Articles | Volume 18, issue 23
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-9945-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
Traffic impact modelling in SURFEX-TEB V9.0 model for improved road surface temperature prediction
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- Final revised paper (published on 11 Dec 2025)
- Preprint (discussion started on 10 Jul 2025)
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor
| : Report abuse
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-2777', Anonymous Referee #1, 29 Jul 2025
- AC2: 'Reply on RC1', Gabriel Colas, 13 Oct 2025
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-2777', Anonymous Referee #2, 06 Aug 2025
- AC1: 'Reply on RC2', Gabriel Colas, 13 Oct 2025
Peer review completion
AR – Author's response | RR – Referee report | ED – Editor decision | EF – Editorial file upload
AR by Gabriel Colas on behalf of the Authors (24 Oct 2025)
Author's response
Author's tracked changes
Manuscript
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (27 Oct 2025) by Ting Sun
RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (31 Oct 2025)
ED: Publish as is (31 Oct 2025) by Ting Sun
AR by Gabriel Colas on behalf of the Authors (05 Nov 2025)
This study implemented the 4-wheel vehicle in the TEB model and examined its impact on surface temperature, considering factors such as anthropogenic heat, tire friction, and radiation modification. The study and the model development show great significance. The study can be published with some points being clarified and improved. Please see below comments:
Introduction:
2nd paragraph: Two more previous studies may also be interesting to the authors and provide insights. Chen et al. (2021) studied the 3D vehicle heat impact on the urban thermal environment in Hong Kong by modifying the WRF-SLUMC model, and later studied the impact of electric vehicles. The vehicle heat includes both spatial and temporal information. And consider the components of different vehicle types. Their studies also pointed out the seasonal variation of the vehicle heat impact
1.Chen, X., Yang, J.*, Zhu, R., Wong, M. S., & Ren, C. (2021). Spatiotemporal impact of vehicle heat on urban thermal environment: A case study in Hong Kong. Building and Environment, 205, 108224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108224
2.Chen, X., & Yang, J.* (2022). Potential benefit of electric vehicles in counteracting future urban warming: a case study of Hong Kong. Sustainable Cities and Society, 104200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2022.104200
Modelling strategy:
As mentioned in Sections 2.1 and 2.2, the heterogeneity of the road, wind conditions, and traffic is simplified to use average values. Several point needs further clarification: 1) How does the model consider different vehicle types providing different areas of shading? 2) And how does the model consider different vehicle types with different percentages of the total vehicle amount releasing different anthropogenic heat due to varied energy efficiency? 3) How does the model consider whether there is a vehicle on the street or not at different times throughout the study period?
Methods:
I suggest that authors list the surface energy balance before and after considering the traffic to demonstrate clearly how the traffic related process modifies the surface energy balance and then further changes the estimation of the surface temperature.
Experimental set-up and model configurations:
The estimation from ICCT needs more clarification; it is not clear to me with the current information.
Results:
Fig. 5a and b, are they Delta T or T, or the values subtracted from the observation values? Please make it clear.
Section 5.2:
I would suggest that authors list all simulation cases, including those with different physical processes again, to remind the reader.
The lines in Fig. 7 are not very clear; consider increasing the height-to-width ratio of each sub-figure. The explanation and discussion of Fig. 7 are also not clear and robust enough. For example, the explanation of the less impact from the heat release is not robust and persuasive.
The figure legends in Figs. 7 and 8 are different; the same text is assigned a different color, which is confusing. Besides, for the same text in the two figures, do they indicate the same case? Please also clarify how to calculate the temperature difference (ΔTs). I suggest that the present values directly represent the impact, negative for cooling and positive for warming.
The results shown by Figures 7 and 8 are very interesting and important. However, the current description and discussion are not clear and comprehensive. I would encourage a more straightforward description and discussion of the mechanisms, for instance, including more discussion on the seasonal and diurnal variation.
Please maintain a consistent unit of temperature throughout the entire manuscript. And also consider using different line styles.
The whole description and discussion for Fig. 9 are missing.