Walking the heat: why thermal walks matter for high resolution microclimate mapping
Authors:
Ben Gottfried Gottkehaskamp (1), Marcel Ignatius (2), Joie Lim (2), Kunihiko Fujiwara (3), Christian Hepf (1), Filip Biljecki (2), Clayton Miller (2)
(1) Chair of Building Technology and Climate Responsive Design, TUM School of Engineering and Design, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany
(2) National University of Singapore, Singapore
(3) Research & Development Institute, Takenaka Corporation, Japan
Abstract:
High-resolution microclimate maps are critical for advancing urban climate resilience strategies by providing detailed spatial insights into environmental variables. This study evaluates the performance of using a random forest regressor with single and multiple features to fit interpolated environmental data, including solar radiation, temperature, humidity, and wind speed. Using regression kriging on observations from 42 weather stations distributed on the campus of the National University of Singapore (NUS), spatial environmental variables were mapped at a 5x5 meter resolution. The interpolation process uses various geospatial layers to refine the results and the fine-scale spatial resolution. As a result, this model captures the localized variability of environmental variables. This work contributes to urban climate modeling by advancing the methodological frameworks for microclimate mapping and addressing the growing need for reliable high-resolution environmental data to inform thermal comfort assessments and resilience strategies.