JapanFlux2024 JP-Kgu Kugahara urban residential area

In view of the global increase in atmospheric CO2, information on the vertical profile of CO2 concentration within and above urban canopies is important for gaining an understanding of the CO2 exchange process between cities and the atmosphere. Field experimental data on the vertical profile are also quite useful to evaluate modeling and wind tunnel experiments on the dispersion of scalars such as air pollutants within urban canopies.
A set of observations was done during November and December 2004 in a low-storied residential area in Kugahara, Tokyo, Japan. The observation towers was installed in the backyard of a home. The residential area consisted of houses with a mean height of 7.3 m, paved roads and small playgrounds. Flat, uniform terrain extends over 1 km to the South, West and North from the tower. The terrain within 200 m to the East is gently slanting down with an inclination angle of 5.7. About 33% of the area was buildings, 22% was vegetation and 23% was impervious space such as paved roads and concrete. The tower is located 5 m away from a nearest building and 4 m away from an adjacent road. This road has almost no traffic. Therefore, the effect of traffic can be almost ignored especially for the observations within the canopy.