A 3D optimal control problem related to the urban heat islands

Within the framework of numerical simulation and optimal control of partial differential equations, in this work we deal with the mathematical modelling and control of the processes related to the urban heat island effect. In particular, we are interested in finding the optimal locations of green zones inside metropolitan areas in order to mitigate the consequences of this harmful phenomenon. So, we consider a three-dimensional climate model and formulate a constrained optimal control problem, that is extensively analyzed in the first part of the paper. Then, we propose a complete numerical algorithm for its resolution, interfacing the interior point algorithm IPOPT with the FreeFem++ software package. Finally, we present several numerical tests for a simple realistic case, where the advantages of our approach are shown.