MICROCLIMATE

1301

MICROCLIMATE
M W Rotach, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology,
Zurich, Switzerland
P Calanca, Swiss Federal Research Station for
Agroecology and Agriculture, Zurich, Switzerland
Copyright 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Introduction
On the global scale the climate is mainly determined
by the incoming solar radiation. The word climate
itself stems from the Greek klima, which means
inclination and is appropriate for describing the effects
of latitude on the availability and distribution of solar
energy. On very small scales, however, global factors
set only the boundary conditions, while the actual
climate at any particular location is dened by the
local surface properties. An outstanding example is
that of an oasis surrounded by a desert. Obviously, it is
not the Earths orbital parameters nor the composition
of the atmosphere that determine the climatic state
within the oasis but rather the local soil moisture
conditions.
The microclimate of a particular location can
hence be dened as the statistical state of the
atmosphere in the layer being affected directly by
the characteristics of the underlying surface. In
this sense, microclimatology is the study of the
long-term average and typical variability of climate
variables in this lowest layer of the atmosphere,
and physical microclimatology can be thought of as
the study of the processes by which the lowest layer
of the atmosphere responds to surface boundary
conditions.
The processes controlling the microclimate at a
particular location involve time scales from a few
seconds to several years. For example, evapotranspiration from a vegetated surface is regulated on the
short term by the physiological processes of the
plants, whereas decadal changes in the species
composition of that surface determine its long-term
trends.
Like the temporal scales, the spatial scales usually
associated with the term microclimate encompass
several orders of magnitude. The microclimate of
animals or single plants deals with scales ranging
from centimeters to meters. On the other hand, the
characteristic scales associated with the microclimate
of an extended downtown area with high-rise buildings are on the order of hundreds of meters, or
kilometers.

Variables Describing and Determining

Microclimate
As usual in climatology, the microclimate of a particular location is characterized through a number of
climate variables. Traditionally, these variables are
those describing the thermodynamic and dynamic
state of the atmosphere, i.e. radiation, temperature,
humidity, wind speed, and pressure (density). Depending on the research focus, other variables, such as trace
gas concentrations, should be added to the list. For
example, the health and the comfort of the ever
increasing number of people living in cities is directly
related to the concentration and distribution of air
pollutants, which are additionally required to characterize the microclimatic state of this particular
environment.
As for the surface properties determining the
microclimate, the following groups of variables are
relevant in the case of simple, at surfaces: radiative
properties (albedo, emissivity); aerodynamic characteristics (roughness length, zero plane displacement);
thermal properties (heat capacity and conductivity),
and properties affecting the moisture status (hydraulic
characteristics of the soil, type of surface cover). At
sites with a more complex geometry, slope and
exposition have an important impact, in particular
on the components of the radiation balance. These
surface properties are not static, but reect for instance
forcing by the large-scale wind eld, diurnal changes in
the soil moisture conditions, seasonal changes in the
vegetation, or the presence or not of snow.
The temporal and spatial distributions of the state
variables are governed by the conservation equations
for energy, momentum, and mass (dry air, water vapor,
tract gases). Owing to the generally turbulent nature of
the ow in the vicinity of the Earths surface, the terms
representing turbulent transport in these equations are
particularly important and receive much attention in
research of microclimate.

The Lowest Layers of the Atmosphere

The atmospheric layer affected by the local surface
properties is called the planetary boundary layer. It has
a characteristic depth of the order of 1000 m and can
be divided into the upper or outer layer (the uppermost
90%) and the inner or surface layer (that is, the lowest
10%), respectively. However, a direct inuence of the
surface characteristics on the atmospheric state is
observed only in the lowest part of the surface layer, in

