• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.665-681
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• 2012

This study investigates the influence of anthropogenic heat (AH) release on urban boundary layer in the Gyeong-In region using the Weather Research and Forecasting model that includes the Seoul National University Urban Canopy Model (SNUUCM). The gridded AH emission data, which is estimated in the Gyeong-In region in 2002 based on the energy consumption statistics data, are implemented into the SNUUCM. The simulated air temperature and wind speed show good agreement with the observed ones particularly in terms of phase for 11 urban sites, but they are overestimated in the nighttime. It is found that the influence of AH release on air temperature is larger in the nighttime than in the daytime even though the AH intensity is larger in the daytime. As compared with the results with AH release and without AH release, the contribution of AH release on urban heat island intensity is large in the nighttime and in the morning. As the AH intensity increases, the water vapor mixing ratio decreases in the daytime but increases in the nighttime. The atmospheric boundary layer height increases greatly in the morning (0800 - 1100 LST) and midnight (0000 LST). These results indicate that AH release can have an impact on weather and air quality in urban areas.