LAND MARINE ATMOSPHERE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT CHANGE SECURITY

ISSUE 16 / SEPTEMBER 2013

SATELLITES HELP TO DESIGN Facts > An urban heat island is a MORE HABITABLE CITIES metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surroundings 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 > Heat waves in cities have claimed an increasing 2020. In cities, temperatures can be several degrees higher than in surrounding number of casualties in rural areas, especially at night. the last years, for example, According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there is evidence in 2003 there were 35000 casualties in Europe 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 > Prolonged periods of high urban areas suffering more due to the urban heat island effect. temperatures increase the demand for energy Copernicus satellites identify urban areas most affected by heat, helping and water, trigger health planners to design cooler, more comfortable cities. problems and add to air pollution and the Medium and high-resolution multispectral satellites with thermal-infrared sensors provide information greenhouse effect 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. Benefits Thermal-infrared measurements from satellites: Heat wave over Paris and surroundings > help to understand the This thermal infrared image from dynamics of urban heat ’s Advanced Along-Track Scanning islands Radiometer (AATSR) shows the mean air temperature in the area of Île-de- > help city planners to design France at night (22:00h) in summer more habitable cities and 2003. At the centre of the image, the create energy efficiency city of Paris appears as a dark red with temperatures of 21°C and higher. Temperatures gradually decrease towards the outskirts and the countryside down Policy Objectives to 16°C (blue shades). > Directive on Energy In the summer of 2003 Europe was struck by a major heat wave. Paris was Efficiency of Buildings severely affected and led to thousands > Directive on Energy End- of heat-related deaths. Models suggest Use Efficiency and Energy that in the future, heat waves of this intensity and duration could occur every Services 3 to 4 years. > Framework Directive on Ecodesign Source: VITO, Planetek & ESA > Green Paper on Energy Efficiency > European Climate Change Programme www.esa.int/copernicus • http://copernicus.eu/ ISSUE 10 / SEPTEMBER 2013

COPERNICUSCopernicus servicesACTIVITIES Sentinel contribution Next steps

The Copernicus Land Monitoring Service The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission will > Improve the scientific understanding of makes use of satellite data to provide support urban heat island monitoring by factors influencing urban and the geographical information on land cover providing: potential of satellite data for monitoring and land-surface temperature, thereby > Establish an operational Earth supporting applications such as spatial and > Land-surface temperature high-accuracy observation-based service for monitoring urban planning. information and assessment of urban heat islands > Two-day global coverage Example products: > Low resolution biophysical variables such > Real-time products delivered within three as land surface temperature 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 land- surface 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 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/