Urban Climates - A. Christen

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Résumé :
Urban Climates is the first full synthesis of modern scientific and applied research on urban climates. The book begins with an outline of what constitutes an urban ecosystem. It develops a comprehensive terminology for the subject using scale and surface classification as key constructs. It explains the physical principles governing the creation of distinct urban climates, such as airflow around buildings, the heat island, precipitation modification and air pollution, and it then illustrates how this knowledge can be applied to moderate the undesirable consequences of urban development and help create more sustainable and resilient cities. With urban climate science now a fully-fledged field, this timely book fulfills the need to bring together the disparate parts of climate research on cities into a coherent framework. It is an ideal resource for students and researchers in fields such as climatology, urban hydrology, air quality, environmental engineering and urban design....

Biographie:
T. R. Oke is Professor Emeritus and former Head of Geography at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. His research interests focus on urban climate and the energy and water balances of cities. Dr Oke has published more than two hundred scientific publications, and is author of the widely-used text Boundary Layer Climates (1987). He founded and was the first President of the International Association for Urban Climate. He has won several medals, including the Meteorological Service of Canada's Patterson Medal in 2002, for distinguished service to meteorology, and the Royal Canadian Geographical Society's Massey Medal in 2005, for substantial contributions to understanding the microclimates of cities.

Sommaire:
Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Concepts; 3. Methods; 4. Airflow; 5. Radiation; 6. Energy balance; 7. Urban heat island; 8. Water; 9. Atmospheric moisture; 10. Clouds and precipitation; 11. Air pollution; 12. Geographical controls; 13. Cities and global climate change; 14. Climates of humans; 15. Climate-sensitive design; Epilogue; Appendix 1. History of urban climatology; Appendix 2. Site codes and data sources; Appendix 3. Glossary and acronyms; References; Subject index; Geographical Index.