Mid-Atlantic Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (MARISA), a NOAA CAP/RISA team, graduate student Rui Shi and co-investigators Benjamin Hobbs and Debra Knoppman have published a new adaptation tool, City-Heat Equity Adaptation tool (City-HEAT). The urban heat island effect makes cities hotter than rural areas due to the increased concrete and pavement absorbing heat.
With extreme heat events growing in intensity, frequency, and duration, cities are using various heat adaptation strategies to improve public health and social equity. City-HEAT supports urban heat adaptation planning through the optimization of multiple adaptation objectives, consider numerous future scenarios and adaptation actions, and generate adaptive plans at fine temporal (annual) and spatial (sub-city) resolutions. City-HEAT can be adapted to the natural, built, and social environments for researchers and city-planners to support local city heat adaptation planning.
For more information, contact Jessica Garrison.
Image credit: Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg News