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An adaptive synchronous extraction (ASE) method for estimating intensity and footprint of surface urban heat islands: A case study of 254 North American cities

The urban heat island (UHI) effect has attracted great attention due to its potential impacts on rapidly growing urban areas. Using remotely sensed estimates of land surface temperature (LST), a large number of studies have focused on the surface UHI (SUHI) effect, which can be characterized by its two fundamental properties: intensity and footprint. The SUHI intensity reflects the LST difference between the urban area and the background reference area (BRA), and the SUHI footprint indicates the spatial extent influenced by the heat island. Currently, numerous methods have been developed to estimate the SUHI intensity and footprint, but are still greatly challenged by three main issues. Namely, the discrepancy in BRA selection criterion brings great uncertainty to the estimated SUHI intensity, the estimation of SUHI footprint is largely constrained by the predefined models, and the quantification of SUHI effect is potentially influenced by several confounding factors. Here, we proposed an adaptive synchronous extraction (ASE) method, which is capable of adaptively selecting the most optimal BRA while removing the influence of confounding factors, and achieving synchronous estimation of SUHI intensity and footprint. We applied the ASE method to 254 North American cities and conducted an in-depth comparative analysis to discuss its applicability and benefits. The main results include: (1) The ASE method avoids the limitations of existing methods in BRA selection and model presetting, and shows resilience to parameter variations. This makes the ASE method highly applicable to quantify the SUHI intensity and footprint in cities with various thermal characteristics. (2) The ASE method can better highlight the spatial, seasonal and day-night contrasts in the estimated SUHI intensity. This superiority is particularly evident when comparing it to methods based on the equal-area buffer or the simplified urban-extent algorithm. (3) Confounding factors pose non-negligible impacts on the quantification of the SUHI effect. Typically, ignoring the influence of topographic relief or missing LST data can lead to an overall overestimation of the SUHI intensity, while not removing surrounding urban areas will cause some underestimation of the SUHI intensity. In conclusion, overall, the proposed ASE method provides a new generalizable tool for quantifying the SUHI effect, which has great potentials for future studies and urban climate assessments.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Photochemical reactions on aerosols at West Antarctica: A molecular case-study of nitrate formation among sea salt aerosols

Environmental implications of climate change are complex and exhibit regional variations both within and between the polar regions. The increase of solar UV radiation flux over Antarctica due to stratospheric ozone depletion creates the optimal conditions for photochemical reactions on the snow. Modeling, laboratory, and indirect field studies suggest that snowpack process release gases to the atmosphere that can react on sea salt particles in remote regions such as Antarctica, modifying aerosol composition and physical properties of aerosols. Here, we present evidence of photochemical processing in West Antarctica aerosols using microscopic and chemical speciation of individual atmospheric particles. Individual aerosol particles collected at the Brazilian module Criosfera 1 were analyzed by scanning transmission X-ray microscopy with near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (STXM/NEXAFS) combined with computer controlled scanning electron microscopy (CCSEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) microanalysis. The displacement of chlorine relative to sodium was observed over most of the sea salt particles. Particles with a chemical composition consistent with NaCl-NO3 contributed up to 30% of atmospheric particles investigated. Overall, this study provides evidence that the snowpack and particulate nitrate photolysis should be considered in dynamic partition equilibrium in the troposphere. Finally, these findings may assist in reducing modeling uncertainties and present new insights into the aerosol chemical composition in the polar environment.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Biomass to bio-energy supply chain: Economic viability, case studies, challenges and policy implications in India

Biomass supply chain (BSC) management is an integral part of renewable energy projects, which include biomass-harvesting, collection, storage, processing and transportation to the bio-energy plants. The sustainability concept identifies economy, environment, and society as the three principal pillars of bioenergy. With an effective BSC implemented, all three dimensions of sustainability can be attained. Although, there’s been extensive research on the environmental sustainability of BSC, the economic aspects are under-represented in existing literature. So, an elaborate analysis on the economic viability of BSCs developed worldwide and those in India is critical, and needs to be studied. This review conducts a detailed accounting of the economic aspects of a BSC which includes the existing challenges in designing an environmental-cum-economically efficient BSC and strategies to address the issues. The Indian context has been studied on the BSC models, highlighting their shortcomings, while encapsulating the essential insights from global BSC models for a cost-effective BSC-to-bioenergy in India. Here, this review also emphasizes the policies supporting the BSC in India and forecasts the future biomass demand and supply. This review will provide stakeholders with critical insights on BSC and related challenges and assist them to investigate and devise strategies for successful implementation of BSCs in India.

