Skip to main content
European Commission logo
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
CORDIS Web 30th anniversary CORDIS Web 30th anniversary

Surface Urban Heat Island at High Spatio-Temporal Resolution

Project description

Innovative approach to measuring land surface temperature

Cities have undergone rapid population growth in recent decades, leading to Urban Heat Island (UHI) concerns, which refers to the temperature differential between urban areas and their surroundings. This phenomenon is of significant concern for cities in light of climate change. Understanding the spatial variability of UHI is crucial for policymakers to acquire high-quality information for prevention and mitigation, especially during periods of extreme heat. While satellite data has offered valuable insights into surface UHI, the resolution remains limited. The MSCA-funded SUHIST project aims to develop a new method for accurately estimating land surface temperatures (LST) at an unprecedented resolution. The project will assess the diurnal cycle of SUHI across 24 European cities, analysing its variability in cities with diverse climate characteristics.

Objective

The fast growing of cities population in the last decades, which is projected to be continued in the following, requires a better understanding of urban climatology and atmospheric conditions, looking for the benefit of citizens life. In a fast warming world due to climate change, the UHI, defined as the temperature difference between the urban area and its surroundings, is a major concern in the cities. UHI has been traditionally studied with localised in-situ air temperature measurements, i.e. taking the difference between a representative value of the city and of the suburban area, thereby limited by its spatial representability. However, a deep comprehension of UHI spatial variability is essential for supplying policy-makers with high-quality information to plan, prevent and mitigate the UHI effect, especially relevant under extreme heat conditions. While satellite thermal infrared (TIR) data provided new valuable insights in surface UHI (SUHI), these are still limited by the compromise between the spatial and temporal resolution of TIR satellite sensors. In this action, we will develop a novel methodology to estimate high-accuracy (<2 K) land surface temperatures (LST) at unprecedent high spatio-temporal resolution, i.e. 100 m at four different times. The ADTC model will be applied to ECOSTRESS LST data, which will be refined in synergy MODIS LST data. The SUHI diurnal cycle will be evaluated over 24 European cities to analyse the SUHI variability at European cities with different climate characteristics. The project outcomes are expected to have a relevant impact on economy and society, since the high-resolution data produced in the project will be provided to policy-makers and to urban and health planning related sectors. In addition, findings from the project will be communicated to general public and students in collaboration with local institutions and universities.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Coordinator

FUNDACION CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS AMBIENTALES DEL MEDITERRANEO
Net EU contribution
€ 165 312,96
Address
CALLE CHARLES R DARWIN 14
46980 Paterna
Spain

See on map

Region
Este Comunitat Valenciana Valencia/València
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost
No data