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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Integrated Urban Services (IUS) Pilot Project Profile - Integrated AgriTech Hub Development in Flagship F Zone: Iskandar Malaysia

This brief provides a project snapshot of the Integrated Urban Services program's support to Iskandar Malaysia for development of an integrated urban agricultural hub. Integrated Urban Services is a U.S. State Department program launched in 2021 under the United States-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Smart Cities Partnership helping cities build resilience in their energy, food, and water provisioning systems.

ASEAN↗
DOE OSTI2025

Mitigating urban climate-energy feedback with citywide building-integrated photovoltaics implementation

Urban heat islands (UHIs) intensify cooling demands, whose waste heat further exacerbates UHI, creating a self-reinforcing feedback loop. Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) can break this cycle by generating electricity and altering urban climate-energy interactions, yet its net impact remains unresolved. Using a cross-scale modeling framework for 118,521 buildings in Hong Kong, we demonstrate that BIPV glazing reduces cooling demand through improved insulation and lower solar heat gain, while inducing diurnal thermal asymmetry of daytime warming (up to +1.9°C) and nighttime cooling (up to −2.5°C). This microclimate regulation indirectly contributes to a 0.6% reduction in citywide building energy use. Cumulative savings from electricity generation and reduced energy use reach 4.7% (2,060.2 GWh) and 10.1% (4,401.3 GWh) under low- and high-coverage deployment, respectively, with building-level savings of −20.1% ± 11.7% (mean ± SD) at high coverage. We establish BIPV as a configurable climate-energy regulator that enables net-zero, heat-resilient planning and quantifies deployment trade-offs in cooling-dominated cities worldwide.

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV)↗
DOE OSTI2023

Contrasting Trends and Drivers of Global Surface and Canopy Urban Heat Islands

A comprehensive comparison of the trends and drivers of global surface and canopy urban heat islands (termed / s and / c trends, respectively) is critical for better designing urban heat mitigation strategies. However, such a global comparison remains largely absent. Using spatially continuous land surface temperatures and surface air temperatures (2003–2020), here we find that the magnitude of the global mean / s trend (0.19 ± 0.006°C/decade, mean ± SE) for 5,643 cities worldwide is nearly six-times the corresponding / c trend (0.03 ± 0.002°C/decade) during the day, while the former (0.06 ± 0.004°C/decade) is double the latter (0.03 ± 0.002°C/decade) at night. Variable importance scores indicate that global daytime / s trend is slightly more controlled by surface property, while background climate plays a more dominant role in regulating global daytime / c trend. At night, both global / s and / c trends are mainly controlled by background climate.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Sap Velocity Data for Urban Trees in Chicago, Illinois (2024-2025)

This dataset contains uncorrected sap velocity measurements using the heat ratio method (HRM) collected using ICT International SFM1x sensors at five urban sites in Chicago, Illinois, as part of the DOE CROCUS project. The data includes continuous monitoring of sap velocity from various tree species, including Maples (Acer spp.): Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum), and Red Maple (Acer rubrum); Oaks (Quercus spp.): Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor); American Elm (Ulmus americana); Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos); Cottonwood (Populus deltoides); and Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) across Chicago State University (CSU), Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), Northwestern University (NU), University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), and West Woodlawn "Blacks in Green" (BIG). These include both street trees and those in urban park locations. Measurements were collected at 15-20 minute intervals, depending on the sensor, and transmitted via Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN) protocols. The wireless data was collected by Sage Network (https://sagecontinuum.org/) nodes. The dataset includes sensor ID, Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates, tree species (common and scientific names), tree identification number, diameter at breast height (DBH in cm), uncorrected sap velocity measurements (cm/hr) from both inner and outer probes, and Sage Node identifiers so the data can be mapped to related variables such as air quality and wind speed that were collected on the Sage nodes. All timestamps are in local Chicago time (CDT/CST). Quality control flags are provided using a 3-bit binary system indicating physical range violations (< -10 or > 60 cm/hr), step spikes (absolute difference > 36 cm/hr), and stuck sensor conditions (> 10 consecutive identical values). These are raw data, not corrected for wood anatomy or species-specific characteristics. Data is provided in comma separated (CSV) format. This dataset is part of a larger collection of CROCUS environmental monitoring data, including linked datasets from Air Quality Transmitter (AQT) sensors, Weather Transmitter (WXT) sensors, and Multi-Function Research LoRaWAN (MFR) Nodes. DOIs for the supporting data are provided as part of this data package.