Biomass↗

Data-driven method for electric vehicle charging demand analysis: Case study in Virginia

Electric vehicle (EV) adoption in the U.S. will be accelerated by the historic $7.5 billion public investments in EV charging infrastructure. Careful analysis of EV charging demands plays a vital role in understanding the energy requirements, power grid impact, and smart charging management opportunities of EVs. To this end, this paper develops a data-driven trip-chaining-based modeling framework including five steps: Trip data acquisition and preprocessing, EV adoption modeling, travel itinerary synthesis, EV charging demand simulation and EV load profile generation. The developed analysis framework was demonstrated using real-world data for one region in Virginia, U.S. The results show that the proposed modeling framework can work effectively. For the study region in 2040, the predicted number of plug-in EVs is 470,114, resulting in a weekly charging demand of 38,078,127 kWh (55% home, 9% work, and 36% public) in September and 45,920,358 kWh (61% home, 9% work, and 30% public) in February.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Urban microclimate and its impact on building performance: A case study of San Francisco

Urban microclimate exerts an increasing influence on urban buildings, energy, and sustainability. This study uses 10-year measured hourly weather data at 27 sites in San Francisco, California, to (1) analyze and visualize the urban microclimate patterns and urban heat island effect; (2) simulate annual energy use and peak electricity demand of typical large office buildings and large hotels to investigate the influence of urban microclimate on building performance; (3) simulate indoor air temperature of a single-family house without air-conditioning during the record three-day heatwave of 2017, to quantify the divergence of climate resilience due to urban microclimate effect. Results show significant microclimate effects in San Francisco with up to 11 °C outdoor air temperature difference between the coastal and downtown areas on September 1, 2017, during the record three-day heatwave. The simulated energy results of the prototype large office and large hotel buildings using the 2017 weather data show over 100% difference in annual heating energy use and 65% difference in annual cooling energy use across different stations; as well as up to 30% difference in peak cooling electricity demand. The impacts on annual site or source energy use are minimal (less than 5%) as cooling and heating in a mild climate are a relatively small portion of overall building energy use in San Francisco. Results also show the microclimate effects influence indoor air temperature of unconditioned homes by up to 5 °C. Newer buildings and homes are much less affected by microclimate effects due to more stringent performance requirements of the building envelope and energy systems. Furthermore, these findings inform that San Francisco microclimate variations should be considered in urban energy planning, building energy codes and standards, as well as heat resilience policymaking.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Evaluating the role of green infrastructure features in post-disaster recovery – Case Study of Beaumont, Texas after tropical storm imelda

While green infrastructure (GI) can provide multiple environmental benefits, its role in post-disaster economic and social recovery remains relatively underexplored. This article investigates whether different characteristics of GI, such as size, shape, connectivity, and amenities, affect the resilience of local businesses following Tropical Storm Imelda in Beaumont, Texas. The study utilizes SafeGraph mobility data to analyze foot traffic patterns to local businesses before, during, and after the disaster. FRAGSTATS indices measure GI characteristics (e.g., area, shape index, fractal dimension, proximity) while park features such as sports facilities, playgrounds, water features, and accessibility are cataloged through manual observation. Ordinary Least Squares regression models assess the relationship between park characteristics and post-recovery business performance, controlling for demographic variables including income, race, and poverty levels. Results indicate that certain GI attributes significantly enhance business recovery. Points of interest within walking distance (0.5 miles) of parks demonstrated better post-recovery status compared to those beyond this range. Specifically, parks with larger areas (p < 0.01) and more complex shapes measured by fractal dimension index (p < 0.01) had the strongest positive impact on surrounding businesses' recovery. Interestingly, playgrounds showed a negative correlation with recovery (p < 0.05), likely due to flood damage rendering them unusable during the immediate recovery period. Social vulnerability factors, including higher poverty rates and minority populations, negatively affected recovery outcomes despite park proximity.

Economic resilience↗