili, A. Paschalis, G. Manoli, S. Fatichi, Environmental Research Letters 17 (2022). das_tickbox: '1' date_created: 2026-07-27T12:30:24Z date_published: 2022-05-09T00:00:00Z date_updated: 2026-08-06T11:57:54Z day: '09' doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/ac68f8 extern: '1' fulldoi: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac68f8 intvolume: ' 17' issue: '5' keyword: - Urban dry island - Urban moisture island - Urban heat island - Urban climate - Urbanization effects - Humidity language: - iso: eng main_file_link: - open_access: '1' url: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac68f8 month: '05' oa: 1 oa_version: Published Version publication: Environmental Research Letters publication_identifier: eissn: - 1748-9326 publication_status: published publisher: IOP Publishing quality_controlled: '1' scopus_import: '1' status: public title: Diurnal and seasonal patterns of global urban dry islands tmp: image: /images/cc_by.png legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) short: CC BY (4.0) type: journal_article user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd volume: 17 year: '2022' ...