This presentation was developed with funding from the Center for Multi-Scale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP) and the National Center for
Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Copyright NESTA
Feeling the Heat
Feeling the heat
This presentation is full of data and images to get you thinking! Discuss as a class the patterns you see and the reasons for those patterns.
Looking for patterns
Take a look at graph representations of the Los Angeles heat wave data and the average temperature data. How have they changed throguh time?
Reasons for patterns
Check out how global climate has changed over time and compare that with the data from Los Angeles. Take a look at how Los Angeles has grown through time and how that has impacted the heat island effect.
This graph shows the number of heat waves in Los Angeles, CA over the past century. Do you see a pattern? How have heat waves changed through time?
(Graph from Tamrazian et al., 2008)
Looking for patterns
This graph shows the duration of heat waves in Los Angeles, CA (measured in days.) Has there been a change through time?
(Graph from Tamrazian et al., 2008)
Looking for patterns
Looking for patterns
How has the temperature in Los Angeles changed over time? This graph shows the average temperature for each year. See a pattern?
Warmer city temperatures are partially due to global warming. This graph shows how Earth’s average temperature has changed.
Reasons for patterns
Reasons for patterns
Notice above how the highest temperatures are found in the most dense part of a city?
The 3 following slides show how LA has changed over time. How do you think the heat island effect has changed over time? What was the heat island effect like in 1877, 1909, and 2002?
Los Angeles, CA in 1877. East LA is on the left and West LA is on the right. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)
Reasons for patterns
Los Angeles, CA in 2002. This 3-D perspective view was generated using topographic data and an enhanced color Landsat 5 satellite image mosaic. Topography is exaggerated one and one-half times. (Courtesy of NASA/JPL)
Reasons for patterns