Students interpret a graph of surface temperatures taken from city districts and other types of communities.
Students interpret a graph of surface temperatures taken from city districts and other types of communities.
The Urban Heat Island Implementation Sequence provides a series of lessons and activities for students to learn about the processes that create differences in surface temperatures, as well as how human activities have led to the creation of urban heat islands.
In this activity, students explore the Urban Heat Island Effect phenomenon by collecting temperatures of different materials with respect to their locations. This activity was modified from The NASA PUMAS Collection's "What makes
Conduct this EO Kids mini-lesson with your students to explore the phenomenon of Urban Heat Island Effect.
An urban heat island is a phenomenon that is best described when a city experiences much warmer temperatures than in nearby rural areas. The sun’s heat and light reach the city and the country in the same way. The difference in temperature between urban and less-developed rural areas has to do with how well the surfaces in each environment absorb and hold heat.
Background on changing albedo values.
Students will analyze a line graph that shows how the surface temperature and air temperature values change over the course of 24 hours.
Students observe the surface temperatures of a variety of surface types found in a suburban environment.
In this NASA investigation, "What's Hot at the Mall," students examine how shopping malls change natural environments by examining thermal images gathered by NASA showing an area in Huntsville, Alabama.
Check out how Dr. James Smith, Research Scientist at Biospheric Sciences Branch at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center researches changes in the Biosphere using remote sensing techniques.