Project title:

Urban Climate Assessment: a pre-requisite in designing cities’ resilience response to climate change for Romania’s North-East Development Region

Evaluarea climatului urban: condiție de bază a dezvoltării rezilienței locale la schimbările climatice în regiunea de dezvoltare Nord-Est a României

Project number 32/2022

Project code PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2021-0882

Project Leader: Associate Professor PhD. Lucian SFÎCĂ

Implementation period: 11.05.2022-10.05.2024

 

Project summary:

Current climate change overlaps with a clear tendency of the human population to concentrate in cities. These combined trends increase both the exposure to weather extremes and the vulnerability of the population, forcing the authorities to adapt environmental policies aimed at increasing the resilience response of urban areas to climate change. However, in order to develop such policies, an adequate assessment of the climatic conditions inside cities is needed. For this, the current project proposes a multivariate assessment of climatic conditions based on the development of in situ observations, expeditionary measurements and the assimilation of climate information derived from satellite images for the 16 most important cities located in the North - Eastern Development region of Romania. Based on all available meteorological data (available from official observation and produced through our own observations), we also aim to describe the synoptic types that are commonly associated with extreme weather conditions in selected cities. Future climate conditions will also be estimated based on climate scenarios. These two analyzes are intended to increase the prediction of extreme weather and climate conditions, representing key elements for a sound scientific basis on which resilience policies should be based. The implementation of the project benefits from the previous experience of the team members in the field of urban climate, atmospheric circulation and climate scenarios.

Objectives:

The main goal of the project is to build a sound idea on current and future climate conditions in 16 cities with a population exceeding 20000 inhabitants in North-East Development Region of Romania, in order to set a scientific background for future measures regarding the increase of resilience to climate change. For this, the project aims:

  1. To give a detailed description of current climate conditions in the area of the 16 analyzed cities.
  2. To perform a multivariate investigation of urban climate conditions through the development of in situ meteorological observations, transversal measurements across the cities in specific weather conditions and using remote sensing techniques.
  3. To describe accurately the major synoptic patterns bringing weather risks for the analyzed urban areas as heat/cold waves, high precipitation amounts and wind channeling intensification in urban canyons.
  4. To explore the future climate conditions based on two climate scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) for 2025-2100 and to assimilate the project results in these scenarios (e.g. the effect of urban heat island on climate scenarios).

Project team:

  1. Assoc. Prof. PhD. Lucian SFÎCĂ
  2. Lect. PhD. Pavel ICHIM
  3. Assist. PhD. Petrică-Ionel BISTRICEAN
  4. PhD. Stud. Vlad-Alexandru AMIHĂESEI
  5. PhD Stud. Claudiu CREȚU
  6. PhD Stud. Adrian IRAȘOC
  7. PhD. Stud. Robert HRIȚAC

Colaborators: Stud. Alexandru COROCĂESCU, Lucian ROȘU, Dumitru MIHĂILĂ, Lucian ȘERBAN

Results:

A.     Published articles:

A.1. ISI articles:

1. Sfîcă, L., Crețu, Ș.C., Ichim, P., Hrițac, R., Breabăn, I.G., 2023. Surface urban heat island of Iași (Romania) and its difference from in situ screen-level air temperature measurements. Sustainable Cities and Society, 94, 104568, doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2023.104568, IF: 10.686, AIS: 1.250.

2. Sfîcă, L.; Corocăescu, A.-C.; Crețu, C.-S.; Amihăesei, V.-A.; Ichim, P. 2023. Spatiotemporal Features of the Surface Urban Heat Island of Bacau City (Romania) during the Warm Season and Local Trends of LST Imposed by Land Use Changes during the Last 20 Years. Remote Sensing, 15, 3385, doi: 10.3390/rs15133385, IF: 5.349, AIS: 0.918.

 

A.2. IDB articles:

1. Corocăescu, Al., Ichim, P., Crețu, C.Ș., Dior, Al., Șerban, L., Amihăesei, V.-Al., Sfîcă, L., 2023. Assessment of Climate Characteristics of an Urban Park Using Satellite Imagery and In-Situ Measurements. Study Case of Cancicov Park from Bacău City (Romania). 2023” Air and Water – Components of the Environment” Conference Proceedings, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, p. 33-46, doi: 10.24193/AWC2023_04.

