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    Citizen Scientists Volunteer to Map Columbus Heat Islands

    Sometime in August, hundreds of citizen scientists will deploy across Columbus to take the city’s temperature. Volunteers for the city’s urban heat mapping project will drive predetermined routes carrying with them specialized sensors to measure the heat in each neighborhood to help identify where and who climate change is hitting hardest. 

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    Columbus has the fastest-growing urban heat island in the country, according to GreenSpot coordinator David Celebrezze. Heat islands form in locations where excessive hard surfaces absorb and retain heat, which is why cities are generally warmer than their surroundings. But even within a heat island like Columbus, some areas are hotter than others. 

    “Heat is not distributed evenly,” said Celebrezze. “You could have some neighborhoods that are a lot cooler—maybe by ten degrees or more—than, say, other areas that have more hardscapes, less tree cover, things of that nature.”

    Heat islands are closely associated with a lack of tree cover, a unique problem for a city with a tree canopy of only about 22%—less than Louisville, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and Cincinnati. Columbus has begun taking steps to remedy this problem, with the City Council committing $1.45 million to implement the Urban Forestry Master Plan with the goal of almost doubling the citywide tree canopy by 2050. 

    When introducing the tree canopy funding ordinance in 2021, Councilmember Elizabeth Brown also acknowledged, “The presence of trees too often tracks other markers of privilege in a neighborhood, like income and health factors. The distribution of tree canopy is one of the enduring legacies of redlining.”

    And because the absence of trees is closely associated with heat islands, the uneven distribution of the city’s heat is also inherently racist. 

    “We also know that…historic racism has played a role in where these hot spots are most likely,” said Celebrezze. “They’re in poorer communities, neighborhoods, and impact people of color at a disproportionate rate.”

    Celebrezze said that mapping out where the worst heat islands are will assist the Urban Forestry Master Plan by identifying where tree canopy is most needed, and Columbus is one of 16 cities receiving funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to do just that. So far, more than 200 volunteers have signed up to drive one-hour routes around Columbus with sensors that will measure heat and humidity about once every second. 

    “I’ve been totally amazed by the level of interest. I was worried we weren’t gonna get 20 volunteers for this,” said Celebrezze. “I think it indicates that people in the community are very interested in this, they get that climate change is happening here in Columbus, they get that heat is one of those risks, and they want to do something about it.” 

    Celebrezze expects the volunteers to ultimately collect hundreds of thousands of data points, which will then be converted into a comprehensive heat map by CAPA Strategies LLC, a process that should take only a month or so. That map should help identify where trees need to be planted as Columbus inches toward 40% canopy cover. 

    “This is also a way to begin wrestling with, how do we atone for what’s been done in the past?” said Celebrezze. “We’ve heard of redlining and we know that’s been done…so how can we make sure that we’re making steps to remedy some of those situations? Obviously in the big scheme this might be a tiny thing, but it’s one thing that contributes to the greater good.” 

    Trees can counter a neighborhood’s heat island effect by providing shade and by reflecting sunlight rather than absorbing it the way hard surfaces do. But trees have other environmental benefits as well, providing habitats for native and migrating species, improving air quality and absorbing carbon dioxide, and reducing runoff pollution. 

    For now, the volunteer heat mappers are undergoing virtual training sessions and waiting for the perfect day to deploy—hot and humid with a clear sky. According to Celebrezze, the hottest days in Columbus tend to come between August 5 and August 17, and GreenSpot is in close contact with the National Weather Service, trying to anticipate the day when the atmospheric conditions will be just right. 

    On that day, 200 concerned citizens of Columbus will receive gas cards, K95 masks and refillable water bottles, and go chase the heat. 

    “The city can’t do this by itself,” said Celebrezze. “We need the community to step up and that’s what they’re doing.” 

    Click here for more information.

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    Jesse Bethea
    Jesse Betheahttps://columbusunderground.com
    Jesse Bethea is a freelance features writer at Columbus Underground covering neighborhood issues, economics, science, technology and other topics. He is a graduate from Ohio University, a native of Fairfax, Virginia and a fan of movies, politics and baseball. Jesse is the winner of The Great Novel Contest and the author of Fellow Travellers, available now at all major retailers.
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