You can feel the heat rising from the pavement in the summer when you are in a city. Residential neighborhoods in cities get hotter than others just a few miles away.
Communities can experience heat wave conditions before officials declare a heat emergency.
Satellites and population data are used to map hot spots. Satellites like the Landsat program can be used to help cities prepare for and respond to extreme heat.
Is it possible to stop Earth from heating up?
The hottest neighborhoods are usually low-income and have a lot of Hispanics in them.
The Climate of London was the first to describe the urban heat island effect.
The atmospheric urban heat island is a type of heat island. Different ways are used to measure them.
The atmospheric urban heat island is the warmer air in urban areas compared to the cooler air outside.
The surface urban heat island is a result of the materials used to make it. The heat energy from the sun is absorbed by the materials and they warm rapidly and emit the absorbed energy. The heat can be felt when you touch them.
The atmospheric urban heat island is caused by the surface urban heat island. The heat island effect is caused by the removal of vegetation and urbanization.
Cities need to know which neighborhoods are at high risk because of rising global temperatures. The most at-risk residents don't have the financial resources to adapt to excessive heat, which can lead to dehydration, heat exhaustion, heat stroke and death.
Satellite instruments can help identify communities that are vulnerable to extreme heat.
Industrial and commercial zones are often among the hottest places in the city. They usually have less trees to cool the air and more pavement and buildings to keep the heat in.
Residential layout are more prone to higher surface temperatures. The neighborhoods usually have minimal vegetation, and homes are built close together, with little green space. In northern climates, bricks are often used to build homes to keep people warmer in the winter. A lot of apartment buildings and stores are surrounded by parking lots.
On warm summer days, low-income communities of color can experience extreme heat conditions that are ten degrees hotter than surrounding areas. There are similar differences among neighborhoods when it comes to heat exposure.
A recent study found that the poorer parts of the US were hotter than the wealthier ones. When adjusting for income, the neighborhoods with large Black, Hispanic and Asian populations were found to be in hotter areas than the other way around. The areas have a higher density of homes.
The early to mid-20th century used to be a time when banks used to deny loans to ethnic minorities. The former redlined neighborhoods were warmer than nonredlined areas.
The Landsat program, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2022, provides decades of continuous, comparable data in the detail needed to examine variations within a city, even though several satellite systems can now measure the surface urban heat island. Scientists can measure the impact of changes and track how development patterns change a neighborhood.
The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972 and had a sensor that collected data in green, red and near-IR. Scientists were able to map and measure the thermal characteristics of the Earth. Today, Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 are open, and a tenth is being developed.
The data can be used to help residents fight the heat.
Local government and faith-based organizations in Indianapolis use indicators of heat-health risk and past heat waves to highlight high-risk communities. Before and during periods of elevated temperatures, knowing which communities are likely to be at the highest risk allows them to reach the most vulnerable people.
The Cool Neighborhoods NYC program includes planting trees and vegetation to increase shade and evapotranspiration. Painting roofs and pavement light colors to reflect solar energy and educating at-risk communities about heat risk are some of the things discussed.
The thermal variations of the urban heat island can be monitored with the Landsat satellites' sensors. Satellite-based measurement is one of the best ways to monitor and respond to public health threats.
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