Extreme heat in US cities revealed at high resolution

Recent heat waves in the United States highlight a growing public health threat: extreme heat events are increasing, warmer and more frequent. Flood temperatures increase the risk of various health problems, such as heat stroke and cardiovascular disease, especially for the elderly, people with pre -existing conditions and people working outside.

Understanding these risks and how to manage them requires epidemiological research on exposure to heat in cities where most American residents live. However, scientific instruments to measure urban temperatures are often located in airports, rather than in city centers, where temperatures are generally higher than in surrounding rural regions. Thus, these tools often do not adequately capture the so-called effect of the urban heat island.

A new method to measure exposure to heat, created by Eva Marquès and Kyle Messier, can identify the urban heat islands which are not detected before. The researchers’ approach operates Crowdsourcé data from thousands of personal weather stations already installed by residents looking for precise meteorological information.

The new method, published in GeohealthUse a statistical technique known as the Bayesian hierarchical modeling, which helps take into account uncertainty in Crowdsourced temperature data. To demonstrate its capacities, the researchers applied the method to four urban areas with distinct climates and geography: New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix and “Triangle” of North Carolina, which includes Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.

Compared to existing tools, the new method has captured urban air temperatures at a much higher resolution. He identified urban heat islands which were previously detected in an imprecise or not at all, such as hot spots grouped in Philadelphia. In addition, he recognized the cooling effects of urban green spaces, such as the New York Central Park.

He worked well at high and low temperatures, especially during the hottest month in Phoenix (July 2023) and a cold blizzard event in Philadelphia and New York in January 2021. The new method also revealed that compared to other areas of the same city, more densely populated neighborhoods were more likely to feel hot and hot temperatures.

The researchers have put their method accessible to the public in the hope that this will help research on the impact on heat heat. This work could also help to shed light on public health initiatives to support communities faced with extreme heat, they say.

This story is republished with the kind authorization of EOS, organized by the American Geophysical Union. Read the original story here.