The implications for building ventilation of the spatial and temporal variability of air temperature in the urban canopy layer

Abstract

Effective planning of building ventilation, whether passive or mechanically assisted, requires detailed information about external air temperature. This paper presents experimental evidence from Adelaide, Australia, that demonstrates substantial intra-urban variations in air temperature, whose magnitude changes across the urban space and as a function of time. A canyon air temperature computer model (CAT) capable of predicting air temperature in an urban street canyon for extended periods in a variety of weather conditions, on the basis of meteorological time series recorded at an open site exposed to the same meso-scale conditions, is then applied to illustrate the changes in the Climatic Cooling Potential (CCP) of selected urban locations when the effect of site-specific microclimate is taken into account