UrbanNet: The NOAA Air Resources Laboratory’s Urban Observing Program

The NOAA/ARL UrbanNet will focus on better characterizing the urban environment in a changing climate. This urban observational network is based on the success of ARL’s DCNet, established in the Washington DC metro area in response to the 9/11 terror attacks to provide high resolution meteorological measurements to improve the accuracy of weather forecast models and hence urban transport and dispersion models for emergency response. Since the beginning of 2023, DCNet has been undergoing revitalization to better characterize the changed urban landscape in the DC metro area and renamed as UrbanNet to incorporate its changing mission and to allow for expansion to other urban areas. In addition to the measurement of air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, turbulence and heat flux, the refurbished UrbanNet will incorporate upgraded measurement systems including solar radiation, infrared radiation, surface temperature, urban heat stress, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, remote measurements of winds and boundary layer height, greenhouse gases (GHGs) and aerosols over multiple locations across the DC area.

Therefore, the upgraded network will not only provide measurements to assess extreme weather events in an urban environment (e.g., urban heat stress, extreme precipitation) but will also improve our understanding of urban climate and boundary layer processes; support urban dispersion and transport modeling; quantify GHG emissions and provide synergy for ARL’s Greenhouse Gas Monitoring and Modeling effort. The presentation will describe the broad science objectives, field observations, and preliminary results from the currently established sites.