Patterns and Drivers of Intra-Urban Heat and Pollution Island Interactions

本项目在社区的地理尺度上研究城市热和城市污染相互作用的时空变化。城市热岛(UHI)和城市污染岛(UPI)是一个有据可查的现象，与非城市地区相比，环境温度和污染都不成比例地高。这对世界上一半以上的人口构成了严重的健康和环境风险。到目前为止，这两种环境危害都是在城市更大的地理尺度上独立研究的，因此人们对它们如何相互作用影响城际居民的热量和空气质量知之甚少。这项多学科的研究将开发地理方法，以改变关于城市内部热岛和污染岛相互作用的模式和驱动因素的知识。该项目的教育活动将扩大女性本科生和退伍军人对STEM科学的参与，并将通过编写关于环境风险的课程材料，加强K-12和大学课堂上的科学数据素养。该项目使用混合方法，将通过公民科学家收集的气温和空气颗粒的精细地面测量与大规模遥感地表温度和气溶胶数据结合在一起。将对这些数据进行分析，以确定城市热岛和城市污染岛何时何地发生，以及它们的相互作用对城市居民构成的风险。这些结果将支持城市高温和空气污染缓解的明智决策。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project investigates the spatial and temporal variation of urban heat and urban pollution interactions at the geographic scale of neighborhoods. Urban Heat Islands (UHI) and Urban Pollution Islands (UPI) are a well-documented phenomena where the ambient temperature and pollution are dis-proportionally high as compared to non-urban areas. This poses a critical health and environmental risk to more than half of the world’s population. Until now these two environmental hazards have been studied independently and at the larger geographic scale of cities, therefore little is known about how they interact to affect heat and air quality for inter-urban residents. This multidisciplinary research will develop geographical methods that will transform knowledge about the patterns and drivers of intra-urban Heat Island and Pollution Island interactions. The project’s educational activities will broaden participation of undergraduate women and military veterans in STEM sciences and will strengthen scientific data literacy in K-12 and college classrooms by developing curricular materials on environmental risks.Using a mixed methods approach, this project couples a dense network of fine-scale ground measurements of air temperature and air particulates collected via citizen scientists, with large-scale remotely sensed data of land surface temperature and aerosols. These data will be analyzed to determine when and where urban heat islands and urban pollution islands occur, and the risks that their interaction poses to urban residents. These results will support informed decision-making for urban heat and air pollution mitigation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.