Widespread Race and Class Disparities in Surface Urban Heat Extremes Across the United States

Benz, Susanne A.; Burney, Jennifer

doi:10.1029/2021ef002016

Cited by 69 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Coarse to medium-resolution T s from satellites have been used for hotspot analysis within cities (Hulley et al, 2019;Maimaitiyiming et al, 2014;Mentaschi et al, 2022). Several studies have taken advantage of the spatial continuity of satellite observations to map intra-urban variability of T s across cities with implications for environmental disparities (Benz & Burney, 2021;Hsu et al, 2021). We find that for the cities considered here, T s is a poor proxy for the intra-urban variability in HI 0 or other heat indices (including humidex, used in heat warning systems).…”

Section: Deficiencies In Surface Temperature For Studying Urban Areasmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Several studies (Benz & Burney, 2021;Hsu et al, 2021;Hulley et al, 2019;Maimaitiyiming et al, 2014) have examined intra-urban variability in temperature using satellite-derived T s . To test whether T s is a useful proxy for urban HI 0 variability within cities, we calculate the intra-urban gradients in T s , T a , RH, and HI 0 using those clusters (153 for Aqua and 155 for Terra) with enough (>10) CWSs in each decile neighborhood and the rural background (see Section 2; Figure 5).…”

Section: Spatial Gradients In the Urban Thermal Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Satellite-derived T s is widely used for urban research (Bechtel et al, 2019;Benz & Burney, 2021;Clinton & Gong, 2013;Manoli et al, 2019;Paschalis et al, 2021;Zhou et al, 2018). For observational studies, this is due to the availability of global and spatially continuous satellite measurements, which enable, among other things, analyses of intra-urban and inter-urban variability; difficult using ground-based measurements.…”

Section: Deficiencies In Surface Temperature For Studying Urban Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the analysis above is done for co-located pixels, the threshold for the minimum number of stations used ( 10) is insufficient to represent the mean climatic state of the clusters. Moreover, it is important to also analyze how well T s , which has been extensively used as a proxy for the intra-urban variability in urban temperatures (Benz & Burney, 2021;Chakraborty et al, , 2020Hoffman et al, 2020;Hsu et al, 2021;Hulley et al, 2019), represents the within-city variability in HI 0 . To address this, we estimate the intra-urban gradients in T s , T a , RH, and HI 0 .…”

Section: Intra-urban Gradientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Lower Urban Humidity Moderates Outdoor Heat Stress

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Surface temperature is often used to examine heat exposure in multi‐city studies and for informing urban heat mitigation efforts due to scarcity of urban air temperature measurements. Cities also have lower relative humidity, traditionally not accounted for in large‐scale observational urban heat risk assessments. Here, using crowdsourced measurements from over 40,000 weather stations in ≈600 urban clusters in Europe, we show the moderating effect of this urbanization‐induced humidity reduction on outdoor heat stress during the 2019 heatwave. We demonstrate that daytime differences in heat index between urban clusters and their surroundings are weak, and associations of this urban‐rural difference with background climate, generally examined from the surface temperature perspective, are diminished due to moisture feedbacks. We also examine the spatial variability of surface temperature, air temperature, and heat index within these clusters—relevant for detecting hotspots and potential disparities in heat exposure—and find that surface temperature is a poor proxy for the intra‐urban distribution of heat index during daytime. Finally, urban vegetation shows much weaker (∼1/6th as strong) associations with heat index than with surface temperature, which has broad implications for optimizing urban heat stress mitigation strategies. These findings are valid for operational metrics of heat stress for shaded conditions (apparent temperature and humidex), thermodynamic proxies (wet‐bulb temperature), and empirical heat indices. Based on this large‐scale empirical evidence, surface temperature, used due to the lack of better alternatives, may not be suitable for accurately informing heat mitigation strategies within and across cities, necessitating more urban‐scale observations and better urban‐resolving models.

show abstract

Section: Deficiencies In Surface Temperature For Studying Urban Areasmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Spatial Gradients In the Urban Thermal Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Deficiencies In Surface Temperature For Studying Urban Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Intra-urban Gradientsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Lower Urban Humidity Moderates Outdoor Heat Stress

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The presence (or absence) of urban green space, amount (size of city), form (building height, ratio of building height to width of street canyon, etc. ), and color (influencing reflectivity of solar radiation) of built-up structures, and intensity of human activity (through increased anthropogenic heat flux) all lead to intraurban variability of temperatures and the urban heat island effect (Benz & Burney, 2021;T. Chakraborty et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen and Machine Learning-aided High-resolution mapping of urban heat exposure and stress

Wang¹,

Hsu²,

Chakraborty³

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Through conversion of land cover to more built-up, impervious surfaces, cities are creating hotter environments for urban residents. Existing measurements of heat and heat stress, however, are often insufficient to capture intra-urban variability of exposure. This study provides a replicable method for modeling air temperature, humidity, and heat stress over an urban area, engaging citizens in collecting high-temporal and spatially-resolved air temperature and humidity measurements. We use low-cost, consumer-grade sensors combined with satellite remote sensing data and machine learning to map urban air temperature and humidity over various land-cover classes to understand intra-urban spatial variability of heat at a relatively high resolution (10 meters). Our findings show that individuals may be exposed to higher levels of heat and heat stress than weather station data suggest, and this heat varies according to land cover type, with tree-covered land the coolest and built-up areas the warmest, and time of day, with higher temperatures observed during the early afternoon. Combining our resulting dataset with sociodemographic data, we find an inverse relationship between income and our heat metrics, although the sensitivity of this relationship varies depending on which metric is used. Policymakers and urban planners can use this data to identify areas exposed to high heat and heat stress as a first step to design effective mitigation measures.

show abstract

Using early extremes to place the 2022 UK heat waves into historical context

Yule

Hegerl

Schurer

et al. 2023

Atmospheric Science Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As global surface temperatures continue to rise, both the duration and the intensity of heat waves across most land areas are expected to increase. The 2022 European summer broke a number of temperature records where a new record daily maximum temperature of 40.3 C was reached on 19th July making it the hottest July heat wave event in the UK. This paper aims to detect and analyse historical heat wave events, particularly prior to 1927 and compare these with recent events, particularly, 2022, which featured four summer heat wave events in the UK. This allows us to understand how noteworthy historical extremes are in comparison to those in recent decades, to place modern events into historical context, and to extend the sample of extreme events.

show abstract

Widespread Race and Class Disparities in Surface Urban Heat Extremes Across the United States

Cited by 69 publications

References 39 publications

Lower Urban Humidity Moderates Outdoor Heat Stress

Lower Urban Humidity Moderates Outdoor Heat Stress

Citizen and Machine Learning-aided High-resolution mapping of urban heat exposure and stress

Using early extremes to place the 2022 UK heat waves into historical context

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About