1302 MICROCLIMATE

Free troposphere

z 3h
z=h

Surface layer

z = 0.1z i:
100 m

Boundary layer

z = z i:
1000 m

Inertial sublayer
Roughness sublayer
Canopy layer

Figure 1 Conceptual sketch and terminology for the lowest

layers of the atmosphere over a rough surface. Note the logarithmic
height scale. The level zi refers to the boundary layer height and h
denotes the (average) height of roughness elements.

the immediate vicinity of the roughness elements. If

this layer of inuence has any discernible thickness
then it is because of a nonnegligible vertical extension
of the so-called roughness elements (stones, vegetation, trees, buildings). This layer is therefore usually
called the roughness sublayer, and the upper part of the
surface layer is then referred to as the inertial sublayer.
Note that over a relatively smooth surface such as
short grass or sand the roughness sublayer becomes
very thin, and the inertial sublayer is often associated
with the entire surface layer (Figure 1).
On the basis of these considerations, microclimatology can be thought of as the study of the climatic
state of the roughness sublayer or specific entities
therein, whereas micrometeorology is more properly
related to the study of the dynamics and thermodynamics of the surface layer or even the entire planetary
boundary layer.
The Roughness Sublayer

In the roughness sublayer, the ow is affected by the

individual roughness elements, and is hence fully
three-dimensional in nature. The upper boundary of
the roughness sublayer, zn , is the level at which the
horizontal variability vanishes and the ow becomes
horizontally homogeneous. Properly scaled proles of
either mean ow characteristics or turbulence statistics will then merge to one curve that is characteristic
for the underlying surface. The depth of the roughness
sublayer depends on the height and distribution of the
roughness elements. For most surfaces 2hozn o5h
covers the range of estimates, where h is the average
height of roughness elements.
The Canopy Layer

The lowest part of the roughness sublayer is the socalled canopy layer. It ranges from the surface up to the

average height of roughness elements. In this layer,

form (or pressure) drag and viscous drag on any
individual roughness element are both significant and
lead to a retardation of the ow. In addition, the
material and orientation of the obstacles give rise to
large variation in the energy balance and primarily the
radiation balance. Moreover, within the canopy layer
there is a substantial variability in the source/sink
distribution of sensible heat, water vapor, or trace
gases.
Figure 2 shows the height ranges covered by the
roughness sublayer and its lower part, the canopy
layer, in a dimensionless form. Arrows indicate the
typical situation for a surface covered with crop, trees,
and houses, respectively. We observe that the vertical
range, to which the study of microclimate is conned,
can extend up to several tens of meters or more in the
case of an urban surface (if we use typical values for h).
In the case of a shallow boundary layer (small
boundary layer height zi and large roughness elements), no inertial sublayer may be present at all.
So far we have dealt only with rough but horizontally homogenous surfaces like an extended corneld,
a large forest, or a uniform city. In the case of smallscale variability of surface properties, a so-called
internal boundary layer forms downwind of each
major change in the surface characteristics. This

100
z /z i

z
* =
101

Height/BL height

Height
(log scale)

Forest
City

3h

z=

102

Crop

Inertial sublayer
h

Roughness
sublayer

103
Canopy
104
101

102

103

104
z i /h

BL height / Roughness element height

Figure 2 Sketch of the vertical extension of the various layers
over rough surfaces and their variation with the nondimensional
quantities z=zi and zi =h. The height zi refers to the boundary layer
height and h denotes the (average) height of roughness elements.
A value of zn =h 3 is assumed for the height of the roughness
sublayer. The arrows city, forest, and crop are based on typical
values for the height of the roughness elements h and the boundary
layer height zi . (Reprinted from Rotach MW (1999) On the urban
roughness sublayer. Atmospheric Environment 33: 40014008,
with permission from Elsevier Science.)

MICROCLIMATE

internal boundary layer may be thermal (thermal

internal boundary layer) if there is primarily a change
in the thermal properties of the surface, as for example
on a shoreline. Alternatively, if mainly the roughness
changes then the internal boundary layer is called
mechanical. Most common, of course is a combined
thermal and mechanical internal boundary layer. The
concept of a blending height has been introduced to
denote the level, above which turbulent mixing has
levelled out horizontal gradients of climate variables.
In the strictest sense, the study of microclimate is then
conned to the airspace below the blending height.

