The CLARITY Climate Services Information System - Modelling chain supporting urban climate change resilience

By combining different layers of data, climate services aim at translating state-of-the art climate science to information that can efficiently be incorporated in (urban) planning processes. Within the EU-Horizon-2020 funded project CLARITY (www.clarity-h2020.eu), a standardized methodological framework as well as expert knowledge are united in a new generation climate service, specifically designed to assess adaptation measures at the city level under the effects of weather extremes in the context of climate change. To assess these effects, climate indices derived from observations as well as from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change climate projections are used to determine changes in climate extremes. To address the fine spatial scales (100 m) relevant for urban planning, regional climate model results are downscaled using a dynamical-statistical method. As a result, this modelling chain provides urban microclimate projections and enables climate sensitivity simulations of adaptation measures (e.g. the effect of green roofs, blue infrastructure changes) on the urban scale. Here, the CLARITY-developed modelling chain will be discussed in detail, and results will be shown for the project’s test sites. In addition, the usage of these methods within the CLARITY climate service as well as the connection to urban climate change resilience will be highlighted.