A model study on the effects of urbanization on the thermal and convective properties of San Juan, Puerto Rico

A mesoscale, primitive equation model is used to quantify the impact of urbanization on the boundary layer thermal properties in an around the San Juan, Puerto Rico area. Four month-long simulations are performed overall: two simulations, with two differing land use scenarios, are made for both January and July 1998 separately. The purpose for running the model at the peak of the winter (January) and summer (July) seasons is to account for any possible seasonal variability on the effects of urbanization over the city. The two different land use experiments are briefly described as follows: A control (CTL) simulation is made by using the current urban landscape of San Juan, which occupies a land area of approximately 310km2 based on recent satellite and airborne images. A rural (RUR) run -a sensitivity test- is made by removing all the urbanized grid cells in the model and exchanging them with rural characteristics, specifically with the ones abounding in the areas surrounding the city. The focus of the analysis is in the differences of the spatial distribution of surface temperatures and in the morphology of the boundary layer thermal structure over and near the San Juan area between the CTL and RUR runs for both months.