Numerical Simulation of the Impact of Urban Non-uniformity on Precipitation

To evaluate the influence of urban non-uniformity on precipitation, the area of a city was divided into three categories (commercial, high-density residential, and low-density residential) according to the building density data from Landsat satellites. Numerical simulations of three corresponding scenarios (urban non-uniformity, urban uniformity, and non-urban) were performed in Nanjing using the WRF model. The results demonstrate that the existence of the city results in more precipitation, and that urban heterogeneity enhances this phenomenon. For the urban non-uniformity, uniformity, and non-urban experiments, the mean cumulative summer precipitation was 423.09 mm, 407.40 mm, and 389.67 mm, respectively. Urban non-uniformity has a significant effect on the amount of heavy rainfall in summer. The cumulative precipitation from heavy rain in the summer for the three numerical experiments was 278.2 mm, 250.6 mm, and 236.5 mm, respectively. In the non-uniformity experiments, the amount of precipitation between 1500 and 2200 (LST) increased significantly. Furthermore, the adoption of urban non-uniformity into the WRF model could improve the numerical simulation of summer rain and its daily variation.