Understanding and Modelling Canadian Urban Systems and their Climate Interactions for Resilience Building and Developing Climate Change Adaptation Measures

现在越来越清楚的是，必须尽快采取行动，应对气候变化的影响，方法是调整和开发社会可接受和影响小的可行战略和技术，无论是在北极等恶劣气候地区还是在人口稠密的城市地区。超高分辨率的气候变化信息是非常需要在许多影响和适应研究，特别是加拿大的城市地区，是严重缺乏。拟议的研究将解决这一重要的和新出现的需要，了解城市环境如何改变天气和气候，特别是在加拿大的情况下，在当前和未来的气候。 我的长期研究目标是推进城市气候工程可持续性系统的知识，以支持弹性和可持续的城市工程系统，包括基础设施的长期规划和管理。在这个发现补助金，我将专注于城市气候的一部分，因为这是我的长期计划的基础，这是在加拿大城市的背景下探索较少。为此，将在短期内解决四个令人兴奋的科学问题。它们是：（1）如何城市天气/气候的相互作用不同的不同位置和配置的加拿大城市地区？(2)城市降水效应在时间和空间上是如何变化的，其内在机制是什么？(3)加拿大城市气候和天气特征的预测变化是否有任何新的区域模式？(4)城市极端水文气象学将如何变化，包括城市洪水和河流洪水，在未来的气候及其对反馈和相互作用的影响？研究方法将包括数值城市气候模型开发及其在气候变化实验和敏感性实验中的应用，以了解过程和机制。 拟议的研究将提供一个世界领先的，非常高分辨率的城市气候建模系统和新的知识库，以适应城市系统不断变化的气候。这将有利于政策制定者、规划者、设计师、工程师、承包商和其他从事气候适应性基础设施工作的人，并将为加拿大为可持续未来做好准备所需的多学科和多机构联系创造机会。这项研究将是加拿大向前迈出的重要一步，有助于更好地评估和调查如何使城市系统适应不断变化的气候，由于城市系统的使用寿命和性能大大延长，这将节省大量经济开支。另一项重大贡献是与政府、工业和咨询工程公司合作，在高分辨率城市气候建模和分析领域培训一批高素质的人员，这在国内和国际上都有很大的需求。

It is now increasingly clear that actions must be taken soon to address the impacts of climate change by adapting and developing viable strategies and technologies that are socially acceptable and are low-impact, whether it is for harsh climates such as in the Arctic or densely populated urban regions. Ultra-high resolution climate change information that is greatly desired in many impact and adaptation studies, particularly for Canada's urban regions, is severely lacking. The proposed research will address this important and emerging need in understanding how urban environments modify weather and climate, particularly in the Canadian context, in current and future climates. My long-term research objective is to advance knowledge of urban-climate-engineering-sustainability systems to support long-term planning and management of resilient and sustainable urban engineering systems, including infrastructure. During this Discovery Grant, I will focus on the urban-climate part, as this forms the basis of my long-term plan, which is less explored in the context of Canadian cities. To this effect, four exciting scientific questions will be addressed in the short term. They are: (1) How urban-weather/climate interactions differ for differently located and configured Canadian urban regions? (2) How urban precipitation effect varies in time and space and what are the underlying mechanisms? (3) Are there any emerging regional patterns in projected changes to urban climate and weather characteristics for Canadian cities? (4) How will urban extreme hydrometeorology change, including urban pluvial and fluvial flooding, in future climate and their implications on feedbacks and interactions? The research methodology will include numerical urban climate model development and its application in climate change experiments and sensitivity experiments to understand processes and mechanisms. The proposed research will deliver a world leading, very high-resolution urban-climate modelling system and new knowledge base for adapting urban systems to a changing climate. This will be beneficial to policymakers, planners, designers, engineers, contractors and others working on climate-resilient infrastructure and will create the opportunity for multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional links needed to prepare Canada for a sustainable future. This research will constitute a significantly progressive step forward for Canada, enabling better assessments and investigations related to adapting urban systems to a changing climate, which will lead to considerable economic savings due to the substantially increased service life and performance of urban systems. One of the other major contributions will be the training of a group of highly qualified personnel, in collaboration with government, industry and consulting engineering firms, in the area of high-resolution urban climate modelling and analysis, which is in great demand both nationally and internationally.