This manuscript describes the energy and water components of a new community land surface model called the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES). This is developed from the Met Office Surface Exchange Scheme (MOSES). It can be used as a stand alone land surface model driven by observed forcing data, or coupled to an atmospheric global circulation model. The JULES model has been coupled to the Met Office Unified Model (UM) and as such provides a unique opportunity for the research community to contribute their research to improve both world-leading operational weather forecasting and climate change prediction systems. In addition JULES, and its forerunner MOSES, have been the basis for a number of very high-profile papers concerning the land-surface and climate over the last decade. JULES has a modular structure aligned to physical processes, providing the basis for a flexible modelling platform

Several methods to determine the aerodynamic characteristics of a site through analysis of its surface form (morphometry) are considered in relation to cities. The measures discussed include zero-plane displacement length (z d), roughness length (z 0), depth of the roughness sublayer, and aerodynamic conductance. A sensitivity analysis is conducted on seven formulas to estimate z d and nine to estimate z 0 , covering a wide range of probable urban roughness densities. Geographic information systems developed for 11 sites in 7 North American cities are used to characterize their morphometry-the height, shape, three-dimensional area, and spatial distribution of their roughness elements (buildings and trees). Most of the sites are in residential suburbs, but one is industrial and two are near city centers. This descriptive survey of urban geometric form is used, together with the morphometric formulas, to derive the apparent aerodynamic characteristics of the sites. The resulting estimates of z d and z 0 are compared with values obtained from analysis of wind and turbulence observations. The latter are obtained from a survey of approximately 60 field studies and 14 laboratory studies of real and scale model cities. Despite the comprehensive nature of the survey, very few studies are found to be acceptable and their scatter is large, hence they do not provide a standard against which to test the morphometric algorithms. Further, the data show only weak relations between measured z d and z 0 and roughness density. The relative merits of morphometric and wind-based estimates of aerodynamic parameters are discussed. Recommendations are made concerning the choice of method to estimate z d and z 0 in urban areas and their most likely magnitude.

ABSTRACT:To bridge the gaps between traditional mesoscale modelling and microscale modelling, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, in collaboration with other agencies and research groups, has developed an integrated urban modelling system coupled to the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model as a community tool to address urban environmental issues. The core of this WRF/urban modelling system consists of the following: (1) three methods with different degrees of freedom to parameterize urban surface processes, ranging from a simple bulk parameterization to a sophisticated multi-layer urban canopy model with an indoor-outdoor exchange sub-model that directly interacts with the atmospheric boundary layer, (2) coupling to fine-scale computational fluid dynamic Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes and Large-Eddy simulation models for transport and dispersion (T&D) applications, (3) procedures to incorporate highresolution urban land use, building morphology, and anthropogenic heating data using the National Urban Database and Access Portal Tool (NUDAPT), and (4) an urbanized high-resolution land data assimilation system. This paper provides an overview of this modelling system; addresses the daunting challenges of initializing the coupled WRF/urban model and of specifying the potentially vast number of parameters required to execute the WRF/urban model; explores the model sensitivity to these urban parameters; and evaluates the ability of WRF/urban to capture urban heat islands, complex boundary-layer structures aloft, and urban plume T&D for several major metropolitan regions. Recent applications of this modelling system illustrate its promising utility, as a regional climate-modelling tool, to investigate impacts of future urbanization on regional meteorological conditions and on air quality under future climate change scenarios.

A large number of urban surface energy balance models now exist with different assumptions about the important features of the surface and exchange processes that need to be incorporated. To date, no comparison of these models has been conducted; in

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Urban land surface schemes have been developed to model the distinct features of the urban surface and the associated energy exchange processes. These models have been developed for a range of purposes and make different assumptions related to the inclusion and representation of the relevant processes. Here, the first results of Phase 2 from an international comparison project to evaluate 32 urban land surface schemes are presented. This is the first large-scale systematic evaluation of these models. In four stages, participants were given increasingly detailed information about an urban site for which urban fluxes were directly observed. At each stage, each group returned their models' calculated surface energy balance fluxes. Wide variations are evident in the performance of the models for individual fluxes. No individual model performs best for all fluxes. Providing additional information about the surface generally results in better performance. However, there is clear evidence that poor choice of parameter values can cause a large drop in performance for models that otherwise perform well. As many models do not perform well across all fluxes, there is need for caution in their application, and users should be aware of the implications for applications and decision making.

A linked set of simple equations specifically designed to calculate heat fluxes for the urban environment is presented. This local-scale urban meteorological parameterization scheme (LUMPS), which has similarities to the hybrid plume dispersion model (HPDM) scheme, requires only standard meteorological observations and basic knowledge of surface cover. LUMPS is driven by net all-wave radiation. Heat storage by the urban fabric is parameterized from net all-wave radiation and surface cover information using the objective hysteresis model (OHM). The turbulent sensible and latent heat fluxes are calculated using the available energy and are partitioned using the approach of de Bruin and Holtslag, and Holtslag and van Ulden. A new scheme to define the Holtslag and van Ulden ␣ and ␤ parameters for urban environments is presented; ␣ is empirically related to the plan fraction of the surface that is vegetated or irrigated, and a new urban value of ␤ captures the observed delay in reversal of the sign of the sensible heat flux in the evening. LUMPS is evaluated using field observations collected in seven North American cities (Mexico City, Mexico; Miami, Florida; Tucson, Arizona; Los Angeles and Sacramento, California; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; and Chicago, Illinois). Performance is shown to be better than that for the standard HPDM preprocessor scheme. Most improvement derives from the inclusion of the OHM for the storage heat flux and the revised ␤ coefficient. The scheme is expected to have broad utility in models used to calculate air pollution dispersion and the mixing depths of urban areas or to provide surface forcing for mesoscale models of urban regions.

The flux density of sensible heat to or from storage in the physical mass of the city is determined for seven cities (