Confirmed by the World Meteorological Organization, July 2023 was the hottest month on record, with high-impact weather continuing through August. These records are based on air temperatures, but measurements of the temperature of Earth's surface taken from space are also essential to tracking the impact of climate change, and to being better prepared for such extremes - especially when it comes to cities where stifling urban heat islands form.
The impact of climate change, affecting billions of people worldwide, is more severe and happening sooner than expected - with the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently warning, "The era of global warming has ended, and the era of 'global boiling' has arrived."
Rising global air temperatures are causing untold damage to the natural world and all of its inhabitants - our situation is clearly precarious.
There are many devastating issues related to climate change, but one is that temperature extremes directly affect the human body.
A paper, published in July in Nature Medicine, estimates that there were over 60,000 heat-related deaths in Europe between 30 May and 4 September 2022 - proof that extreme temperatures broke records last summer too.
According to the World Bank, 56% of the world's population live in cities. They expect that the urban population will more than double by 2050, at which point nearly seven of ten people will live in cities.??
Living in a city during a heatwave is particularly dangerous as people have to deal with what is known as the urban heat island effect.
Urban heat islands occur when natural land cover, such as vegetation, is replaced with buildings, roads, pavements and other surfaces that absorb and re-emit the Sun's heat more than natural landcover such as forests and water bodies.
Urban areas become 'islands' of higher temperatures compared to outlying rural areas. The difference between urban temperatures and rural temperatures tends to be more pronounced at night.
Here, measurements of land-surface temperature are important to understand and monitor urban heat islands, and to plan mitigation strategies to reduce the effects of this phenomenon.
It is worth noting the difference between air temperature and land-surface temperature.
Air temperature, given in our daily weather forecasts, is a measure of how hot the air is around 1 m above the ground. Land-surface temperature instead is a measure of how hot the actual surface would feel to the touch. During heatwaves the temperature of the surface tends to be hotter than the temperature of the air.
Images of night-time surface temperatures, taken in July by an instrument called Ecostress on the International Space Station show the land-surface temperature of Athens, Rome and Vienna in the evening or night-time on different dates in July 2023.
Measured on 15 July at 20:02 CEST, the surface temperature across the city of Athens is much the same - around 35 C. In comparison, the cooling effects of vegetation in Rome is clear to see.
The Ecostress instrument, owned by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is important because it is helping in the development of a new Copernicus Sentinel Expansion satellite - the Land Surface Temperature Monitoring (LSTM) mission - so images such as these offer a glimpse of what the new mission will deliver operationally.
ESA is using the experimental instrument to simulate the data that will eventually be returned by LSTM, which will provide systematic high-resolution measurements of the temperature of the land surface.
The mission promises to be a game-changer for urban planners in their efforts to improve the lives of city dwellers as climate change tightens its grip even more.
Both space agencies, NASA and ESA, are working together closely to make the most use out of the upcoming high-resolution thermal Earth observation missions in a synergetic manner, including NASA's Surface Biology and Geology mission.
ESA's LSTM mission scientist Benjamin Koetz said, "Knowing exactly how high the temperature a surface reaches and where the heat is being trapped will help planners make informed decisions for mitigating the heat impacts by where best to plant shading trees, use special cooling coatings for pavements or even roofs.
"We currently have Copernicus Sentinel-3, which already gives us land-surface temperatures, but LSTM will provide land-surface temperatures at higher resolution for urban planning - and importantly it will also give us these operational data products at night when the urban heat islands are at their worst."
ESA's Green Transition Information Factory - an online platform providing actionable information from Earth observation to accelerate the Green Transition for both society and the economy - is helping decision makers use information from space to adapt to climate change impacts.
Through its interactive platform, users can not only explore land surface temperatures across Austria, but they can also map and quantify the presence of green roofs on buildings.
Green roofs are an effective measure in mitigating the impacts of urban heat islands owing to their significant cooling power through increased evapotranspiration of plants. They are also able to decrease the energy consumption of buildings and sequester carbon within the plants and soil needed for the greening of roofs.
The platform's ability to map green roofs in a given area provides valuable insights into their impact to mitigate the urban heat island effect as well as helping cities to plan further mitigation measures to prepare for extreme heatwaves in the future.
The Green Transition Information Factory is preparing for the Space for Green Future Accelerator - one of ESA's Accelerators driving Europe's innovation and the use of space for the global climate crisis.
Artificial Intelligence Analysis
Defense Industry Analyst:
8/10
Stock Market Analyst:
5/10
General Industry Analyst:
7/10
Analyst Summary
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This article discusses the impact of climate change on the world and its inhabitants, with particular focus on the rising global air temperatures and the effect of urban heat islands on cities. Data from the World Meteorological Organization, the World Bank, and Nature Medicine and Nature Communications all point to a growing problem with extreme weather and temperatures, and the potential for more heat-related deaths in urban areas. The article highlights the need for improved urban planning to help mitigate the impacts of climate change and extreme weather, and for greater investment in understanding and addressing the challenges posed by a warming planet. It also emphasizes the importance of understanding how climate change is impacting the Earths surface temperature in order to better prepare for extreme weather events.
Comparing this articles content with significant events and trends in the space and defense industry over the past 25 years, there has been a growing awareness of climate change and its effects on the planet. This has led to increased investments in research and development into ways to mitigate the impacts of climate change, as well as efforts to prevent further damage to the planets ecosystems. In addition, there has been a greater focus on the need to improve urban infrastructure to help cities better prepare for extreme weather events.
Investigative
Question:
- 1. What strategies should be implemented to reduce the impacts of climate change in urban areas?
- 2. How can effective urban planning help mitigate the urban heat island effect?
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What investments are needed to improve the understanding of Earths surface temperature?4. What strategies should be used to reduce heat-related deaths in cities?
5. How can the global defense industry best prepare for extreme weather events?
This AI report is generated by a sophisticated prompt to a ChatGPT API. Our editors clean text for presentation, but preserve AI thought for our collective observation. Please comment and ask questions about AI use by Spacedaily. We appreciate your support and contribution to better trade news.
