Spend time in the summer city and feel the city heat rising from the pavement and the light from the buildings. Cities tend to be much warmer than the surrounding countryside, but even in cities, some residences are experiencing a much worse form of heat than others within a few miles.
On these “tropical islands,” communities can experience heat effects before officials declared an emergency.
I use earth-satellite satellites and human data to mark these topics, often in NASA projects. Satellites such as the Landsat system are essential in detecting urban hazards so cities can prepare and respond to extreme heat and hot killers.
Among the many things we have been able to track with satellite data with growing data is that grasslands are generally low-income and often have Black or Hispanic residents (which opens in a new tab).
There are two types of urban temperatures, both of which are dangerous
The effect of the tropical island was first described in 1818, more than 200 years ago, in “London Weather (opens in a new tab)” by Luke Howard, the first pioneer of meteorology.
There are two types of urban hot islands: tropical and high urban hot islands. They are measured in different ways.
Howard described the tropical island as simply the warmth of the urban landscape combined with the cool outdoor air.
The tropical island above results from heat-based materials, such as tar, concrete, and metal. Such materials are effective solar energy absorbers; their properties heat up rapidly and release energy absorbed. You can feel the heat when you touch them.
The tropical north island contributes directly to the tropical urban island and is usually very hot on sunny days. Living in cities also contributes to the island’s heat through deforestation and removing other vegetation that can provide some cooling.
