The study of the urban microclimate by means of public transport systems

The Department of Energetics and Environmental Researches (DREAM) of the University of Palermo has implemented a new technique for the assessment of the urban microclimate using data acquisition equipments installed on vehicles of the urban transport system. These instruments, equipped with various kinds of sensors, are able to measure the most important weather and climate quantities and the most relevant pollution parameters and to save the position data (latitude, longitude, altitude, speed) by means of a Global Positioning System (GPS). Data can be downloaded from a remote station through the GSM mobile phone network. These equipments, continuously moving across the urban area, could integrate the data from existing fixed stations, and create a virtual network of hundreds of measuring points. In the field of the pollution control they can contribute to the characterization of causes, the localization of sources and to the application and check of control strategies with a relevant spin-off to traffic planning. In the paper the first results of the measuring campaigns carried out in the towns of Palermo and Messina and some applications of the acquired data are reported.