 

A.3. Proceedings of international conference (in extenso):

1. Amihăesei, V.A., Crețu, C.Ș., Ichim, P., Sfîcă, L., 2023. Traitement des images satellitaires pour l'évaluation du climat urbain au nord-est de la Roumanie, Actes du 36ème Colloque de l’Association Internationale de Climatologie, 3-7 juillet 2023, p. 17-20, Editure Transversal, ISBN 978-606-605-229-0.

 

A.4. Proceedings of international conference (in abstract):

1. Sfîcă, L., Crețu, C., Ichim, P., Breabăn, I.G., and Hrițac, R., 2022, Differences between surface and air urban heat island for clear sky conditions in Iasi city (Romania) and their relation with atmospheric circulation, EGU General Assembly 2022, EGU22-13410, doi: 10.5194/egusphere-egu22-13410, 2022.

2. Sfîcă, L., Hrițac, R., Amihăesei, V.A., Ichim, P., 2022. Projected changes in atmospheric circulation types inducing high intensity of the urban heat island in Iași city, EMS Annual Meeting Abstracts, 4-9 of September 2022, Bonn Germany, Vol. 19, EMS2022-124, 2022.

3. Cretu, S.-C., Sfica, L., Amihaesei, V.-A., Breaban, I.-G., and Ichim, P.: Identification of hot/cold spots inside the Surface Urban Heat Island of the main cities in North-Eastern Romania using Landsat imagery, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-6825, doi: 10.5194/egusphere-egu23-6825, 2023.

4. Hrițac, R., Sfîcă, L., Breabăn, I.-G., and Amihăesei, V.-A.: The expected effect of climate change on snowfall amounts and snow depth in the major urban areas of Romania, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-12497, doi: 10.5194/egusphere-egu23-12497, 2023.

5. Sfîcă, L., Ichim, P., Crețu, C.Ș., Amihaesei, V.A., Bistricean, P.I., Hritac, R., Irasoc, A., Mihaila, D., 2023. Thermo-hygrometric characteristics of Local Climate Zones (LCZs) in the primary urban areas of north-eastern Romania investigated through multivariate tools, EMS Annual Meeting Abstracts, Vol. 20, EMS2023-291, 3-8 of September 2023, Bratislava, Slovakia, doi: 10.5194/ems2023-291.

6. Ichim, P., Sfîcă, L., Bistricean, P.I., Crețu, C.Ș., Hrițac, R., Roșu, L., Corocăescu, A.C., 2023. Hot and Cold spots identification through mobile measurements during warm season in main urban areas from North-Eastern Romania , EMS Annual Meeting Abstracts, Vol. 20, EMS2023-330, 3-8 of September 2023, Bratislava, Slovakia, doi: 10.5194/ems2023-330.

 

B.     Participation in conferences:

B.1. International conferences and scientific meetings:

1. Sfîcă, L., Crețu, C., Ichim, P., Breabăn, I.-G., and Hrițac, R., 2022, Differences between surface and air urban heat island for clear sky conditions in Iasi city (Romania) and their relation with atmospheric circulation. EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022 (international, online).

2. Sfîcă, L., Hrițac, R., Amihaesei, V.A., Ichim, P., 2022. Projected changes in atmospheric circulation types inducing high intensity of the urban heat island in Iași city, EMS Annual Meeting, 4-9 of September 2022, Bonn Germany (international, online).

3. Cretu, S.-C., Sfica, L., Amihaesei, V.-A., Breaban, I.-G., and Ichim, P.: Identification of hot/cold spots inside the Surface Urban Heat Island of the main cities in North-Eastern Romania using Landsat imagery, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, 2023.

4. Hrițac, R., Sfîcă, L., Breabăn, I.-G., and Amihăesei, V.-A.: The expected effect of climate change on snowfall amounts and snow depth in the major urban areas of Romania, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, 2023.

5. Amihăesei, V.A., Crețu, C.Ș., Ichim, P., Sfîcă, L., Traitement des images satellitaires pour l'évaluation du climat urbain au nord-est de la Roumanie, 36ème Colloque de l’Association Internationale de Climatologie: Climat, eau et société : changements et défis, Bucharest, 3-7 Juillet 2023.

