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US communities are mapping heat islands to increase climate resilience – AFR


The phone’s home screen shows 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 C) on a day in mid-August in Silver Spring, a Washington suburb. But the reality is more complex – not all parts of the city are equal in terms of heat exposure.

Maria Velez, 53, knows she’s lucky to live next to a stream. A stone’s throw from her house, other neighborhoods with small apartment buildings are much more built-up and much less green.

This is the perfect recipe for creating heat islands that sometimes record much higher temperatures in just a few streets.

The phenomenon is becoming increasingly dangerous due to the global climate crisis.

In the United States — where hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding are a fact of life — the meteorological phenomenon that kills the most is none other than heat.

That’s why Velez, a resident concerned about the issue, decided to take part in a campaign aimed at mapping these heat islands in Montgomery County, where she lives, just north of the American capital.

The initiative is led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which for the past six years has allowed residents to survey about 70 counties across the country.

“I signed up straight away,” Velez, a professor of criminology, told AFP. “I thought that’s exactly what the county should be doing. We should learn what is happening with climate change and what impact it is having.”

She and her husband hang what looks like a can on the end of a pole from the passenger side of their gray family car. Once switched on, the device records temperature, humidity, time and its exact position every second.

The couple were assigned a route of about 17 km (10.6 miles), to be traveled at no more than 55 km/h (35 miles per hour), covering a large part of the city.

Within an hour, they return to their starting point, where county officials are waiting for them, fetching the sensor and noting any difficulties encountered – in their case, a failed roundabout exit that prompted them to make two turns.

T-shirts with the inscription “Street Scientist” will be distributed as a thank you.

– Historical inequalities –

In all, more than a hundred people took part in the experiment that day: 57 teams of two rode 19 different routes, covering around 200 square miles.

Temperature was measured three times a day along each route: at 6:00 am, 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm.

The program was a success that surprised even the organizers: almost 600 residents had registered to participate, 500 had to be turned down.

The chosen few were offered a few tens of dollars for their time, but more than 60 percent didn’t take the money.

The sensors were then sent to partner company CAPA Strategies, which took weeks to analyze the data and turn it into detailed maps showing the hottest spots.

“Low-income and communities of color tend to be the hardest hit,” Gretchen Goldman, a climate scientist with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy who was present for the occasion, told AFP.

An important study of Richmond, Virginia, showed the impact old discriminatory policies still have.

“Redlining,” in which banks restricted home loans to residents of certain poor black neighborhoods marked with a red line on maps, increased segregation — with today’s hotter communities as a result.

“We could see the impact of these discriminatory policies decades later,” Goldman said.

– change cities –

Adapting to increasingly extreme heat waves fueled by climate change is becoming increasingly important.

Today the number of days above 90°F in Montgomery County is about 19 per year. In 2050 it will be 70 days, according to Ken Graham, director of the National Weather Center, which is part of NOAA.

Urban heat islands form because the sun’s heat is absorbed more by impermeable surfaces such as concrete, roads, buildings than, for example, grass or water.

Planting trees is therefore essential, but other solutions are also being developed, such as ultra-reflective paints.

Thanks to the mapping campaigns that have been carried out in recent years, “there have been parks being built in some of these communities, there have been roofing changes, a dark roof versus a light roof,” Graham said.

This is just a taste of the future we need to prepare for, he said. “It will take us all to be a climate friendly nation. And if we work together, we can make it happen.”

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