Research Priorities in Observing and Modeling Urban Weather and Climate

A large number of researchers from many disciplines and nations attended the Urban Weather and Climate Workshop to address the future risks and define mitigation strategies in an effort to understand the weather and regional climate affected by cities. The presentations by the workshop's participants covered a wide range of topics ranging from the interaction between the urban climate and energy consumption in climate-change environments to the impact of urban areas on storms and local circulations and from the impact of urbanization on the hydrological cycle to air quality and weather prediction. Two panel discussions focused on the major issues linked to model development and evaluation and observing systems. The participants were informed that the The standard approach to incorporating vegetation effects in urban areas in most urban canopy models (UCMs) involved treating vegetation separately from the urban surfaces using a 'tile' scheme.