6. Sfîcă, L., Ichim, P., Crețu, C.Ș., Amihaesei, V.A., Bistricean, P.I., Hritac, R., Irasoc, A., Mihaila, D., 2023. Thermo-hygrometric characteristics of Local Climate Zones (LCZs) in the primary urban areas of north-eastern Romania investigated through multivariate tools, EMS Annual Meeting, 3-8 of September 2023, Bratislava, Slovakia.

7. Ichim, P., Sfîcă, L., Bistricean, P.I., Crețu, C.Ș., Hrițac, R., Roșu, L., Corocăescu, A.C., 2023. EMS Annual Meeting 2023, 3-8 of September 2023, Bratislava, Slovakia.

 

B.2. Scientific conferences in Romania:

1. Sfîcă, L., Ichim, P., Bistricean, P.I., Amihăesei, V.A., Crețu, C.S., Irașoc, A., Hrițac, R., 2022. Urban climate assessment: a pre-requisite in designing cities’ resilience response to climate change for Romania’s North-East Development Region. Present Environment and Sustainable Development, 3-4 of June 2022, Iași, Romania (international).

2. Ichim, P., Florescu, O., Sfîcă, L., Khadim-Abid, A., Sandu, I., Nănescu, M., 2022. Indoor microclimate monitoring in a museum environment. Case study of Poni-Cernătescu museum from Iași city. Present Environment and Sustainable Development, 3-4 of June 2022, Iași, Romania (international).

3. Sfîcă, L., 2022. Caracteristicile majore ale climatului urban și relevanța acestora pentru condițiile de poluare a aerului, Workshop REXDAN: Abordări moderne ale feedbackului între procese de mediu și schimbările climatice, Galați, 6-9 iulie 2022 (national).

4. Crețu, Ș.C., Amihăesei, V.A., Sfîcă, L., Breabăn, I.G., Testing land surface temperature gap filling through various methods using R package. Application for urban climate in North-Eastern Romania. The Conference Atmosphere and Hydrosphere, 5th edition, 6-9 of October 2022, Vatra Dornei, Romania (national).

5. Hrițac, R., Sfîcă, L., Breabăn, I.G., The possible effect of climate change on snowfall amounts in major urban areas of North-Eastern Romania. The Conference Atmosphere and Hydrosphere, 5th edition, 6-9 of October 2022, Vatra Dornei, Romania (national).

6. Mihăilă, D. Potopova, V., Prisacariu, A., Bistricean, P.I., Sfîcă, L., Horodnic, V.D., Hrițac, R., Ichim, P., Spatio-temporal quantification of the thermal influence of the Suceava metropolitan agglomeration. The Conference Atmosphere and Hydrosphere, 5th edition, 6-9 of October 2022, Vatra Dornei, Romania (national).

7. Ichim, P., Sfîcă, L., Crețu, C., Jitariu, S., Hrițac, R., Corocăescu, A., Investigating of summer air temperature distribution in Iași city through mobile measurements. Lucrările Seminarului Geografic Internațional, ediția a XLII-a, 14-16 of October 2022, Iași, Romania.  

8. Mihăilă, D., Bistricean, P.I., Prisăcariu, A., Hrițac, R., Ichim, P., Sfîcă, L., Air temperature distribution in Suceava city based on a 3 years monitoring network and its relation with atmospheric circulation. Lucrările Seminarului Geografic Internațional, ediția a XLII-a, 14-16 of October 2022, Iași, Romania.

9. Sfîcă, L., Ichim, P., Bistricean, P.I., Amihăesei, V.A., Crețu, C., Irașoc, A., Hrițac, R., Roșu, L., Une nouvelle étape dans la recherche du climat urbain du nord-est de la Roumanie. VIIeme colloque de l’Association Francophone de Geographie Physique, 14-16 of October 2022, Iași, Romania.

10. Ichim, P., Sfîcă, L., Bistricean, P.I., Crețu, C., Hrițac, R., Pădurariu, B., Șerban, L., Verdeanu, A., Investigation of summer air temperature distribution in the main cities from the NE development region through mobile measurements, International Conference of the Faculty of Geography “Geographical perspective on global changes”, 18-19 November 2022, Bucharest, Romania.  

