---
DOAJ_listed: '1'
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
_id: '22520'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: Increasing urbanization is likely to intensify the urban heat island effect,
decrease outdoor thermal comfort, and enhance runoff generation in cities. Urban
green spaces are often proposed as a mitigation strategy to counteract these adverse
effects, and many recent developments of urban climate models focus on the inclusion
of green and blue infrastructure to inform urban planning. However, many models
still lack the ability to account for different plant types and oversimplify the
interactions between the built environment, vegetation, and hydrology. In this
study, we present an urban ecohydrological model, Urban Tethys-Chloris (UT&C),
that combines principles of ecosystem modelling with an urban canopy scheme accounting
for the biophysical and ecophysiological characteristics of roof vegetation, ground
vegetation, and urban trees. UT&C is a fully coupled energy and water balance
model that calculates 2 m air temperature, 2 m humidity, and surface temperatures
based on the infinite urban canyon approach. It further calculates the urban hydrological
fluxes in the absence of snow, including transpiration as a function of plant
photosynthesis. Hence, UT&C accounts for the effects of different plant types
on the urban climate and hydrology, as well as the effects of the urban environment
on plant well-being and performance. UT&C performs well when compared against
energy flux measurements of eddy-covariance towers located in three cities in
different climates (Singapore, Melbourne, and Phoenix). A sensitivity analysis,
performed as a proof of concept for the city of Singapore, shows a mean decrease
in 2 m air temperature of 1.1 ∘C for fully grass-covered ground, 0.2 ∘C for high
values of leaf area index (LAI), and 0.3 ∘C for high values of Vc,max (an expression
of photosynthetic capacity). These reductions in temperature were combined with
a simultaneous increase in relative humidity by 6.5 %, 2.1 %, and 1.6 %, for fully
grass-covered ground, high values of LAI, and high values of Vc,max, respectively.
Furthermore, the increase of pervious vegetated ground is able to significantly
reduce surface runoff.
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Naika
full_name: Meili, Naika
last_name: Meili
- first_name: Gabriele
full_name: Manoli, Gabriele
last_name: Manoli
- first_name: Paolo
full_name: Burlando, Paolo
last_name: Burlando
- first_name: Elie
full_name: Bou-Zeid, Elie
last_name: Bou-Zeid
- first_name: Winston T. L.
full_name: Chow, Winston T. L.
last_name: Chow
- first_name: Andrew M.
full_name: Coutts, Andrew M.
last_name: Coutts
- first_name: Edoardo
full_name: Daly, Edoardo
last_name: Daly
- first_name: Kerry A.
full_name: Nice, Kerry A.
last_name: Nice
- first_name: Matthias
full_name: Roth, Matthias
last_name: Roth
- first_name: Nigel J.
full_name: Tapper, Nigel J.
last_name: Tapper
- first_name: Erik
full_name: Velasco, Erik
last_name: Velasco
- first_name: Enrique R.
full_name: Vivoni, Enrique R.
last_name: Vivoni
- first_name: Simone
full_name: Fatichi, Simone
id: cf8e546b-a9b0-11f0-a43b-aa89ed1b56d6
last_name: Fatichi
citation:
ama: Meili N, Manoli G, Burlando P, et al. An urban ecohydrological model to quantify
the effect of vegetation on urban climate and hydrology (UT&C v1.0). Geoscientific
Model Development. 2020;13(1):335-362. doi:10.5194/gmd-13-335-2020
apa: Meili, N., Manoli, G., Burlando, P., Bou-Zeid, E., Chow, W. T. L., Coutts,
A. M., … Fatichi, S. (2020). An urban ecohydrological model to quantify the effect
of vegetation on urban climate and hydrology (UT&C v1.0). Geoscientific
Model Development. Copernicus Publications. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-335-2020
chicago: Meili, Naika, Gabriele Manoli, Paolo Burlando, Elie Bou-Zeid, Winston T.
L. Chow, Andrew M. Coutts, Edoardo Daly, et al. “An Urban Ecohydrological Model
to Quantify the Effect of Vegetation on Urban Climate and Hydrology (UT&C
v1.0).” Geoscientific Model Development. Copernicus Publications, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-335-2020.
ieee: N. Meili et al., “An urban ecohydrological model to quantify the effect
of vegetation on urban climate and hydrology (UT&C v1.0),” Geoscientific
Model Development, vol. 13, no. 1. Copernicus Publications, pp. 335–362, 2020.
ista: Meili N, Manoli G, Burlando P, Bou-Zeid E, Chow WTL, Coutts AM, Daly E, Nice
KA, Roth M, Tapper NJ, Velasco E, Vivoni ER, Fatichi S. 2020. An urban ecohydrological
model to quantify the effect of vegetation on urban climate and hydrology (UT&C
v1.0). Geoscientific Model Development. 13(1), 335–362.
mla: Meili, Naika, et al. “An Urban Ecohydrological Model to Quantify the Effect
of Vegetation on Urban Climate and Hydrology (UT&C v1.0).” Geoscientific
Model Development, vol. 13, no. 1, Copernicus Publications, 2020, pp. 335–62,
doi:10.5194/gmd-13-335-2020.
short: N. Meili, G. Manoli, P. Burlando, E. Bou-Zeid, W.T.L. Chow, A.M. Coutts,
E. Daly, K.A. Nice, M. Roth, N.J. Tapper, E. Velasco, E.R. Vivoni, S. Fatichi,
Geoscientific Model Development 13 (2020) 335–362.
das_tickbox: '1'
date_created: 2026-07-27T12:30:24Z
date_published: 2020-01-31T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-08-07T09:11:10Z
day: '31'
doi: 10.5194/gmd-13-335-2020
extern: '1'
intvolume: ' 13'
issue: '1'
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
url: https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-335-2020
month: '01'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: 335-362
publication: Geoscientific Model Development
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 1991-9603
issn:
- 1991-959X
publication_status: published
publisher: Copernicus Publications
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: An urban ecohydrological model to quantify the effect of vegetation on urban
climate and hydrology (UT&C v1.0)
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: 13
year: '2020'
...