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Some of the Country's "Hottest" Cities Using Early Results From a NASA Study to Improve Urban Planning, Environment

Thermal images -- like this one of downtown Baton Rouge, taken from the same vantage point as the picture below -- are being used to improve tree planting programs in the city. The white and red areas are hot, and generally correspond with roads and buildings; blue and green areas are cool and indicate water and vegetation. The bright red areas in this image are about 149 degrees F; dark green and blue areas are around 77 degrees F. The solid blue swatch of color flowing down the left side is the Mississippi River. Since the image has not been calibrated, absolute temperatures will change after calibration, but the relative temperature differences between surface types will not.

Downtown Baton Rouge as seen from the air.

Thermal images -- like this one of downtown Sacramento, taken from the same vantage point as the picture below -- are being used to improve tree planting programs in the city. The white areas, mostly rooftops, are about 140 degrees F and the dark areas are approximately 85-96 degrees F. The hottest spots are buildings, seen as white rectangles of various sizes. Sacramento's rail yard is the orange area east of the Sacramento River, which flows from top to bottom. The state capitol is the red spot in the green rectangle to the right center of the river. Since the image has not been calibrated, absolute temperatures will change after calibration, but the relative temperature differences between surface types will not.

Downtown Sacramento as seen from the air.

Thermal images -- like this one of downtown Salt Lake City, taken from the same vantage point as the picture below -- are being used to help plan sites for the 2002 Olympic Games, develop strategies to reduce ground-level ozone concentrations and identify hot roofs. The white and red areas are hot, and generally correspond with roads and buildings; blue and green areas are cool and indicate water and vegetation. The white areas are about 160 degrees F; blue and green areas are approximately 85-96 degrees F. The image spans Salt Lake City from about 300 West Street on the left edge of the image, to the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains on the eastern edge. Since the image has not been calibrated, absolute temperatures will change after calibration, but the relative temperature differences between surface types will not.

Downtown Salt Lake City as seen from the air.

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