Chicago↗
DOE OSTI2025

High fidelity simulations of contaminant dispersion in an urban environment with comparison to magnetic resonance imaging measurements

The dispersion of a contaminant in an urban environment has the potential to impact a large population of people. In this work, a complex urban canopy flow based on the Oklahoma City downtown business district circa 2003 is studied using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and high-fidelity Large Eddy Simulations (LES). MRI is a novel experimental technique that can provide high-resolution measurements in four dimensions (three spatial and temporal) for lab scale models. The experiments and simulations use the same geometry and boundary conditions providing a one-to-one comparison of the two methods. Results are presented on the time-averaged velocity and concentration fields, the temporal dynamics of the concentration plumes for a transient release, and a novel Cloud Identification Algorithm that can separate plumes produced by periodic contaminant releases used for ensemble averaging over many releases. The MRI and LES datasets both include millions of measurement voxels and the comparisons highlight the complex 3D nature of the flow including strong vertical velocities in spanwise street canyons and flow acceleration in streamwise street canyons. The concentration fields are qualitatively similar albeit the LES shows larger dispersion. A quantitative analysis with performance measures compares the datasets pointwise and demonstrates that the two 3D datasets are similar with respect to many measures including a fractional bias of 0.02 (ideal=0.0), correlation coefficient of 0.87 (ideal = 1.0), and the fraction points within a factor of 2 is 0.98 (ideal = 1.0). Plume analysis compares the arrival and residence time of contaminant and is found to vary significantly with location within the urban environment with arrival times between 0 and 1.25 and differences within the contaminant cloud less than 10% at most locations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Framework for optimization of long-term, multi-period investment planning of integrated urban energy systems

In order to achieve stringent greenhouse gas emission reductions, a transition of our entire energy system from fossil to renewable resources needs to be designed. Such an energy transition brings two main challenges: most renewables generate variable electric energy, yet most demand is currently not electric (carrier mismatch) and does not always manifest at the same time as supply (temporal mismatch). Integrating multiple energy infrastructures can address both challenges by using the synergy between different energy carriers; building on existing infrastructure, while allowing a robust and flexible integration of the new. This paper proposes an optimization framework for long-term, multi-period investment planning of urban energy systems in an integrated manner. We formulate it as a mixed-integer linear program, combining a capacitated facility location with a multi-dimensional, capacitated network design problem. It includes generation and network expansion planning as well as interconnections between networks and storage infrastructure for each energy system. It can incorporate pathway effects like techno-economic developments, policy measures, and weather variations. The intended use is to support urban decision makers with long-term investment planning, though it can be tailored to fit other geographical or temporal scales. We demonstrate the model using two cases based on an average city in The Netherlands, which wants to reduce its CO 2 -emissions with 95% by 2050. In the first case, we include explicit carbon-emission constraints to study the effects of the carrier mismatch. In the second case, we implement interannual weather variations to analyze the temporal mismatch. The results give valuable insights into the energy transition design strategy for urban decision makers. They also show the future potential, as well as the computational challenges of the optimization framework.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Long-term trends in urban NO 2 concentrations and associated paediatric asthma incidence: estimates from global datasets

