HUSCO

Hamburg Urban Soil Climate Observatory (HUSCO): Impact of moisture and energy fluxes of urban soils on local climate

A joint research project together with the Institute of Soil Science

The climate in cities differs from that in the surrounding area as the natural energy and water budgets are known to be influenced by the modified surfaces. Apart from that, urban soil themselves are highly heterogeneous on the small scale and feature anthropogenic alterations. Whether this variability contributes to the formation of urban microclimatic effects is observed within the project HUSCO (Hamburg Urban Soil Climate Observatory).

Therefore, a network of meteorological and pedological stations provides data in high temporal resolution since 2010 regarding soil physical and atmospherical parameters at different urban and suburban sites in Hamburg.

The project HUSCO, running from 2009 to 2016, aimed at gaining more detailed knowledge about the interactions between soil and atmosphere in the urban environment. The focus was on quantifying the heterogeneity of the urban climate experimentally – by taking the example of Hamburg. One core topic in this theme complex that can be studied well in Hamburg is the potential influence of groundwater table depth. Therefore, the exemplary examination of the climate function of soils was conducted with reference to different soil water budgets within typical urban structural units. The local effect of groundwater table depth and soil physical properties is to be observed using data of long-term meausurements of soil hydrological parameters, atmospherical parameters and exchange fluxes. The results of this project can provide useful information to make more concise predictions about the effects of climate change in urban areas and to develop adaptation strategies for urban planning.

Long-term measurements startes in early summer 2010 in three districts of Hamburg, complimented by three additional districts four years later. Even after the completion of HUSCO, the meteorological (and some soil physical) measurements in Hamburg continue. At present the network includes:

• 10 MeteoStations (air temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind, surface temperature, air pressure, solar radiation, soil heat flux)
• 7 SoilStations (in five depths down to 1,6m: soil water content, soil water tension, soil temperature)
• one Eddy Covariance System (turbulent fluxes)

Cooperation partners

• Behörde für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt Hamburg (Abt. Vorsorgender Bodenschutz)
• Tierpark Hagenbeck Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mbH
• Deutsche Telekom Netzproduktion GmbH
• Deutsche Funkturm GmbH
• HafenCity GmbH
• Bezirksamt Hamburg-Mitte / Bezirksamt Hamburg-Nord
• Zollamt Oberelbe
• Isuf e. V., Bauspielplatz Tweeltenmoor, Hamburg
• Albrecht-Thaer-Gymnasium HH-Stellingen
• Nelson-Mandela-Schule HH-Kirchdorf

The follow-up project to HUSCO deals with the "Meteorological characterization of forcing and urban response for climate model assessment". It is part of the BMBF-funded Project "Urban Climate under change" [UC]².
Link: www.uc2-3do.org

For more information go to www.clisap.de/husco.

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