Mengwen Wu

and 2 more

The urban morphology determined by urban canopy parameters (UCPs) plays an important role in simulating the interaction of urban land surface and atmosphere. The impact of urbanization on a typical summer rainfall event in Hangzhou, China, is investigated using the integrated WRF/urban modelling system. Three groups of numerical experiments are designed to assess the uncertainty in parameterization schemes, the sensitivity of urban canopy parameters (UCPs), and the individual and combined impacts of thermal and dynamical effects of urbanization, respectively. The results suggest that the microphysics scheme has the highest level of uncertainty in simulating precipitation, followed by the planetary boundary layer scheme, whereas the land surface and urban physics schemes have minimal impacts. The choices of the physical parameterization schemes for simulating precipitation are much more sensitive than those for simulating temperature, mixing ratio, and wind speed. Of the eight selected UCPs, changes in heat capacity, thermal conductivity, surface albedo, and roughness length have a greater impact on temperature, mixing ratio, and precipitation, while changes in building height, roof width, and road width affect the wind speed more. The total urban impact could lead to higher temperature, less mixing ratio, lower wind speed, and more precipitation in and around the urban area. Comparing the thermal and dynamical effects of urbanization separately, both of them contribute to an increase in temperature and precipitation and the thermal effect plays a major role. However, their impacts are opposite in changes of mixing ratio and wind speed, and each play a major role respectively.