The Surface Energy Balance

The way the surplus or deficit of radiative energy is
redistributed or compensated for at the Earths surface
is described through the energy balance equation,
which in a simplied form reads
NR H Lv E G DS

1

Here, NR denotes the net radiation, H and Lv E are the

turbulent uxes of sensible and latent heat, respectively, and G is the ground heat ux. If the energy
balance is set up for a volume instead of an innitesimally thin surface such as the entire canopy layer, a
storage term DS needs to be included in eqn [1]. This
latter term is the result of discernible divergence of
the other energy uxes involved and leads to warming or cooling (drying or moistening) of the volume
considered.

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The turbulent uxes of sensible and latent heat arise

from the fact that the atmospheric ow in the vicinity
of the surface is generally turbulent. They constitute
the major mechanism of nonradiative vertical energy
transport in the lowest portion of the atmosphere,
and are dened as H rcp w0 Y0 and Lv E rLv w0 q0 ,
respectively, where r is the air density, cp the specific
heat at constant pressure, Y the potential temperature,
Lv the latent heat of vaporization, and q the specific
humidity. The primed variables refer to the turbulent
uctuations with respect to a temporal average (represented by an overbar).
The net radiation exhibits a strong seasonal and
diurnal cycle; typically, it assumes its maximum
around noon and is slightly negative during the night.
In complex terrain, owing to orographic effects, the
amplitude and phase of the net radiations daily cycle
can vary substantially over short distances, as can be
seen from Figure 3. In general, net radiation is
dependent on the latitude (solar radiation), the surface
properties (reectivity or albedo and emissivity), the
atmospheric conditions (clouds) as well as the topography and surface cover of the surroundings (shading
effects, longwave emission).
The partitioning of radiative energy surplus or
deficit into the other terms of eqn [1] again depends on
the properties of the underlying layer (vegetation, bare
soil, rock, water, snow cover). In particular, the
availability of moisture at the surface or in the layer
considered determines which of the latent heat ux or
sensible turbulent heat transport is dominant. This is
most easily seen by considering the ratio between the

700
600

NR (W m2 )

500
400
300
200
100
0
100

12

16

20

24

Time (LST)
Figure 3 Daily cycles of net radiation at four sites in an approximately northsouth-oriented alpine valley in southern Switzerland.
Shown are average data over 16 ne days with little or no cloud in late summerfall 1999. Open triangles: vineyard site near the bottom of
the east-facing slope. Full dots: valley oor. Squares: meadow on the west-facing slope. Full triangles: alpine rubble site near the eastfacing ridge top.

1304 MICROCLIMATE

turbulent energy uxes, the so-called Bowen ratio,

expressed by b H=Lv E.

Microclimate of a Vegetated Surface

Mean Vertical Structure

In the roughness sublayer, the state variables and the

uxes of energy, momentum, and mass all show a
pronounced vertical variability. At a sufcient distance
from the surface and under neutral conditions the
prole of mean wind speed can be shown to follow a
logarithmic law:



z 1
zd
u
ln
k
z0
un

2

where un is the friction velocity as determined by the

Reynolds stress at the canopy top, k 0:4 the von
Karman constant, z0 the roughness length, and d the
zero-plane displacement. A stability dependent modication may be added to eqn [2] for nonneutral
conditions. Both the zeroplane displacement and the
roughness length are characteristic for the type and
status of the underlying surface. They can be determined from tting observed wind speed proles to eqn
[2] or, alternatively, estimated from morphometric
properties of the surface. As a rule of thumb, d 0:7 h
and z0 0:1 h can be used. Equation [2] is, strictly
speaking, valid only in the inertial sublayer above the
roughness sublayer. Within the roughness sublayer the
mean wind speed departs from the logarithmic
behavior, with a strong retardation at the mean height
of the roughness elements (Figure 4).
This retardation is due to the form and viscous
drags. Under certain simplifying assumptions the
momentum balance equation for the roughness sub-

