CAPAC (Climate And Pollution Analysis of Cairo)
Urban climate study of the mega city Cairo

CAPAC is an urban climate project in the megacity of Cairo/Egypt funded by SNF. The objective for the project was the fact that realizing an urban boundary layer experiment in a megacity of that size (> 20 million inhabitants) and in a developing country is a real challenge and there are until now only a few data available from big cities in arid environment. Starting with a small study in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, an extensive field campaign was conducted in Cairo from fall 2007 to spring 2008 with three energy balance stations and turbulence measurements operating continuously. Since Cairo is one of the three most polluted cities in the world additional measurements of particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5) were carried out at several locations spread over the city. The local partners were the Institute for Meteorology and Astronomy of Cairo University, the Egyptian Meteorological Authority (EMA) and the National Research Center. Several master and PhD theses were connected to this project, both at Basel University and Cairo University. In the CAPAC study both, field measurements and satellite data analysis were carried out.

BUBBLE-SARAH (Basel Urban Boundary Layer Experiment - Satellite Analysis of Radiation and Heat Fluxes)
International urban climate study in Basel using satellite data for spatially distributed heat flux computation

BUBBLE-SARAH  is a special SNF-project aimed at investigating spatially distributed radiation and heat fluxes by using high-resolution satellite data. Studies on the urban climate are often focused on either the exchange processes near the surface or the flow in its upper part - but rarely both aspects are given equal weight. During BUBBLE many research groups interested in the subject and representing both the above aspects in order to realise a joint project for the investigation of the urban boundary layer are brought together. BUBBLE was mainly aiming at improving air pollution models. To improve these models a better parameterization scheme of turbulence and heat fluxes is needed. Therefore it was decided to carry out some permanent measurements in combination with intensive field campaigns in the City of Basel. The research group expanded and most of the internationally well-known groups working in the field of urban climate were partners in the project. Groups from Canada, USA, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Australia and Switzerland were conducting a field campaign in summer 2002.