Combustion-related nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) air pollution is associated with paediatric asthma incidence. We aimed to estimate global surface NO 2 concentrations consistent with the Global Burden of Disease study for 1990-2019 at a 1 km resolution, and the concentrations and attributable paediatric asthma incidence trends in 13 189 cities from 2000 to 2019. We scaled an existing annual average NO 2 concentration dataset for 2010-12 from a land use regression model (based on 5220 NO 2 monitors in 58 countries and land use variables) to other years using NO 2 column densities from satellite and reanalysis datasets. We applied these concentrations in an epidemiologically derived concentration-response function with population and baseline asthma rates to estimate NO 2 -attributable paediatric asthma incidence. We estimated that 1.85 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 0.93-2.80 million) new paediatric asthma cases were attributable to NO 2 globally in 2019, two thirds of which occurred in urban areas (1.22 million cases; 95% UI 0.60-1.8 million). The proportion of paediatric asthma incidence that is attributable to NO 2 in urban areas declined from 19.8% (1.22 million attributable cases of 6.14 million total cases) in 2000 to 16.0% (1.24 million attributable cases of 7.73 million total cases) in 2019. Urban attributable fractions dropped in high-income countries (-41%), Latin America and the Caribbean (-16%), central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia (-13%), and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (-6%), and rose in south Asia (+23%), sub-Saharan Africa (+11%), and north Africa and the Middle East (+5%). The contribution of NO 2 concentrations, paediatric population size, and asthma incidence rates to the change in NO 2 -attributable paediatric asthma incidence differed regionally. Despite improvements in some regions, combustion-related NO 2 pollution continues to be an important contributor to paediatric asthma incidence globally, particularly in cities. Mitigating air pollution should be a crucial element of public health strategies for children.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Iron Speciation in PM 2.5 From Urban, Agriculture, and Mixed Environments in Colorado, USA

Atmospheric iron solubility varies depending on whether the particles are collected in rural or urban areas, with urban areas showing increased iron solubility. In this study, we investigate if the iron species present in different environments affects its ultimate solubility. Field data are presented from the Platte River Air Pollution and Photochemistry Experiment (PRAPPE), aimed at understanding the interactions between organic carbon and trace elements in atmospheric particulate matter (PM). 24-hr PM 2.5 samples were collected during the summer and winter (2016–2017), at three different sites on the Eastern Colorado plains: an urban, agricultural, and a mixed site. Downtown Denver had an average total and water-soluble iron air concentration of 181.2 and 7.7 ng m -3 , respectively. Platteville, the mixed site, had an average of total iron of 76.1 ng m -3 , with average water-soluble iron concentration of 9.1 ng m -3 . Jackson State Park (rural/agricultural) had the lowest total iron average of 31.5 ng m -3 and the lowest water-soluble iron average, 1.3 ng m -3 . The iron oxidation state and chemical speciation of 97 samples across all sites and seasons was probed by X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. The most common iron phases observed were almandine (Fe 3 Al 2 Si 3 O 12 ) (Denver 21%, Platteville 16%, Jackson 24%), magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) (Denver 9%, Platteville 4%, Jackson 5%) and Fe (III)dextran (Denver 5%, Platteville 13%, Jackson 5%), a surrogate for Fe-organic complexes. Additionally, native iron [Fe(0)] was found in significant amounts at all sites. No correlation was observed between iron solubility and iron oxidation state or chemical speciation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Urban Scaling as Validation for Predictions of Imperviousness From Population

Abstract Strategies for creating quantitative projections for human systems, especially impervious surfaces, are necessary to consider the human drivers of climate and ecosystem change. There are models that generate predictions of how impervious surfaces may change in response to different potential futures, but few tools exist for validating those predictions. We seek to fill that gap. We demonstrate a statistically robust sublinear scaling relationship between population and urban imperviousness across a 15 year history. We show that Integrated Climate and Land‐Use Scenarios (ICLUS) urbanization projections are also consistent with theory. These results demonstrate a theory that can be used to validate other models' predictions of urban growth and land cover change, analogous to the ways in which allometric scaling laws in biology have been used to validate process‐based models of ecosystem composition under different climate scenarios.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Urban Effect on Precipitation and Deep Convective Systems Over Dallas‐Fort Worth

A range of multi-year observational data sets are used to characterize the hydroclimate of the Dallas Fort-Worth area (DFW) and to investigate the impact of urban land cover on daily accumulated precipitation, RADAR composite reflectivity (cREF), and cloud top height (CTH) during the warm season. Analyses of observational data indicate rainfall rates (RR) in a 45° annulus sector 50–100 km downwind of the city are enhanced relative to an upwind area of comparable size. Enhancement of mean precipitation intensity in this annulus sector is not observed on days with spatially averaged RR > 6 mm/day. Under some flow directions, the probability of cREF >30 dBZ, occurrence of hail, and the probability of CTH >10,000 geopotential meters are also enhanced up to 200 km downwind of DFW. Two deep convection events that passed over DFW are simulated with the Weather Research and Forecasting model using a range of microphysical schemes and evaluated using RADAR observations. Model configurations that exhibit the highest fidelity in these control simulations are used in a series of perturbation experiments where the areal extent of the city is varied between zero (replacement with grassland) and eight times its current size. These perturbation experiments indicate a non-linear response of Mesoscale Convective System properties to the urban areal extent and a very strong sensitivity to the microphysical scheme used. The impact on precipitation from the urban area, even when it is expanded to eight-times the current extent, is much less marked for deep convection with stronger synoptic forcing.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