layer can be solved analytically to yield an exponential

wind prole:
h 
z i
z u
h exp a 1 
u
3

h
where a is a parameter dependent on the density and
character of the roughness elements and found to be
in the range of 1 to 4 by tting observed proles to
eqn [3].
Roughness sublayer proles of the other climate
variables are also presented in Figure 4. The vertical
distribution of net radiation depends on the albedo of
the canopy, as well as on the extinction of solar
radiation (during daytime) and the absorption and
emission of thermal radiation at different levels within
the canopy. It is related to the distribution of biomass
as given by the so-called leaf-area index. Owing to the
greater absorptance in the visible than in the nearinfrared range, there is a change in the spectral
composition of the solar radiation ux from the top
to the bottom of a stand.
The proles of temperature and humidity and
similarly CO2 (not shown) are complex. In forest
stands they typically show an inection point within
the canopy. These proles can be explained by the
divergence of the relevant energy and mass uxes and
by the distribution of the sources and sinks (including
those at ground level), but do also reect advective
effects. All proles exhibit strong diurnal variations.
Turbulence statistics such as velocity variances or
turbulent uxes of sensible heat and momentum
exhibit a strong reduction from the canopy top down
to the ground where very small or vanishing values are
observed. The most striking feature of canopy turbulence is probably the fact that it is governed by socalled coherent structures with spatial scales on the
order of the canopy height. As a consequence, the

Height

2h

0.0

0.5

1.0
u/u h

1.5

2.0

0
1
h (K)

0.0015

0.0000

q q h (kg kg 1)

0.0015

100 200 300 400

NR (W m 2 )

Figure 4 Typical proles of mean wind speed u, daytime potential temperature Y, specific humidity q, and net radiation NR within and
above vegetated canopies. The lower portion of the specific humidity prole is typical for moist surfaces only. For wind speed the dashed line
corresponds to eqn [3] and the full line sketches a typical prole close to and within the roughness elements. Note that the prole for wind
speed qualitatively applies to both vegetated and urban surfaces.

MICROCLIMATE

turbulent exchange of heat, moisture, or trace gases

within the canopy is often characterized by countergradient transport. This means that the so-called
K-theory, which is based on the assumption of
small dominating eddies and is a well-established
concept for the inertial sublayer, is not a useful
description of turbulent transport in the roughness
sublayer.
Owing to the rough nature of the surface, turbulent
mixing is stronger in the upper part of the roughness
sublayer than in the inertial sublayer. As for the uxes
of sensible heat and specific humidity (latent heat), this
increase in most pronounced under near-neutral conditions. In this case the turbulent transport just above
the canopy can be up to three times larger than in the
inertial sublayer, whereas for momentum the enhancement is of the order of 10%.
Water and Carbon Budgets

There is an evident feedback between the microclimate

of a vegetated surface and vegetation itself. On the one
hand, growth and composition of the canopy reect
the boundary conditions set by the microclimate. On
the other hand, vegetation exerts an active control on
the microclimatic conditions in its immediate surrounding, as seen when considering the water and
carbon budgets. Precipitation, interception, evapotranspiration, and surface runoff, as well as inltration, drainage, and capillary rise, determine the water
storage in the soil. Transpiration, however, is a
function of the water content and water potential
not only in the soil but also in the roots, the stand and
the leaves, and depends therefore on the particular
state of the plants. Furthermore, photosynthesis and
photorespiration not only are regulated by physiological processes at the level of leaves and cells, but also
are controlled by the overall radiation conditions and
CO2 concentration within the canopy.
In the case of agricultural surfaces, human activities
must be considered an important factor determining
the microclimate of the stand. In fact, management
options are explicitly chosen to provide the best
growing and reproductive conditions for each particular type of crop.

