Mete Tayanç

"The urbanization process generally involves changes in lifestyle, culture and behavior, and thus differences in demographic, economic and social structures emerge between urban and rural areas. It is particularly important to investigate the effects of urbanization in developing countries. The biggest reason for this is the population explosions in the cities of these countries and the massive migration of people from villages to cities. This has created irregular settlements and caused cities to grow rapidly and chaotically. Our country has also had its share of this migration in the past, with the populations of our big cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir increasing rapidly, while the populations of villages and towns have decreased rapidly. Among all the environmental problems brought about by urbanization and industrialization, the interactive process with climate change and the phenomenon of urban heat islands have long attracted the attention of scientists. The urban heat island is the phenomenon of cities experiencing significantly higher temperatures than rural areas. This phenomenon emerges as a result of modern urbanization and makes the effects of climate change more pronounced in the direction of warming. The urban heat island is shaped by a combination of factors such as dense construction, asphalt roads and decreasing green areas. Surfaces such as concrete and asphalt absorb sunlight, retain heat and play an important role in increasing the overall temperature of cities. This study aims to provide a better understanding of city climatology and urban heat island characteristics, and to guide strategic authorities, scientists and policy makers such as relevant ministries, local governments, public health authorities, climate scientists, urban planners. The findings and recommendations presented in this study can form the basis for local and national climate change mitigation, adaptation and action plans and strategic reports prepared in this context."

Climate change, a significant global issue, has recently become a pivotal area for many researchers. Climate is defined as the long-term average of meteorological parameters such as temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and air pressure of a region. Precipitation is an important climatic parameter that can be variable at the temporal and spatial scales. A half-century precipitation dataset was selected and analyzed to reveal the effects of global climate change on the rainfall amounts of Türkiye. Precipitation data of each geographical region have been analyzed with respect to annual and seasonal basis in the period of 1969-2018. For this purpose, the non-parametric Mann-Kendall trend test which is recommended by World Meteorological Organizations (WMO) and linear regression method have been implemented to each geographical region of Türkiye. As a result of analysis belonging to 85 meteorological stations, the presence of any increasing and decreasing linear trends in annual and seasonal precipitation series have been studied on a regional scale. While the Black Sea Region has the highest increase with 148 mm/50 years, the total annual precipitation in the Southeastern Anatolia Region has decreased by 3.2 mm/50 years. Another important finding of linear regression has been observed that increase in precipitation has occurred in the Black Sea Region in all seasons, as a consequence of seasonal analysis. To determine whether these trends are statistically significant, we used Mann-Kendall test results. The test proved the existence of an increasing trend at 99% significance level in the annual precipitation series of the Black Sea Region. A statistically significant increasing trend was also obtained for the autumn season of the Black Sea Region at a 95% confidence level.

This study aims to develop an optimization model for obtaining the maximum benefit from wind power plants (WPPs) to help with reducing external dependence in terms of energy. In this sense, design of experiment and optimization methods are comprehensively combined in the wind energy field for the first time. Existing data from installed WPPs operating in Turkey for the years of 2017 and 2018 are analyzed. Both the individual and interactive effects of controllable factors, namely turbine power (MW), hub height (m) and rotor diameter (m), and uncontrollable factor as wind speed (m/s) on WPPs are investigated with the help of Box-Behnken design. Nonlinear optimization models are utilized to estimate optimum values for each decision variable in order to maximize the amount of energy to be produced for the future. Based on the developed nonlinear optimization models, the optimum results with high desirability value (0.9587) for the inputs of turbine power, hub height, rotor diameter and wind speed are calculated as 3.0670 MW, 108.8424 m, 106.7597 m, and 6.1684 m/s, respectively. The maximum energy output with these input values is computed as 9.952 million kWh per unit turbine, annually. The results of this study can be used as a guideline in the design of new WPPs to produce the maximum amount of energy contributing to supply escalating energy needs by more sustainable and clean ways for the future.