National Integrated Heat Health Information System

A new clinician-focused webinar series, titled "Climate Change and Human Health" organized by Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) with contributions from several NIHHIS partners, is now open for registration.  The purpose of this 7-week course, which runs from Feb. 17 - April 7, 2021, is to help clinicians and other medical professionals better understand the ways in which climate variability and change impact human health and health care facilities. Another goal is to help clinicians become more conversant in climate science and climate-related impacts so that they may integrate climate science information into their communications with patients as well as their long-term resilience planning for their facilities.

Applications to run a Heat Watch community science urban heat island (UHI) mapping campaigns in 2021 have been reviewed, and applicants are being asked to confirm participation. As they do, we will post the confirmed communities here. Please note that this activity is still pending availability of funds, as we have not yet received our final fiscal year 2021 budget allocation for this line of work.

“From using machine learning to develop critical atmospheric datasets to creating an experimental system for rapidly assessing causes of extreme events, these new awards will expedite climate science discoveries and build the library of resilience solutions needed to protect all sectors of our economy and environment.”

The successful community science campaign leveraged NOAA leadership and scientific rigor with the additional organization of local community and government groups to compile a heat dataset that can be used to minimize extreme heat risk in cities across the country.