Assessing the impact of enhanced hydrological processes on urban hydrometeorology with application to two cities in contrasting climates

While the new model has been evaluated offline against field measurements at various cities, its performance in online settings via coupling to atmospheric dynamics requires further examination.

In this study, the impact of urban hydrological processes on regional hydrometeorology of the fully integrated WRF–urban modeling system for two major cities in the United States, namely, Phoenix and Houston, is assessed. Results show that including hydrological processes improves prediction of the 2-m dewpoint temperature, an indicative measure of coupled thermal and hydrological processes. The implementation of green roof systems as an urban mitigation strategy is then tested at the annual scale.