Urban heat islands are urban areas that are hotter than surrounding rural areas. New research shows the summer land surface temperatures of cities in the northeastern United States were an average of 7° to 9° Celsius warmer than surrounding rural areas over a three-year period. The complex phenomenon that drives temperatures up is called the urban heat island effect. But thanks to satellites, scientists are making progress in understanding the effect. Satellite data have been used to compare various urban settings.
Find out what the researchers from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., are reporting on the urban heat islands in the article in NEON.
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