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https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1485
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1485
19 May 2025
 | 19 May 2025
Status: this preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).

GUST1.0: A GPU-accelerated 3D Urban Surface Temperature Model

Shuo-Jun Mei, Guanwen Chen, Jian Hang, and Ting Sun

Abstract. The escalating urban heat, driven by climate change and urbanization, poses significant threats to residents’ health and urban climate resilience. The coupled radiative-convective-conductive heat transfer across complex urban geometries makes it challenging to identify the primary causes of urban heat and develop mitigation strategies. To address this challenge, we develop a GPU-accelerated Urban Surface Temperature model (GUST) through CUDA architecture. To simulate the complex radiative exchanges and coupled heat transfer processes, we adopt Monte Carlo method, leveraging GPUs to overcome its computational intensity while retaining its high accuracy. Radiative exchanges are resolved using a reverse ray tracing algorithm, while the conduction-radiation-convection mechanism is addressed through a random walking algorithm. The validation is carried out using the Scaled Outdoor Measurement of Urban Climate and Health (SOMUCH) experiment, which features a wide range of urban densities and offers high spatial and temporal resolution. This model exhibits notable accuracy in simulating urban surface temperatures and their temporal variations across different building densities. Analysis of the surface energy balance reveals that longwave radiative exchanges between urban surfaces significantly influence model accuracy, whereas convective heat transfer has a lesser impact. To demonstrate the applicability of GUST, it is employed to model transient surface temperature distributions at complex geometries on a neighborhood scale. Leveraging the high computational efficiency of GPU, the simulation traces 10⁵ rays across 2.3×10⁴ surface elements in each time step, ensuring both accuracy and high-resolution results for urban surface temperature modeling.

Competing interests: Dr Ting Sun is a member of the editorial board of Geoscientific Model Development.

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this preprint. The responsibility to include appropriate place names lies with the authors.
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Shuo-Jun Mei, Guanwen Chen, Jian Hang, and Ting Sun

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Shuo-Jun Mei, Guanwen Chen, Jian Hang, and Ting Sun
Shuo-Jun Mei, Guanwen Chen, Jian Hang, and Ting Sun

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Short summary
Cities face growing heat challenges due to dense buildings, but predicting surface temperatures is complex because sunlight, airflow, and heat radiation interact. By simulating how sunlight bounces between structures and how heat transfers through materials, we accurately predicted temperatures on roofs, roads, and walls. The model successfully handled intricate city layouts thanks to GPU speed. By revealing which heat matters most, we aim to guide smarter city designs for a warming climate.
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