Validation of ENVI-met Model with In Situ Measurements Considering Spatial Characteristics of Land Use Types

This research measures and compares on-site net radiation energy, air temperature, wind speed, and surface temperature considering various spatial characteristics with a focus on land use types in urban areas in Changwon, Southern Gyeongsangnam-do, to analyze the accuracy of an ENVI-met model, which is an analysis program of microclimate. The on-site measurement was performed for three days in a mobile measurement: two days during the daytime and one day during the nighttime. The analysis using the ENVI-met model was also performed in the same time zone as the on-site measurement. The results indicated that the ENVI-met model showed higher net radiation than the on-site measurement by approximately during the daytime whereas the latter showed higher net radiation energy by approximately during the nighttime. The temperature was found to be much higher by approximately in the on-site measurement during both the daytime and nighttime. The on-site measurement also showed higher surface temperature than the ENVI-met by approximately . In terms of the wind speed, there was a significant difference between the results of the ENVI-met model and on-site measurement. As for the correlation between the results of the ENVI-met model and on-site measurement, the temperature showed significantly high correlation whereas the correlations for the net radiation energy, surface temperature, and wind speed were very low. These results appear to be affected by excessive or under estimation of solar and terrestrial radiation and climatic conditions of the surrounding areas and characteristics of land cover. Hence, these factors should be considered when applying these findings in urban and environment planning for improving the microclimate in urban areas.