For Release: Feb. 17, 2000

Steve Roy
Media Relations Department
(256) 544-0034
steve.roy@msfc.nasa.gov
/centers/msfc/NEWSROOM/

RELEASE: 00-033

High in the Sky, NASA ‘Heat Hunters’ Combat Urban Phenomenon

NASA technology developed for use in the cold reaches of space is helping researchers fight back against sweltering urban heat here on Earth.

Dr. Dale Quattrochi and Dr. Jeff Luvall are "heat hunters" for the Global Hydrology and Climate Center, managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. For more than three years, they’ve worked with other NASA centers and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as state and local governments and city planners across the country, to determine ways to make our cities more habitable. Their goal: to create healthy, sustainable environments for current residents and future generations.

On Monday, Feb. 21, Quattrochi will take part in a press briefing at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, convening today at the Marriott Wardman hotel in Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, he will present a paper on NASA’s urban heat research during a conference session titled: "Heat, Smog and Weird Weather: Studying the Effects of Urban Sprawl From Space."

Cities often are dominated by asphalt and concrete and contain little natural vegetation to shade buildings, block solar radiation and cool the air. Thus, urban centers get much hotter during the day than rural areas. That heat is stored and released at night, creating hot-air "domes" that can keep temperatures in affected cities up to 10 degrees F warmer at night than in suburbs or neighboring woodlands.

The effects are dramatic. Big cities suffer a marked upswing in ozone formation -- a major pollutant and health threat to human beings. On sweltering summer days, city power supplies are often taxed by increased air conditioning use, as citizens struggle to beat the heat. And those domes of trapped, heated air can actually create their own weather patterns over urban areas, increasing rainstorms.

Equipped with remote sensing technology developed for the space program, the heat hunters fly NASA aircraft over urban areas, documenting patterns of heat formation in large metropolitan centers. This information helps determine strategies to reduce heat islands, such as installation of reflective roofing and paving materials to bounce thermal energy back into the atmosphere.

To date, the heat hunters have conducted studies in Atlanta, Ga.; Sacramento, Calif.; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Baton Rouge, La. Further tests in other metropolitan areas are planned.

"There has to be a change in the mindset -- a new awareness about the environment of our cities," Quattrochi says. "Education is the key."

More about the Global Hydrology and Climate Center

The Global Hydrology and Climate Center is a joint venture between government and academia to study the global water cycle and its effect on Earth’s climate. Jointly funded by NASA and its academic partners, and jointly operated by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the Center conducts research in a number of critical areas. Satellite tracking of hurricanes promises to improve global severe-weather forecasting

capabilities; research into lightning activity is providing new insight on the formation of tornadoes; and NASA remote sensing technologies explore new ways to improve the health of our cities, aid farm productivity and identify outbreaks of disease.

More About the Marshall Center

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., is NASA's premier organization for development of space transportation and propulsion systems, NASA's leader in microgravity research -- unique scientific studies conducted in the near-weightlessness of space -- and NASA’s leader for advanced large optics manufacturing technology.

In the past, Marshall played key roles in the development and operation of the Saturn V rocket, Skylab, the Lunar Roving Vehicle, Spacelab and the Hubble Space Telescope. Today, the Center’s primary management responsibilities include Space Shuttle propulsion systems; the Chandra X-ray Observatory, future large-scale space optics systems; the X-33 and X-34 rocket planes and X-37 space plane; and all science operations aboard the International Space Station.

Marshall also is responsible for developing advanced space transportation systems designed to further humankind's exploration of space while slashing the cost of getting there from today’s $10,000 per pound to only hundreds of dollars per pound, or even less. The Center is working to bring a future among the stars closer to reality for the people of Earth.

Note to Editors / News Directors: To arrange post-conference interviews with Dr. Quattrochi and Dr. Luvall, or to obtain photos supporting this release, media representatives may contact Steve Roy of the Marshall Media Relations Department at (256) 544-0034. For an electronic version of this release, digital images or more information, visit Marshall's News Center on the Web at:

/centers/msfc/NEWSROOM/

Members of the media: To receive Marshall releases by e-mail instead of fax, please e-mail judy.pettus@msfc.nasa.gov. Include the name of your media outlet, your title, mailing address, phone and fax numbers, and the headline of this news release.