On Wednesday, February 5, CPO will host a webinar titled “Mapping Urban Heat with Community Science, Machine Learning, and Remote Sensing.” Urban heat island measuring and modeling expert, Dr. Vivek Shandas, will tease apart the varying approaches to observing, modeling, and mapping urban heat. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect occurs as a result of materials used in constructing cities which mediate the absorption and dissipation of the sun’s radiation differently than surroudning non-built areas, and can drive temperature differences across urban-rural gradients of 20 degrees F or more. Consequently, urban areas in the United States contain the hottest temperatures in comparison to their surrounding countryside.
Shandas will provide an overview of a relatively new machine learning method that incorporates conventional satellite remote sensing data and in situ observations of temperature and humidity from community science urban field campaigns. The webinar will cover the methods applied, results from past CPO-funded UHI campaigns, and lessons learned over the 20 different urban field campaigns conducted since 2015. It will also touch on the emerging plans for 2020 and how outcomes from previous campaigns are helping to inform its design.
