Roughly 500,000 deaths are believed to be brought on by excessive warmth annually, and the disaster is exacerbated by the city warmth island impact, the place temperatures in massive metropolitan areas are twice the worldwide common. Earlier this month, a document heatwave occurred throughout Western Europe, with temperatures exceeding 40°C (104°F). The prevalence of heat-trapping supplies, equivalent to darkish pavements and roofs, and a scarcity of vegetation are the principle drivers of this localized warming. Warmth mitigation measures are important to lowering this toll, and funky roofs present an economical answer. Rising the reflectivity (albedo) of rooftops can considerably cut back the quantity of photo voltaic power absorbed by buildings, in the end reducing native floor temperatures and defending weak communities.
To handle this, Google Analysis is constructing AI-powered instruments to decrease temperatures in cities and maintain communities protected. Our warmth restoration instruments assist cities quantify the affect of focused cooling interventions by making use of AI to high-resolution satellite tv for pc and aerial imagery. In 2024, we piloted this method in 14 cities, offering rooftop reflectance knowledge to establish extremely weak areas and the place cool roofs would supply the best temperature reductions. This knowledge has guided vital choices in a number of cities, leading to initiatives like cool roof ordinances and adaptation plans.
Now we’re increasing this affect. “Excessive-resolution albedo estimation for city purposes” printed in Nature Communications particulars a technique for mapping building-level reflectance throughout numerous city environments. This examine bridges the hole between frequent local weather observations and sensible building-level knowledge. We’re additionally releasing an expanded albedo dataset protecting greater than 50 world cities to assist city planners all over the world prioritize cool roof interventions. This dataset is open and accessible by means of the brand new high-resolution Warmth Resilience Earth Engine app.
