Exploratory Environmental Science Research

 

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Volume 1 - Issue 1 - 2020

Original Research Article

Assessing Urban Effects On The Climate Of Metropolitan Regions Of Brazil - Preliminary Results Of The MCITY BRAZIL Project

Amauri Pereira de Oliveira^1*, Edson Pereira Marques Filho^2,3, Maurício Jonas Ferreira¹,
Georgia Codato¹, Flávia Noronha Dutra Ribeiro¹, Eduardo Landulfo⁴, Gregori de Arruda Moreira^4,5, Maxsuel Marcos Rocha Pereira⁶, Primoz Mlakar⁷,
Marija Zlata Boznar⁷, Eleonora Sad de Assis⁸, Daniele Gomes Ferreira⁸, Mariana Cassol^2,3,
João Francisco Escobedo⁹, Alexandre Dal Pai⁹, José Ricardo de Almeida França², Demilson Assis Quintão¹⁰,
Flávia Dias Rabelo¹, Luana Antunes Tolentino Souza¹, Wallace Pereira da Silva², Leonardo Moreno Domingues¹,
Maciel Piñero Sánchez¹, Lucas Cardoso da Silveira¹, Janet Valdes Vito¹

¹University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, SP, (BRAZIL)
²Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, (BRAZIL)
³Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, (BRAZIL)
⁴Institute of Nuclear Energy Research (IPEN), São Paulo, SP, (BRAZIL)
⁵Federal Institute of São Paulo (IFSP), Registro, SP, (BRAZIL)
⁶Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES), Vitória, ES, (BRAZIL)
⁷MEIS d.o.o. (MEIS), Ljubljana, (SLOVENIA)
⁸Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG, (BRAZIL)
⁹State of São Paulo University (UNESP), Botucatu, SP, (BRAZIL)
¹⁰State of São Paulo University (UNESP), Bauru, SP, (BRAZIL)

PAGE NO: 38-77

ABSTRACT - DOI : https://dx.doi.org/10.47204/EESR.1.1.2020.038-077

This work describes the MCITY BRAZIL Project. The project designed to assess urban effects on the climate of the major Brazilian cities and to systematize this procedure of investigation so it can be extended to other urban areas in Brazil. In this article, the implementations in the Metropolitan Regions of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are presented. A preliminary description of the surface radiation balance, surface energy balance, surface wind pattern, urban heat island and urban boundary layers are discussed by considering the surface observations carried out in the MCITY BRAZIL project from 2013 to 2014 in four micrometeorological towers in these two metropolitan regions. Despite nearly identical inputs of solar radiation at the top of the atmosphere, differences in the atmospheric attenuation and emissions, and in the surface albedo and emissions resulted in significant differences in surface radiation balance components between metropolitan regions and within each urban area. The diurnal evolution of the surface energy balance, friction velocity and carbon dioxide vertical fluxes observed during the field campaigns indicate important seasonal and spatial variations associated with the land use in both urban regions. Surface wind analyses for both metropolitan regions display similar seasonal and diurnal patterns as a result of the combination of large-scale systems and sea-breeze circulation present in both regions and modulated by topography. The urban heat island in São Paulo is greater than that in Rio de Janeiro as a result of different combinations of maritime and solar heating effects. The diurnal evolution of the urban boundary layer height and surface inversion layer top estimated simultaneously by rawinsonde and Lidar displays good agreement in both metropolitan regions. In São Paulo, daytime urban boundary layer height responds to the sensible heat flux at the surface. In Rio de Janeiro, despite of equivalent sensible heat flux, urban boundary layer is smaller due to the internal maritime boundary layer effects.