Microclimate of an Urban Surface

The microclimate of an urban surface differs from that
over an area covered by vegetation in many respects.
The dominating roughness elements (buildings) are
rigid and typically cover a considerably larger surface
fraction than is the case for, e.g., a forest. Consequently, the retardation of the ow is even more pronounced
than over a vegetated surface. Moreover, considerable

1305

spatial variation in the thermal conditions can be

found down to the level of the smallest entities, like the
walls of an urban street canyon. Further, the scale of an
individual roughness element is large enough for it to
be accessible for detailed experimental investigation.
The best-investigated entity of an urban surface is
therefore the (generic) urban street canyon and its
immediate surroundings.
The best-known characteristic of urban climate is
the so-called urban heat island. This refers to a
pronounced increase in near-surface temperature in a
city as compared with its rural surroundings. Differences are found to be strongest (several degrees
Celsius) some hours after sunset and are attributed
to, among others, the specific radiation conditions
within block-like structures (street canyons), the
differences in the turbulent diffusion of heat over
urban and rural surfaces, respectively, and (at least in
winter) anthropogenic heat release.
Effects of Building Geometry on Radiation,
Temperature, and Flow Characteristics

The daily cycle for the components of the radiation

balance differs for the various active surfaces within a
street canyon (sunlit and shadowed walls, street
canyon oor). Long-wave incoming radiation is dominated by the emission from nearby walls, while shortwave (solar) incoming radiation is highly dependent
on the orientation of the surface and may be several
times reected on the various surfaces. Thereby, all
radiation components can be shown to be related to
the so-called sky-view factor (i.e., the ratio of the sky
seen at a particular point within the urban canopy to
that potentially available) and to the aspect ratio
(width/height) of the canyon.
Within a street canyon the temperature may be
slightly higher than aloft, owing to the trapping of
solar radiation, but little spatial variation is observed
except very close to the walls.
Proles of mean wind speed over urban surfaces are
usually described using the same concepts as for
vegetated canopies (eqn [2]). As for the latter, the two
roughness parameters d and z0 are properties of the
inertial sublayer and eqn [2] and, strictly speaking, are
valid only there.
The transition from the inertial to the roughness
sublayer, and the actual prole within the roughness
sublayer, are strongly dependent on the orientation of
the street canyon with respect to the ambient wind
direction and its aspect ratio. For a narrow canyon the
ow is often skimming, and wind speed almost
vanishes within the canyon, leading to a strong
gradient in wind speed around roof level. For wider
canyons the exchange of momentum between the
canyon and the air aloft may be more efcient and the

1306 MICROCLIMATE

corresponding gradient in mean wind speed is somewhat weaker. Generally, the magnitude of wind speed
does not vary strongly with height within the lower
part of the canyon, and wind speeds at the bottom of
the canyon are found to be only a small fraction of
those at roof level (Figure 4).
Coherent structures of the wind eld (see above)
are also found in urban environments. If the ambient
ow is roughly perpendicular to the axis of a street
canyon, a vortex can form inside the canyon
(Figure 5), transporting ambient air downward along
the downwind wall and canyon air upward along the
upwind wall of the canyon. The strength and location
of this rotor is dependent on the canyon geometry and
the thermal conditions on the walls. For a street
with significant trafc as a source of air pollutants,
this ow pattern leads to distinctly different pollutant concentrations at the upwind and downwind side
of the street, respectively, if the street is aligned
perpendicular to a dominant wind direction in the
region.

