19th International CODATA Conference
Category: Interoperability

Alternative Rainwater-Management and Improvement of the Mesoclimate in Urban Areas by Plant Based Surface Treatment Technology

Dr.rer.nat. Nikolaus Model (NikolausModel@aol.com), Leibniz-Institut für Agrartechnik Bornim, Germany
Dr.rer.agr. Felipe Omar Tapia Silva (otapia@centrogeo.org.mx), Centro de Investigación en Geografía y Geomática "Ing. Jorge L. Tamayo" A.C., Germany
Dipl.-Geogr. Anne Wehrmann (annewehrmann@hotmail.com), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin,  Geografisches Institut, Germany
Dr.agr. Hans-Joachim Henze (hans-joachim.henze@agrar.hu-berlin.de), Institut für Agrar- und Stadtökologische Projekte an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany

Extensive naturation of building surfaces and particularly naturation of tram track (TBN) can contribute considerably for an alternative rain water management, for a reduction of noise and for an improvement Mesoclimate in Urban Areas. It can be shown, that TBN reduct the noise, improve the mesoclima (especialy important for climate conditions with low exchange) and can contribute considerably for an alternative rain water management. We especially investigated a urban location in the German town Berlin. This location is a street in residential areas. The rain water cycle in towns is influenced negatively by sealing, traffic, inhabitant number and industry. The way of using the existing areas in the urban areas has a deciding influence on the distribution of precipitation, evaporation and drain and can therefore make rain water retention possible at the location. A model for the calculation of actual evapotranspiration and superficial flow was developed and tested. The combined use of the formula from FAO-Grass reference evapotranspiration (Wendling 1995) and the Development a reduction function for the calculation of actual evapotranspiration taking the change of the soil water reserve into account (Tapia 2002) have demonstrated their applicability. Its transferability for other places was confirmed by means of the examination of the computation results with the measured values. Correlation coefficients between measured and computed values are between 0,83 and 0,91 for daily and 0.9 and 0.99 for monthly computations. The model worked better for the summertime. In this measuring period largest amounts of precipitation and evaporation occur and the positive effect of naturation on the water regime and on the mesoclimate mostly takes place. On this basis, a computer-assisted model for water regime computation for the naturation of railways range can be developed.  An alternative rainwater management strategy has been designed. The noise reduction calculations with the forecast model ANIRAIL yielded a diminution of up to  8dB(A). It can be represented  the frequency dependent representation of the Noise Coefficient of  absorption  in dependence of the plant formation. The comparison of the noise coefficient of  absorption with  Gravel Track (Gravel High: 0,50 m) show very good properties of the extensive naturation of tram track. The improvement of the urban climate by naturation of tram track are computed.  The results show that the relative air humidity [%] is growing from 30 until 70 % (distance 100 m; height 2 m).  By means of the geographical informations system ArcView detailed estimations are made.