Climate scientists from Hong Kong, China and the United States have found out in cities of what shape, square, round or triangular, have more precipitation. Earth’s Future reports on the findings of a team led by Jiachuan Yang of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
The scientists used a model of weather research and forecasting developed at the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research. The area of imaginary cities was the same – on 400 square kilometers.
As a result, it turned out that in round cities precipitation falls more often and their intensity is higher. This effect was more pronounced for coastal cities, which averaged 22% more precipitation than cities that were farther from the seashore. In addition, the morning peak rainfall intensity is 78% higher in circular cities than in triangular cities.
Studies like these are not just mind games. Their results will come in handy in the future, when already built and newly designed cities may be at risk of flooding due to global warming.