(Head of Research Group)

ANTÓNIO LOPES
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Ph.D. in Physical Geography, University of Lisbon, 2004. Assistant Professor of IGOT-UL (Institute of Geography and Spatial Panning of the University of Lisbon). Teaching in graduate and master courses in Climatology, Ecology and urban environment, GIS and Cartography; Thermal Remote Sensing; Landscape Ecology; Environmental Modelling. Invited professor in the Instituto Superior Técnico - IST (2000-2007) and Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa ISCTE (2003-2005). Research training in LNEC - Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (1999-2003). Participation in projects: RAIDEN - Lightning activity in Portugal; DISASTER - GIS database on hydro-geomorphologic disasters in Portugal; Urban Tourism and Climate Change; URBKLIM Climate and Urban Sustainability; CLIMLIS Climatic Principles in Urban Planning; Human Bioclimatology of Lisbon. Main Research interest: Urban and Regional Climate; Thermal Remote Sensing; Energy and Environment. Prize: Scientific Recognition Award, Portuguese Network of Healthy Cities 2005.

This PhD Thesis was supported by the CLIMLIS project "Prescription of climatic principles in urban planning. Application to Lisbon", (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - Science and Technology Foundation of Portugal), POCTI/1999/GEO/34683, financed by FEDER.

ABSTRACT
This work has two parts: 1) In the first, the modifications of the wind fields caused by the urban growth were studied. Numeric models wind tunnel studys were used to show the modifications of the wind speed in a regional to local scale. In the second part of this work the surface urban heat island and the energy heat balance were studied. The main goal of this part was to show how the different surfaces energetically behave and what kind of changes will take place in the next years with the expansion of Lisbon. Lisbon urban climate, wind fields modifications, surface urban heat island, urban energy balance, thermal remote sensing . This PhD Thesis was supported by the CLIMLIS project "Prescription of climatic principles in urban planning. Application to Lisbon", (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - Science and Technology Foundation of Portugal), POCTI/1999/GEO/34683, financed by FEDER. The city growth to the north modifies the wind fields significantly. The increase of the roughness, with the urban expansion until the eighties, reduced the average wind speed about 30%, in the south of the city, situation that becomes worse in the Summer, when the Nortada (a persistent and sometimes strong summer northern wind) occurs. If the roughness (z0) goes up to 1.5 m one can expect an even greater reduction. These results were confirmed with the wind tunnel experiments. There is a good agreement between air and surface heat island . During the night, a surface urban heat island occurs in the center of the city, with a maximum intensity in the winter, but less frequent in the summer. At this time of the year it is frequent the downtown districts to be cooler than the suburbs, originating a cool heat island. A LANDSAT TM image, a DTM and the appropriate algorithms were used to estimate the net all wave radiation and the heat balance in Lisbon, in summer. These balances are clearly modified by the city when compared with the suburb areas, and depend on the urban morphology. The albedo and the surface temperatures are the main factors that modify the net all wave radiation. The predicted heat balance modifications in the next years, should happen in the areas that will form new urban nuclei. If the construction rules include green spaces, the urban areas will have similar characteristics to fresher neighborhoods in Summer, and comfort should be a quality preferred by citizens. If construction proceeds in the northern districts, the new urban areas will form a compact barrier to the prevailing north wind. This should be
environmentally incorrect because such barrier is an obstruction to good ventilation conditions in the city, and will contribute to the increase of pollution episodes, the intensity of heat waves and the decrease of comfort. Furthermore, if no environmental concerns will continue in
planning practice in Lisbon, the new urban spaces will be thermally uncomfortable. This will lead to the questions of energy consumption waste and urban sustainable in the future city.

PUBLICATIONS

International peer-reviewed journals

2011

Lopes, A.; Saraiva, J.; Alcoforado, M.J. (2011) – Urban boundary layer wind speed reduction in summer due to urban growth and environmental consequences in Lisbon, Environmental Modelling & Software, 26(2): 241-243.

Proceedings from International Conferences

2010

Couto, J.; Lopes, A. (2010) – A informação climática disponibilizada pelas agências e operadores turísticos. In Figueiredo et al (Eds.), Actas do II Workshop Clima e Recursos Naturais (reviewed), IPB, Bragança:363-370.

Lopes, A.; Lopes, S.; Matzarakis, A.; Alcoforado, M.J. (2010). Summer sea breeze influence on human comfort in Funchal (Madeira Island) – Application to urban climate and tourism planning. In Matzarakis et al (Eds.), Berichte des Meteorologischen Instituts der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg Nr. 20, Proceedings of the 7th Conference on Biometeorology (extended abstract): 352-357.

Lopes, A.; Fragoso, M.; Madeira, J.; Meneses, B.; Faria, L.; Reuter, M. (2010) – Metodologias de análise do potencial eólico na região de Cascais. In Figueiredo et al (Eds.), Actas do II Workshop Clima e Recursos Naturais (reviewed), IPB, Bragança:297-305.

Lopes, A.; Lopes, S. (2010) – Brisas marítimas estivais e sua influência nos padrões térmicos e no conforto humano no Funchal (Madeira). In Figueiredo et al (Eds.), Actas do II Workshop Clima e Recursos Naturais (reviewed), IPB, Bragança:317-325.


Fragoso, M. e Lopes, A. Gomes,P. (2010) - Episódios de ventos fortes na região de Lisboa: classificação de tipos de circulação e caracterização de um caso de estudo notável. In Figueiredo, T.; Frölen, L.; Ribeiro, A. (Eds.) Livro de Actas do II Workshop Clima e Recursos Naturais 2010 nos Países de Língua Portuguesa, Bragança, 15-19 Novembro, Bragança (Portugal), pp. 251-258 (ISBN:978-972-745-114-2)