Urban Heat Island and Boundary Layer Structures under Hot Weather Synoptic Conditions:A Case Study of Suzhou City,China

A strong urban heat island （UHI） appeared in a hot weather episode in Suzhou City during the period from 25 July to 1 August 2007. This paper analyzes the urban heat island characteristics of Suzhou City under this hot weather episode. Both meteorological station observations and MODIS satellite observations show a strong urban heat island in this area. The maximum UHI intensity in this hot weather episode is 2.2℃, which is much greater than the summer average of 1.0℃ in this year and the 37–year （from 1970 to 2006） average of 0.35℃. The Weather Research and Forecasting （WRF） model simulation results demonstrate that the rapid urbanization processes in this area will enhance the UHI in intensity, horizontal distribution, and vertical extension. The UHI spatial distribution expands as the urban size increases. The vertical extension of UHI in the afternoon increases about 50 m higher under the year 2006 urban land cover than that under the 1986 urban land cover. The conversion from rural land use to urban land type also strengthens the local lake-land breeze circulations in this area and modifies the vertical wind speed field.

Analysis on Hot Weather in Guilin in 2013

Based on observation data of temperature from automatic meteorological stations in all towns and the national weather station in Guilin City,annual and monthly variations of average temperature,distribution of high-temperature days in Guilin in 2013,and weather situations causing high temperature in Guilin were analyzed.The results showed that in 2013,annual average temperature in Guilin was 1.4℃higher than the multiyear average.The hottest weather occurred in Wenqiao Township,Quanzhou County in the northeast,followed by the urban district and suburbs of Guilin,Lianhua Town of Gongcheng County in the south,Tongan,Zhangjia and Dafa towns of Pingle County,Dongchang and Datang towns of Lipu County.Terrain had distinct effects on regional high temperature,that is,there was no hot weather with daily maximum temperature of≥35.0℃in mountainous areas with an altitude of≥1 200 m;temperature was abnormally high in low-lying areas surrounded by mountains.In addition,the Western Pacific subtropical high pressure was the main weather system leading to hot weather in Guilin.

Optimisation of Climate Robust Buildings under Summer Conditions with ＂Primero-Comfort＂ Simulation Software Including Detailed User Behaviour and Comfort Expectance

In this paper the possibilities for avoiding active air conditioning by all means of the room itself （window size, glazing, shading system, natural ventilation, and furniture）, artificial light and control strategy of these systems are investigated. A very important component of the system is the user with his ability to adapt to changing conditions in his surrounding and with his possibilities to manipulate the window, the shading system, the light switch etc. All these aspects interact together. It is necessary to optimize them simultaneously. But real planning often separates them into single sections. Simulation tools also handle normally only one or a few aspects, we know for example the thermal simulation or the daylight simulation. Primero-Comfort （2009） is a simulation tool based on energy＋, what is able to consider thermal simulation as well as daylight simulation as well as user behaviour in regard to the probability of window openings. The resulting thermal comfort is rated by an adaptive comfort model, the Dutch ISSO 74 （2004）. This allows designing office rooms more realistic. And it shows that an optimized solution has to include the interactions of aU mentioned aspects. Investigations with Primero-Comfort for a moderate European climate （Hamburg） show that a very good comfort can be reached only by passive means of building design also for hot summer weather just like the summer in the year 2003. The keys for such hot-summer-robust-buildings are night ventilation with height difference, heat protection glazing and good shading system, reduced internal heat gains for artificial light by accepting a threshold of 300 lx of daylight as comfortable and a reduced window size oriented on daylighting and the view out of the window.

Optical Sum Frequency Generation Spectroscopy of Cracked Non-Glutinous Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Kernels

In order to study the correlation between the cracking of rice (Oryza sativa L.) kernels and the molecular structure of the amylopectin in them, we attempted optical sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy in the C-H stretching vibration region for normal and cracked japonica non-glutinous rice kernels. The samples were Koshihikari and Nipponbare. In Nipponbare, the width of the SFG spectrum peak at 2915 cm- 1 of the cracked rice kernels was broader than that of the normal ones, while for Koshihikari there was no clear difference. The width of the 2915 cm- 1 peak is suggested to originate from the variety of the higher-order structure of the saccharide chains in amylopectin. Although this is a tentative result, this method is shown to have a potential of serving for preventing the cracking of the rice kernels.