Abstract:
Many urban climates are characterized by increased temperature and decreased humidity, under climate change and compared to surrounding rural landscapes. The two trends have contrasting effects on human-perceived heat stress. Although the relevance of humidity to human-perceived heat has been increasingly recognized, there are conflicting findings on the relative importance of humidity and air temperature in driving the observed and projected increases in humid heat. Therefore, the relative importance of humidity to local urban climates and their interactions with background climate change is still an open question. Understanding the mechanism behind atmospheric humidity in shaping local urban climates is essential for effective urban planning, mitigation and adaptation, and sustainable urban development in a changing climate. Here in this seminar, I will present our recent works that combine theory, Earth system modeling, physics-informed machine learning, and remote sensing to understand the critical roles of urban atmospheric humidity in forming humid heat and its future changes, and the implications to urban adaptation and energy risks.
Bio:
Lei Zhao is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE), and the National Center of Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). His research concerns the physical and engineering processes in the atmospheric boundary layer where most human activities and environmental systems are concentrated, with a particular focus on built surfaces and urban environments. He combines theory, numerical modeling, remote sensing and in situ observations, and cutting-edge artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) methods to study land-atmosphere interaction and environmental fluid mechanics that relate to urban climatology and hydrology, urban climate change, impacts, and adaptation. Lei is the recipient of the U.S. NSF CAREER Award, the Timothy Oke Award from the International Association for Urban Climate (IAUC) in 2023, and the Global Environmental Change Early Career Award from the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in 2023. He received his Ph.D. degree in atmospheric physics from Yale University and B.S. degree from Nanjing University. Before joining at UIUC, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University