Impact of a moderate water stress on the climatic services provided by street trees: an experimental study inside an outdoor canyon street scale model

35ème colloque de l'Association Internationale de Climatologie - AIC 2022, TOULOUSE, FRANCE, 06-/07/2022 - 09/07/2022With climate change, cities are experiencing more frequent heatwaves which are also enhanced by the urban characteristics. The cast shadows and evapotranspiration provided by street trees appear to be able to mitigate the cities microclimate but might depend on the trees water supply. In this study, the climatic benefits (air temperature reduction, Universal Thermal Climate Index) provided by street trees (Malus Coccinella® "Courtarou") located in a 1/5 scale canyon street model and exposed to a moderate water restriction were monitored during a 10 days sunny and warm period in July 2021. Although the trees experiencing water restriction reduced their transpiration, they maintained a level of benefits close to that of the well-watered trees probably because the radiation interception by their foliage was still important