Impact of Revegetation on Urban Climate: A Case Study of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region Using the High-Resolution PALM Model

• Grant number: 25/12621-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: October 17, 2025
• End date: June 16, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Meteorology
• Principal Investigator: Humberto Ribeiro da Rocha
• Grantee: Rodrigo Lustosa
• Supervisor: Bjorn Maronga
• Host Institution: Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas (IAG). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/15999-2 - The urban heat island of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo: characterization and relationships between air and surface temperatures, BP.DD

Abstract

Urban areas are generally warmer than their surroundings, a phenomenon known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI), which has important implications for public health. This phenomenon mainly occurs because the materials that make up cities heat up more easily when exposed to solar radiation compared to vegetation and bodies of water. The heterogeneity of cities, with variability in materials, vegetation, and building height, creates temperature differences within the urban area. To analyze how this temperature varies, high spatial resolution data are required. In the case of air temperature (TA), this demands either a dense network of measurement instruments or a combination of instruments and numerical models. This study aims to use the state-of-the-art PALM model (including the PALM-4U component for urban processes) to perform case studies in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, validate the model in this subtropical climate region, and investigate the implementation of nature-based solutions, in collaboration with the model development group at Leibniz University Hannover, Germany. (AU)