Comparison of Landscape Types on the Urban Heat Island Effect
The urban heat island effect (UHI) is the studied effect that urbanized areas experience higher temperatures than non-urbanized areas due to the increase in buildings, roads, and other infrastructure. UHI has been seen to affect people living in areas classified as socially vulnerable disproportionately. Newer metrics, like Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), are being used instead of air temperature to more accurately capture UHI's effects on individuals as it captures air temperature along with other metrics like humidity, cloud cover, and wind speed. This study looks at initial field data that captured WBGT over five different landscapes over three days in a park in Denver, Colorado. Initial results show that turfgrass alternatives such as native grass and squeegee planting beds have similar cooling effects as conventional turfgrass. Upcoming work, such as remote sensing of large-scale replacement projects and further location of fieldwork, will be discussed.