Is It Getting Hotter in Our Cities? It's the Urban Heat Island Effect!

Naturally Florida

Florida is known for being hot in the summer, but Florida cities are even hotter. Energy from the sun gets absorbed by buildings and paved areas (like roads) which makes the whole urban area significantly hotter than natural areas. This is a phenomenon known as an urban heat island. Today we are going to explore urban heat islands and their associated impacts on our natural world.

Learn more:

• Climate Kids - https://climatekids.nasa.gov/heat-islands/
• Learn About Heat Islands - https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/learn-about-heat-islands
• Planting Trees for Energy Savings - https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/design/landscaping-for-specific-sites/planting-trees-for-energy-savings.html
• Public health benefits of urban trees: https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/Public_Health_Benefits_Urban_Trees_FINAL.pdf

How You Can Help:

• Plant a tree – Planting trees that shade west and east-facing walls will help to keep your house cool during summer, but make sure to do your research so you plant the right tree in the right place. Find your local Extension office here: https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/find-your-local-office/ OR read information on planting trees: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdf%5CEP%5CEP31400.pdf
• Support green infrastructure - Let your city or town know that you value a greener city. Talk to commissioners, speak at meetings, and let your thoughts be heard! You can learn more about green infrastructure and its potential impact on your local built environment, HERE: https://soils.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/videos/low-impact-development/ OR http://www.pinellascounty.org/publicworks/pdf/green-infrastructure.pdf
• Encourage neighbors, family, friends, and local governments to keep current trees intact - Large, mature trees provide significant pollution removal among many other ecosystem services including mental and physical health benefits.

Sources for this Episode:

• Air Pollution Removal and Temperature Reductions by Gainesville’s Urban Forest - https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdf/FR/FR27800.pdf
• T. Chakraborty, X. Lee, "A simplified urban-extent algorithm to characterize surface urban heat islands on a global scale and examine vegetation control on their spatiotemporal variability", International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation. 74, 269-280, 2019.
• Volatile trees - https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/volatile-trees
  

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