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Measuring the Urban Heat Island Effect in Sydney

Feeling the heat?

Measuring the urban heat island effect in Sydney

urban heat island monitoring

Cities are usually a few degrees warmer than regional areas because hard surfaces like roads, footpaths and the sides of buildings absorb and release energy from the sun. 

The City of Sydney is collecting information to see how shade trees and pavement colour affect urban temperatures. Extreme and persistent high temperatures cause stress to the health of people, plants and animals.

Three monitoring systems have been installed in Chippendale and Redfern.  The poles contain a temperature and humidity meter, and one has a pyranometer which measures the strength of the sun. Each also has a unit that sends the information to a server where it can be viewed online, and a small solar panel to power it all.

Real-time data can be viewed by clicking here (use cospublic as the username and password, then click on the reports tab).

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Thermal image of Sydney

A thermal aerial photograph has also been taken for local government area which shows the way that different road surfaces, buildings, parks and open spaces retain heat during the day that is released at night.  A copy of the thermal image can be downloaded here.

thermal image sydney

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The City intends to work with a university research partner to quantify costs and benefits for solutions to reduce the heat island effect.  Actions such as these could be a key way to address increasing temperatures resulting from climate change.

The project will inform the way we design our City and make it a more comfortable place to live and work.

In 2010 the University of New South Wales in partnership with HASSEL developed a report Micro-Urban-Climatic Thermal Emissions: in a Medium-Density Residential Precinct which was based on a thermal image technique in Victoria Park within the City of Sydney LGA. This report is available for download.

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Downloads

 

Last Updated: Friday 16 March, 2012

Please Note:
While care is taken to ensure accuracy, the City of Sydney cannot guarantee that information expressed here is correct and recommends that users exercise their own skill and care with respect to its use. The City of Sydney makes no warranty or undertaking, whether expressed or implied, nor does it assume any legal liability, whether direct or indirect.