Air Pollutants and Turbulence Structure

Urban environments are characterized typically by a

high density of sources for air pollutants near the
surface (trafc, domestic heating, and industry). Air
pollutant dispersion is the result of turbulent mixing,
and this depends on the turbulence structure in the
vicinity of the roughness elements. The height of these
elements is often less uniform than over vegetated
surfaces, so that the average building height may not
generally serve as a characteristic length scale. Rather,
form drag is exerted on the ow up to the maximum
height of each roughness element. Consequently, the
vertical turbulent transport of momentum (as the bestinvestigated measure for turbulent transport) is not
approximately constant (with height) as it is over
ideally homogeneous plant canopies or within the
inertial sublayer. Rather, it assumes a maximum
magnitude at a level distinctly higher than the average
building height and decreases strongly as it approaches
the zeroplane displacement height.

Figure 5 Laser visualization of a vortex in a street canyon for perpendicularly approaching ow. (Reproduced with permission from
Kastner-Klein P (1999) Experimentelle Untersuchung der stromungsmechanischen Transportvorgange in Strassenschluchten. PhD
thesis, Institut fur Hydromechanik, University of Karlsruhe.)

MICROCLIMATE

Below this level the momentum ux essentially

vanishes, while velocity variances (as a measure for the
intensity of the turbulence eld) have been reported to
be strongly dependent on the stability of the ow aloft.
Owing to the relatively large dimensions of roughness
elements in a typical city, this layer of nonconstant
stress can be several tens of meters deep (Figure 2).
Model simulations suggest that an appropriate description of the divergence of Reynolds stress in the
urban roughness sublayer may have a large impact on
the dispersion of pollutants from low-level sources
in cities.
Owing to its large roughness and the associated
production of mechanical turbulence, the stability of
an urban roughness sublayer is often found to be
nearly neutral during the night and only slightly
unstable during the day. Over an urban surface,
conditions of extreme stability are therefore less likely
to be found than over nearby rural areas.

Nomenclature
cp
d
G
h
H
k
Lv
Lv E
NR
q

u
un
w
z
zi
zn
z0
b

specific heat at constant pressure

zero plane displacement
ground heat ux
average height of roughness elements
turbulent (vertical) ux of sensible heat
von Karman constant
latent heat of vaporization
turbulent (vertical) ux of latent heat
net radiation
specific humidity
mean wind speed
friction velocity
vertical component of the wind vector
height coordinate
boundary layer height
height of the roughness sublayer
roughness length
Bowen ratio

DS
Y
r

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storage term in the energy balance

potential temperature
air density

See also
Boundary Layers: Overview. Downslope Winds.
LandAtmosphere Interactions: Overview. Mountain
Meteorology. Valley Winds.

Further Reading
Bailey WG, Oke TR and Rouse WR (1997) The Surface
Climates of Canada. Montreal: McGillQueens University Press.
Brutsaert WH (1982) Evaporation into the Atmosphere.
Dordrecht: Reidel.
Campbell GS and Norman JM (1998) An Introduction to
Environmental Biophysics. New York: Springer.
Cermak JE, Davenport AG, Plate EJ and Viegas DX (1995)
Wind Climates in Cities. NATO ASI Series E: Applied
Sciences, vol. 27. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Garratt JR (1992) The Atmospheric Boundary Layer.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Geiger R, Aron R and Todhunter P (1996) The Climate Near
the Ground, 5th edn. Wiesbaden: Viehweg.
Hutchinson BA and Hicks BB (eds) (1985) The Forest
Atmosphere Interaction. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Monteith JL (ed.) (1975) Vegetation and the Atmosphere,
vol. 1, Principles. London: Academic Press.
Monteith JL (ed.) (1976) Vegetation and the Atmosphere,
vol. 2, Case Studies. London: Academic Press.
Monteith JL and Unsworth MH (1990) Principles of
Environmental Physics, 2nd edn. London: Edward
Arnold.
Oke TR (1987) Boundary Layer Climates, 2nd edn. London:
Methuen.
Rosenberg NJ, Blad BL and Verma SB (1983) Microclimate: The Biological Environment, 2nd edn.
New York: Wiley.