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Title:

Climate Impacts of Surface Albedo: Review and Comparative Analysis

Accession Number:

01593510

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

Rapid urbanization has changed land use and surface properties, which has an effect on regional and even global climate. One of the mitigation strategies proposed to combat urban heat island (UHI) and global warming as a result of urban expansion is to increase the solar reflectance (or albedo) of the urban surfaces (mainly roofs and roads). Despite the observed local cooling effect in many studies, the regional and global climate impacts induced by land surface change are still not well understood, especially the indirect and larger-scale effects of changes in urban albedo on temperature and radiation budget. Research has been growing on understanding the climate impact of changing albedo, while results still demonstrate great uncertainties and variations. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of the existing research on the climate impacts of albedo. Different analytical approaches and modeling works are synthesized and discussed. A comparative analysis of results from different studies shows that the radiative forcing (RF) for a 0.01 increase in albedo ranges from -2.9 to -1.3, and the air temperature reduces by 0.1 °C on average, indicating a cooling effect. The annual global warming potential (GWP) savings can be up to 7 kg CO₂ per square meter of urban area or cool surfaces. The uncertainties in the results and limitations in the existing studies are discussed. This analysis will serve as a foundation for comparing the climate impacts of urban albedo.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AF000 Design and Construction Group. Alternate title: The Impacts of Surface Albedo on Climate and Building Energy Consumption: Review and Comparative Analysis.

Monograph Accession #:

01584066

Report/Paper Numbers:

16-6158

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Xu, Xin
Gregory, Jeremy
Kirchain, Randolph

Pagination:

16p

Publication Date:

2016

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2016-1-10 to 2016-1-14
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References; Tables

Uncontrolled Terms:

Albedo; Solar reflectance index

Subject Areas:

Environment; Highways; Pavements

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2016 Paper #16-6158

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Jan 12 2016 6:43PM