Local Climate Zones and urban morphology dataset to support numerical modelling in Greece

This dataset presents detailed 100-meter LCZ maps for the five most populated cities in Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa, Patras, and Heraklion), along with key urban form parameters, such as building height, and height-to-width ratio. These data were developed using a hybrid GIS-based and remote sensing-based framework that incorporates ultra-high-resolution elevation models (0.8 m), supported by Copernicus Earth Observation and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) datasets. Special attention was given to ensure seamless integration with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, enabling highly-resolved numerical weather analysis for the targeted urban areas. This was achieved by including in the dataset city-specific surface and urban canopy properties for each LCZ class, assigned through a Land Use / Land Cover (LU/LC) classification at 100 m spatial resolution in WRF compliant format. The LU/LC data were constructed by integrating the LCZ urban classes with CORINE land cover information for the natural areas.

The dataset is organized into three main directories: (i) Urban_Parameters, (ii) Local_Climate_Zones, and (iii) WRF_Input:(i) The Urban_Parameters directory contains 100-meter GeoTIFF maps of building heights (H) and height-to-width-ratios (H/W) for the five Greek cities., these are projected in UTM Zone 34N (EPSG:32634), except for Heraklion, which is provided in UTM Zone 35N (EPSG: 32635). The file naming convention follows the format: cityName_urbanParameter.tif (e.g., athens_buildingHeight.tif).(ii) The Local_Climate_Zones directory contains 100-meter GeoTIFF LCZ maps for five Greek cities (Athens, Thessaloniki, Larissa, Patras, and Heraklion). These maps include urban LCZ classes corresponding to LCZs 1 to 10 and LCZ E. Similar to the urban parameter’s maps, LCZs are projected in UTM Zone 34N, except for Heraklion (UTM Zone 35N). The file naming convention follows the format: cityName_lcz.tif (e.g., athens_lcz.tif). (iii) The WRF_Input directory is divided into three subdirectories:(a) CLC_LCZ_WRF_tif: This subdirectory contains merged CORINE Land Cover (CLC) and LCZ maps, forming a gridded Land Use / Land Cover (LU/LC) dataset, designed to be used as the input surface classes in WRF modelling. The maps are provided in GeoTIFF format in the same projections as the previous GeoTIFF files. The file naming convention follows the format: cityName_clc_lcz_WRF_version.tif (e.g., athens_clc_lcz_WRF_v1.tif).•    Version v1: Applicable to WRF versions prior to WRF version 4.4.2, with LCZs numbered from 31 to 41 •    Version v2: Applicable to WRF version 4.4.2. and later versions, with LCZs numbered from 51 to 61. (b) CLC_LCZ_WRF: This subdirectory includes the same LU/LC data as CLC_LCZ_WRF_tif, converted into binary format for compatibility with the WPS (WRF Pre-processing System) system and transformed into geographical coordinates. It is divided into further subdirectories named according to the format cityName_clc_lcz_WRF_version (e.g., athens_clc_lcz_WRF_v1) containing the binary files. The versioning of WRF follows the same logic as described above.(c) Urban_Parameters_WRF: This subdirectory contains city-specific surface and urban canopy properties (e.g., width of streets, building heights) for each LCZ class, stored in WRF compliant look-up tables (URBPARM_LCZ.TBL). The file naming convention for these files is: cityName_URBPARM_LCZ.TBL (e.g., athens_URBPARM_LCZ.TBL).