Ryo Moriwaki

Anthropogenic water vapor emissions in Tokyo

[1]xa0Temporal and spatial variations in anthropogenic water vapor (AWV) emissions and anthropogenic heat (AH) in Tokyo were estimated using data from a geographic information system (GIS) and an energy-consumption database. The maximum value of AWV exceeded 500 W m−2 in summer in central Tokyo. Estimations of AWV were validated with field-measured data. The estimated and measured data agreed well, indicating that anthropogenic sources such as district cooling systems release large amounts of water vapor into the atmosphere.

Experimental study on rainfall interception over an outdoor urban‐scale model

[1]xa0Rainfall interception (RI) over an outdoor urban-scale model was investigated from the perspectives of water and energy balance. On average, RI was 6% of the gross rainfall and smaller than typical values in forests. No correlation was found between RI and gross rainfall or rainfall duration unlike the correlations found in forests. Most RI occurred in the first several hours of rainfall, and then RI rapidly decreased with time during a rainfall event. RI was dependent on the saturation deficit at the beginning of the rainfall event. The latent heat for RI was approximately balanced by heat conduction from the concrete surfaces. Differences in the canopy structure are considered as possible reasons for the different behaviors of RI between the present site and forests. Accordingly, three aspects of the canopy structure, i.e., effective wet surface area, efficiency for scalar transfer, and canopy heat capacity, are discussed.