Prototype-Wise Sensitivity Analysis of Urban Building Energy Simulation Surrogate Modeling Accuracy

Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) is an important reference for urban energy-related policymaking. Because of the significant impact of urban microclimates on the energy simulation, UBEM requires simulations of many microclimate-prototype pairs. Surrogate modeling is commonly used to reduce the cost of simulation computations. In UBEM surrogate modeling, it is important to determine the percentage of microclimates related to a prototype used for generating surrogate model training data. This study analyzes the prototype-wise variations and sensitivities of surrogate model estimation accuracy to the microclimate sampling ratios. The results of the study can help determine the number of simulations used for generating surrogate modeling data, avoid redundant simulations, and reduce the computational cost for UBEM surrogate modeling and its time.

Pan, Xiyu↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hands-On Computer Science: The Array of Things Experimental Urban Instrument

Chicago's Array of Things (AoT) project is aptly described as a technology experiment or a "smart city" prototype. The concept of such an extensible "instrument" arose within a larger translational research vision applying computer science and engineering research for the multidimensional benefit of people and communities in cities. The AoT project hypothesized that wireless intelligent sensor networks could enable both quantitative social science and urban monitoring while also stimulating youth interest in science and technology. Successful deployment of such sensor networks could provide open data from urban measurements not only in support of diverse research questions-in environmental dynamics, urban architecture, engineering, and social sciences-but also informing community groups and city planners. Further, the AoT project and its successor SAGE project are a computer science and engineering experiment, but its success is inextricably tied to community engagement and experiential education. Simply put, community acceptance is a prerequisite to installing and testing the instrument.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Succession of Cloud, Precipitation, Aerosol and Air Quality Field Experiments in the Coastal Urban Environment

The interactions and feedbacks among clouds, aerosols, pollutants, and the thermodynamic and kinematic environment remains an area of active research with important implications for our understanding of climate, weather and air quality. These linkages are further complicated in coastal and urban environments where local circulations and anthropogenic influences impact each of these components and their interactions. Within this context, fundamental questions regarding the lifecycle of convective clouds, aerosols and pollutants have brought together a diverse, integrated, and interagency collaboration of scientists to collect and analyze measurements, in the Houston, Texas, area, from the summer of 2021 through the summer of 2022, with subsequent modeling studies to address these important research objectives. Herein, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Facility and Atmospheric System Research (ASR) Program, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Physical and Dynamic Meteorology Program, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Tropospheric Composition Research and Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Programs and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) are collaborating on a joint set of field campaigns to study the interactions of cloud, aerosol, and pollutants within the coastal, urban environment. In the Houston area, onshore flow from the Gulf of Mexico and the associated sea breeze circulation generates numerous isolated convective cells, particularly in the summer months, that interact with a variety of urban and industrial emissions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

CROCUS 3-D wind data from Argonne Deployable Mast during Urban Canyon IOP July 2024

During the Community Research on Climate and Urban Science (CROCUS) Urban Integrated Field Laboratory (UIFL) project, led by Argonne National Laboratory, this dataset was collected by METEK uSonic-3 Class A MP sonic anemometer at 10 meter height of the Argonne Deployable Mast (ADM) from July 26 to July 28, 2024, .As part of the CROCUS 2024 Urban Canyon Intensive Observation Period (IOP), 3-D sonic anemometer on the ADM was set up to provide continuous measurements of wind and temperature in Chicago during July 2024. These measurements cover winds in X-, Y- and Z- direction and sonic temperature at 30-Hz resolution. The data are formatted as NetCDF (.nc) files, making them easily accessible using common software such as MATLAB, R, and Python.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

CROCUS Urban Canyons - Space Science and Engineering Center (SPARC) Doppler lidar data

