Object-oriented approach to urban canyon analysis and its applications in meteorological modeling

The study applies object-oriented analysis to the extraction of urban canyons and introduces the concept of directed urban canyon which is then being experimentally applied in urban meteorological modeling. Summary of current approaches for describing urban canyon geometry is provided. Then a new theoretical approach to canyon delineation and three-level hierarchical classification is presented. The study discloses an original methodology based on triangular irregular network (TIN) designed to allow extraction of directed and undirected urban canyons from cartographic data and estimation of their geometric characteristics. Obtained geometric properties of canyons are coupled with land cover data into the database, which is then applied in micro-to-local scale temperature and wind modeling. Using URB_MOS model and the derived database we refined COSMO_RU modeling results which facilitated the decrease of the mean root square error of temperature forecast from 4.0 to 2.1 degrees. Estimation of possible wind accelerations along canyons using the derived database is also presented. Results and future perspectives are summarized in the concluding part. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.