Diffuse light in urban environment: A new model, which embraces the optical properties of a local urban atmosphere

No.: VEGA
Duration: 1.1.2020 – 31.12.2023
Teamleader: M. Kocifaj
Team members: A. Kocifajová, L. Kómar, J. Petržala, S. Wallner

Annotation:
Due to elevated contamination by aerosols the diffuse light field in an urban environment differs from what we observe in city surroundings. The impacts on indoor daylight climate from different atmospheric turbidity conditions are also linked to emission sources in a city. Specifically, industry, public transportation, or construction work can produce particles that remain suspended in urban air for days or weeks and change the diffuse-light signatures. No quantification of the phenomena exists, no designed experiments have been performed and the theoretical development is in its infancy. Predictions from the present models are not accurate enough, so it is a great challenge of this project to develop a new optical model of urban atmosphere that 1) accounts for local scale parameters, 2) is applicable to arbitrary conditions, 3) can improve predictions of the diffuse-light patterns in a city, and 4) can be used by experts who deal with daylight and daylighting technologies.