11. Alexandru Corocăescu, Alexandra Dior, Claudiu-Ștefănel Crețu, Pavel Ichim, Lucian Șerban, Lucian Sfîcă, Assessment of Climate Characteristics of an Urban Park Using Satellite Imagery and In-Situ Measurements. Study Case of Cancicov Park from Bacău City (Romania), The International Conference Air and Water – components of the environment, 15th edition, Cluj-Napoca, 17-19 of March, 2023.

12. Pavel Ichim, Lucian Sfîcă, Petruț-Ionel Bistricean, Dumitru Mihăilă, Claudiu-Ștefănel Crețu, Robert Hrițac, A methodological approach for analyzing mobile meteorological measurements in urban areas from North-Eastern Romania, The International Conference Air and Water – components of the environment, 15th edition, Cluj-Napoca, 17-19 of March, 2023.

13. Sfîcă, L., Ichim, P., Bistricean, P.I., Crețu, C., Hrițac, R., Amihăesei, V.A., Irașoc, A., Mihăilă, D., 2023. Progrese în studiul climatului urban din nord-estul României, Simpozionul de Climatologie Ion Florin Mihăilescu, 20-21 iulie 2023, Universitatea Ovidius din Constanța (6).

14. Hrițac, R., Sfîcă, L., Breabăn, I.G., Ichim, P., Amihăesei, V.A., 2023. Efectele posibile ale schimbărilor climatice asupra ninsorilor și stratului de zăpadă în principalele zone urbane din România, Simpozionul de Climatologie Ion Florin Mihăilescu, 20-21 iulie 2023, Universitatea Ovidius din Constanța (6).

15. Bistricean, P.I., Mihăilă, D., Prisacariu, A., Horodnic, V.D., Sfîcă, L., Ichim, P., 2023. Cuantificarea influenței termice a ariei metropolitane a municipiului Suceava în situații specifice utilizând metode de monitorizare meteorologică la sol și satelitare, Simpozionul de Climatologie Ion Florin Mihăilescu, 20-21 iulie 2023, Universitatea Ovidius din Constanța.

16. Crețu, Ș.C., Sfîcă, L., Ichim, P., Amihăesei, V.A., Breabăn, I.G., 2023, Exposing urban heat anomalies: thermal pattern assessment across six cities in north-eastern Romania using LANDSAT series imagery, Modern approaches of the environment-climate change interconectivity, 2-nd edition, September 20-23, Galați, Romania.

17. Bistricean, P.I., Mihăilă, D., Sfîcă, L., Horodnic, V.D., Prisacariu, A., 2023. Analiza influenței termice în Aria Metropolitană a municipiul Suceava (AMSv), în lunile de vară, utilizând metode de monitorizare meteorologică in-situ și satelitare, Sesiunea anuală de comunicări științifice a studenților geografi, Ediția a XXIII-a, Stâna de Vale, 5-8 octombrie 2023, Oradea, Romania.

18. Sfîcă, L., Ichim, P., Crețu, C., Amihăesei, V.A., Bistricean, P.I., Hrițac, R., Irașoc, A., Roșu, L., 2023. Urban climate conditions determined by the land use in the main cities of north-eastern Romania. “Dimitrie Cantemir” International Geographical Conference, 43th edition, 27-29 of October 2023, Iași, Romania.

19. Sfîcă, L., Ichim, P., Crețu, Ș.C., Amihăesei, A.V., 2023. Urban land use imprint on land surface temperature in the main cities of north-eastern Romania, Ecosmart International Conference, 17-18 of November, University of Bucharest, București, România.

 

C. Publicare bază de date:

1. Sfîcă, L., Ichim, P., Amihăesei, V.-A., Hrițac, R., Irașoc, A., Crețu, C.-Ș., Dumitrescu, A. (2023). UCLARIS – urban thermo-hygrometric gridded dataset for Iasi city, Romania (Version 1) [Data set]. Zenodo. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.10210791.

D. Aplicație web:

Aplicație web ce pune la dispoziție utilizatorului posibilitatea de a vizualiza și descărca datele cu schimbări în temperatură a aerului și cantități de precipitații: https://climall.shinyapps.io/UCLAR_IS/

E.     Mass-media and social media dissemination :

Press:https://www.desteptarea.ro/un-studiu-meteorologic-ne-arata-zonele-calde-ale-bacaului/

Scientific posts on  Meteo Moldova facebook page.