On Wednesday, May 19th from 12-1pm, the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) and the Office of Education will co-host a OneNOAA Science webinar highlighting NOAA and community-led urban heat island mapping campaigns. The webinar will explore how increasing community engagement in both understanding and measuring urban heat using a novel participatory research campaign framework can lead to climate action efficacy in U.S. cities.
The increasing intensity, duration, and frequency of heat waves due to human-caused climate change puts historically underserved populations in a heightened state of precarity; studies observe that “vulnerable” communities—especially those within urban areas in the United States—are disproportionately exposed to and affected by extreme heat. However, existing data on weather and climate variables are either too sparse or too coarse geographically to adequately describe risks to public health, infrastructure, and ecosystems at the local scale.
The webinar will show how scientifically-defensible “hyperlocal” descriptions of place with community participation directly fulfills NOAA’s mission while advancing environmental justice, community environmental literacy, and climate resilience more broadly.
Speakers will include Jeremy Hoffman, PhD, Chief Scientist, Science Museum of Virginia; and Vivek Shandas, PhD, Professor of Climate Adaptation, Portland State University.
