City Uses Tech to Monitor Heat Islands, Hot Spots

Urban areas like Dallas can experience temperatures 10 degrees higher than surrounding rural areas, according to a 2017 Urban Heat Island Management Study that was conducted by the Texas Trees Foundation.

Artificial intelligence software is one thing large cities can use find ways to reduce the heat island effect.

Throughout the summer this year, researchers at IBM used aerial image data from satellites and airplanes to map tree canopy and study the relationship to the urban heat island effect. IBM researchers published a report showing that some parts of urban areas can be about three to five degrees hotter than nearby areas.

Neighborhoods with a lot of concrete and little tree cover are hotter than areas with natural shade and vegetation, what climatologists call the urban heat island effect. The term describes areas with “dense concentrations of pavement, buildings, and other surfaces that absorb and retain heat,” according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“What we observed is a direct correlation between the number of trees and the local temperatures,” said Levente Klein, a climate researcher for IBM.

With technology once used to help an electric company map out vegetation near power lines, the company is now mapping tree canopy in major cities, including New York and Dallas. The artificial intelligence tools can help understand what species of trees are in a given area and estimate how much carbon dioxide is stored.

Klein said one of his goals is to come up with a uniform way to study and measure the urban heat island effect in different parts of the world.

“Once you get access to some of this uniform type of data set, the same type of technologies can be used easily in many other places so that we’re comparing apples to apples,” Klein said.

Downtown Dallas, South Dallas and West Dallas are among areas with heat islands; and the Medical District tends to have a higher temperature than other areas, according to experts.

Kathryn Bazan, the chair of the city of Dallas Environmental Commission, said a grant from the EPA will help the city get air quality monitors calibrated to match regulatory standards used by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and place them in West Dallas neighborhoods.

Monitors will collect data on air quality at the neighborhood level, but will not be used for regulatory enforcement, Bazan said.

“They’re placing them in industrial areas where there is residential adjacency, and with that data they can begin to discuss mitigation efforts,” she added.

Rose Jones, a researcher at the Texas Trees Foundation, said the city’s medical district lacks tree cover because it had historically been zoned for industrial purposes. The organization is studying the urban heat island effect.

Additionally, the foundation is in the middle of a pilot project at Pegasus Park to collect micro climate information. In the future, project leaders hope to establish a communication hub that collects and processes climate information around the district.

Sensors would help organizations better track the urban heat island effect, and if the pilot runs smoothly, the technology could be used in other parts of the city, Jones said.

“What we are doing to address this problem is using really innovative empirical science to figure out, what do we need to do in this area to transform it into a healthy ecosystem?” Jones said.

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