An area of unincorporated Gwinnett County near Norcross is among 18 global communities selected to take part this summer in a program to map areas of extreme heat, the leading cause of weather-related death in the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which oversees the program.
Scientists say last year was the Earth’s hottest since pre-industrial times, and warned that the world should prepare for longer, more intense heat waves. The impacts of these extremes are magnified in urban areas where pavement and concrete absorb and radiate heat, creating the so-called “heat island” effect that makes cities warmer than surrounding areas.
The heat island mapping campaign, now in its eighth year, seeks to map the hottest neighborhoods across the U.S. and some international cities in order to guide remediation efforts. Volunteers from the community are recruited to use heat sensors mounted on their cars to measure temperatures throughout the day during the hottest days of summer, according to NOAA. Since 2017, the agency has helped more than 70 communities create heat island maps to inform cooling strategies, it said.
Monica Allen, a spokesperson for NOAA said the area of Gwinnett known as “unincorporated Norcross” was chosen in part for its diversity and relatively high energy burden — the portion of household income spent on energy. The area is over 87% non-white and nearly half of its residents are immigrants, she said.
“Understanding the distribution of heat will enable the community to determine where to focus limited resources – for example, where to focus additional tree planting [...]” Allen wrote in an email. “The community hopes to use the street and building level data to create a truly community-specific plan for resilience, across all levels of possible strategies of heat mitigation and adaptation.”
The local leader for the campaign, Marvin Lim of the nonprofit Lucky Shoals Community Association, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Representatives for Gwinnett County did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gwinnett was one of 14 communities across the U.S. chosen to participate, in addition to several international cities including Dhaka, Bangladesh and Nairobi, Kenya.
The data, which will be collected and added to NOAA’s database, is separate and unrelated to other heat-mapping initiatives that have been conducted in Georgia, such as UrbanHeatATL, conducted in Atlanta by researchers from Spelman and Georgia Tech.
Another separate analysis commissioned by Atlanta City Council members found the most vulnerable neighborhoods were concentrated to the south and west of downtown. Those areas tended to have less tree cover and also be home to more elderly and low-income residents and people of color.
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