Background

Cities are arguably the most dramatic examples of anthropogenic impact on terrestrial ecosystems. They profoundly change the water and energy balance, exhibit a modified thermal environment and are a major source of trace gases. Because of the fast growth of urban areas, the study of the linkage between land-surface variability and atmospheric exchange is of particular significance. At the base of this research lies the fundamental difficulty that the well-established homogeneous surface layer relationships used to describe the mean and turbulence atmospheric properties collapse in regions of inhomogeneity because several of the assumptions underlying their derivation are probably invalid.

It is of fundamental interest to improve our understanding of the physical transfer processes in the inhomogeneous boundary-layer in order to be able to quantify and predict the exchange of energy and trace gases between natural or artificial (industrial and urban) surfaces and the atmosphere which governs the dispersion of pollutants or the cycling of atmospheric trace gases that play a key role in climate change.

My research focus is on climatology in the context of physical geography and applied meteorology with a special interest in boundary-layer phenomena at the micro and local scales. Primary focus is upon the urban environment with my long-term goal to contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the physics of the urban boundary-layer. Modes of inquiry are primairily field observations and, to a lesser degree, physical modelling.

Overview of past and present research projects (Table)