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Combining Satellite Data and Spatial Analysis to Assess the UHI Amplitude and Structure within Urban Areas: The Case of Moroccan Cities

Landsat-8 surface temperature and the European Space Agency land cover are used to assess the impact of land cover on the Urban Heat Island (UHI) and Urban Heat Sink (UHS). We analyzed five Moroccan cities selected for their different local climate, size, and typology during summer at three different spatial scales. The results show multiple causes defining the different forms and amplitudes of the UHI, namely: the ambient climate, the proximity to the sea, the presence of landscaped areas, and the color of building roofs and walls. Contrary to what was expected, the vegetation was not systematically an island of coolness, either because of its typology or its irrigation status. In the coastal cities of Tangier and Casablanca, UHIs around 20°C are observed on the seaside, whereas a UHS of up to 11°C is observed between the city center and the southern periphery of Casablanca. A moderate amplitude UHI of 7°C is formed in the mountainous city of Ifrane. For cities built in desert-like environments, well-defined UHSs between 9°C and 12°C are observed in Smara and Marrakech, respectively. At a finer scale, towns recorded lower temperatures than their immediate surroundings, which are attributed to evaporation from irrigated plants.

Laila El Ghazouani↗

Hawai‘i Island Disasters: Using NASA Earth Observations to Assess Coastal Flood Risk with Measures of Land Cover Change, Flood Extent, and Vulnerability for Adaptation and Mitigation Planning on Hawai‘i Island

As the County of Hawai‘i faces an increased risk of extreme flooding events, sea-level rise, and other hazards associated with climate change, the need for building geospatial capacity to make better-informed decisions is critical. The County of Hawai‘i and Arizona State University partnered with NASA DEVELOP to complete a macro-scale risk analysis for the island of Hawai‘i analyzing flooding, land cover, vulnerability, and exposure factors using Earth observations and socio-economic data. The team assessed the variation in urban coastal vulnerability around the entire island of Hawai‘i, using satellite imagery of coastal land cover typology from satellite products such as Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), and Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). The team made a sharable geodatabase containing datasets modeling vulnerability to coastal flooding as well as the Hawai‘i Flood Risk Toolbox (HiFloRT) which contains multiple tools for the County to map land cover, extreme rainfall and flood extent across the Island. The end products will allow the County of Hawai‘i to establish a protocol and standard framework for the utilization of Earth observations in future planning.

Garren Kalter↗