We are kicking off the Urban Heat Island Effect campaign today with a heat wave in the eastern United States. Many record temperatures were broken today with highs reaching 32 to 35 C. 53 sites around the world entered data already today, October 1, 2019. You can see that most of the observations were in places of the world where it has been pretty warm. The coolest observation came from Alaska.
My students, Shefa and Ahmad, took surface temperature observations of a grassy field in front of my building at the University of Toledo and then of the parking lot behind the building. Both surfaces were warm because it was a hot day today with a high of 33 C. I encourage all students to take observations of at least 2 cover types on the same day and about the same time.
You can see that Ahmad is pointing the infrared thermometer down, pull the button, and then read the value. We would like you to take 9 observations in each homogeneous area. Students can take less observations A homogeneous area is one that has the same cover type for observations. We hope that students take their observations and make them into a research project.
Students could look at air temperature data from GIS mapping. There are more and more schools who are putting up weather stations so that weather is monitored through GLOBE 24/7. For a Urban Heat Island Effect research project a student can look at the difference in temperature between school locations and see which ones are hottest.
I hope we have a great campaign. The autumnal equinox just occurred and we are headed toward winter. Dr. C
