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LAND MARINE ATMOSPHERE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CLIMATE CHANGE SECURITY ISSUE 16 / SEPTEMBER 2013 SATELLITES HELP TO DESIGN MORE HABITABLE CITIES Facts About half of the global population lives in urban areas. In Europe, 72% of people currently live in towns and cities, but this is expected to rise to 80% and more until 2020. In cities, temperatures can be several degrees higher than in surrounding rural areas, especially at night. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there is evidence that in many regions of the world the length and number of heat waves have increased since the middle of the 20th century. This trend is likely to continue with urban areas suffering more due to the urban heat island effect. Copernicus satellites identify urban areas most affected by heat, helping planners to design cooler, more comfortable cities. Medium and high-resolution multispectral satellites with thermal-infrared sensors provide information about thermal patterns, thereby helping to improve urban climate and weather prediction models. An improved understanding of complex urban heat islands allows for the development of more efficient alert systems, helping decision and policy makers to adopt effective mitigation strategies and improve urban planning. > An urban heat island is a metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surroundings > Heat waves in cities have claimed an increasing number of casualties in the last years, for example, in 2003 there were 35000 casualties in Europe > Prolonged periods of high temperatures increase the demand for energy and water, trigger health problems and add to air pollution and the greenhouse effect Benefits Thermal-infrared measurements from satellites: Heat wave over Paris and surroundings This thermal infrared image from Envisat’s Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) shows the mean air temperature in the area of Île-deFrance at night (22:00h) in summer 2003. At the centre of the image, the city of Paris appears as a dark red spot with temperatures of 21°C and higher. Temperatures gradually decrease towards the outskirts and the countryside down to 16°C (blue shades). In the summer of 2003 Europe was struck by a major heat wave. Paris was severely affected and led to thousands of heat-related deaths. Models suggest that in the future, heat waves of this intensity and duration could occur every 3 to 4 years. Source: VITO, Planetek & ESA > help to understand the dynamics of urban heat islands > help city planners to design more habitable cities and create energy efficiency Policy Objectives > Directive on Energy Efficiency of Buildings > Directive on Energy EndUse Efficiency and Energy Services > Framework Directive on Ecodesign > Green Paper on Energy Efficiency > European Climate Change Programme www.esa.int/copernicus • http://copernicus.eu/ ISSUE 10 / SEPTEMBER 2013 COPERNICUS ACTIVITIES Copernicus services The Copernicus Land Monitoring Service makes use of satellite data to provide geographical information on land cover and land-surface temperature, thereby supporting applications such as spatial and urban planning. Example products: > Low resolution biophysical variables such as land surface temperature Sentinel contribution Next steps The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission will support urban heat island monitoring by providing: > Improve the scientific understanding of factors influencing urban climates and the potential of satellite data for monitoring > Land-surface temperature high-accuracy information > Establish an operational Earth observation-based service for monitoring and assessment of urban heat islands > Two-day global coverage > Real-time products delivered within three hours > High-resolution maps of artificial surfaces > Updates of the European Urban Atlas Sentinel-3 A fever thermometer for the Earth Hot spots on Earth can be identified best from space with satellites that provide thermal-infrared data. For more than 10 years, the Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) on Envisat provided thermal measurements over the oceans and land. An even more accurate sensor of this kind, the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR), will be carried on the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission. The SLSTR is designed to measure ocean and landsurface temperature. It has nine spectral bands, an accuracy of 0.2K and a ground spatial resolution of 1 km. The first Sentinel-3 satellite will be ready for launch in 2014, followed by a twin satellite to optimise coverage for the Copernicus services. The Envisat AATSR image on the left shows the land surface temperature of the UK and northern France on 16 July 2005 during the night. The northern part of the UK was obscured by clouds and is therefore shown in grey. London and Paris stand out in dark orange and red colour as their temperatures are higher because of the urban heat island effect. Source: ESA www.esa.int/copernicus • http://copernicus.eu/