This is the netCDF format output from the Halo Photonics Streamline XR Doppler lidar that was deployed next to the Space Science and Engineering Center (SPARC) trailer at the University of Illnois-Chicago greenhouse parking lot during CROCUS Urban Canyons. The purpose of collecting this dataset is to provide vertical and horizontal wind profiles for studying the characteristics of turbulence over the urban canyon of Chicago. This data contains the radial velocity, intensity, and backscatter from the vertical profile, range height indicator, and sector scans that were performed over both Intensive Operating Period 1 and 2 of CROCUS Urban Canyons. There are four different types of files: * The Range Height Indicator (RHI) files contain scans that are along a constant azimuth, spanning the entire hemisphere of elevation values above the surface. * The Velocity Azimuth Display (VAD) files contain the raw radial velocity data from the 6-beam, 60 degree scans. * The User1 files contain stacked Plan Position Indicator scans over a 45 degree quadrant over downtown Chicago. * The Stare files contain vertically pointing scans. These are standard netCDF files that can be opened using xarray. The VAD scans can be processed from their raw radial velocities to horizontal wind speeds with the Atmospheric data Community Toolkit (https://arm-doe.github.io/ACT/).

EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > ATMOSPHERIC WINDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Monitoring urban hydrological environment monitoring using fiber optical sensing

The goal of this research is to develop an innovative approach to monitoring urban dynamic hydrological environment using optical-fiber-based distributed acoustic sensing (DAS). We propose to employ surface-wave dispersion inversion and coda-wave interferometry inversion based on natural and anthropogenic seismic ambient noises acquired using a DAS array to accurately invert for time-lapse changes of groundwater in urban areas. Through this work, we aim to provide the first cost-effective, city-scale, high-resolution approach to monitoring urban groundwater changes that is otherwise difficult or expensive to achieve using conventional techniques. This work will create LANL’s DAS-based near-surface and groundwater monitoring capability, which can also be leveraged in solving relevant applied energy and national security problems.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2023

Initial Systems-Level Assessment of a Distributed Direct Air Capture System Concept at the Urban-scale (UrbanDAC)

Direct Air Capture (DAC) systems offer a promising solution for mitigating global carbon emissions by directly removing ambient carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the atmosphere. While future DAC facilities are typically envisioned as being large and centralized, small-scale systems present an alternative approach with advantages such as adaptability and lower uptake costs. By harnessing waste heat from the built environment, such small-scale systems become distributed DAC at the urban scale (UrbanDAC) that benefit from existing urban infrastructure, while presenting challenges such as identifying eligible buildings and sustainable transportation and storage of captured CO 2 . Collaborating with engineering experts and developers of a DAC unit that can be co-located with cooling towers of existing commercial buildings, this study explores the systems-level implications of UrbanDAC using a geographically explicit multi-decision criteria analysis (MCDA) framework. By considering various infrastructure and environmental factors, network analysis and geospatial techniques are applied to identify optimal building candidates for distributed DAC units within Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, as a representative mid-size city. The selected outputs of the MCDA are used to explore a scenario that assumes a CO 2 collection and transport route for 20 high-ranking candidate buildings; total carbon emissions, EV energy consumption, and net carbon dioxide removal (CDR) are then calculated. Results suggest that the spatial variation of optimal candidates between thriving commercial areas is an important planning consideration. Examining the feasibility of UrbanDAC at an urban planning level provides valuable insights into the barriers and enabling conditions for CDR in cities, where the vast majority of CO 2 emissions are produced, and supports decision-making processes for the implementation of decarbonization initiatives. Through this initial assessment, this research acts as a pilot study for an emerging technology that highlights the importance of distributed DAC technologies in addressing climate change and emphasizes the need for further research and exploration in this domain.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Urban Heat Island Effects to Air and Water Quality in the Augusta Metropolitan Area

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) is the longest-known anthropogenic impact on weather and climate. Urbanization in the 21st century has led to an amplification in UHI effects, which poses environmental concerns as well as public health risks. While the UHI is often observed in larger metropolitan areas, it is less studied in smaller or moderately-sized cities that are still developing. The population of the Augusta Metropolitan Area (AMA) has increased over 10% in the last decade. Because of increasing urban sprawl in conjunction with overall increased anthropogenic warming, it is critical to define Augusta’s UHI impact and model how it could change in the future.

Wermter, Joseph E.↗