From outer space? Sask. farmers baffled after discovering strange wreckage in field
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
New research from Penn State University found specific urban factors can reduce the "urban heat island" (UHI) effect, which is the tendency of cities to trap heat.
The peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Buildings, suggests trees can cool air temperatures, mean radiant temperature and "predicted mean vote index," which is what researchers use to evaluate thermal comfort levels.
Additionally, higher building-height-to-street-width ratios, where taller buildings provide shade to narrower streets, and pavement that is better at reflecting sunlight contribute to lower temperatures and greater comfort levels.
According to Guangqing Chi, professor of rural sociology, demography, and public health sciences at the College of Agricultural Sciences, the findings can help encourage cities to plan more effectively, particularly for low-income communities, people of colour and the elderly, who are disproportionately affected by the UHI effect.
“Global warming makes some human habitats unbearably hot, but more so for socially and historically disadvantaged communities,” Chi explained in a news release published on Friday. “This interdisciplinary project provides an effective, equitable urban design solution for enhancing resilience against extreme heating.”
The study, which is a collaboration between College of Agricultural Sciences and the College of the Arts and Architecture’s Hamer Center for Community Design in the Stuckeman School, focused on Philadelphia.
According to the researchers, the city experiences high rates of both poverty and extreme weather with 22.8 per cent of people in the city living below the poverty level. The city also has experienced extreme weather events, such as its snowiest winter, two warmest summers, wettest day, and two wettest years on record since 2010.
"Heat island hotspots and mortality rates tend to be greater in urban blocks with a socially disadvantaged population,” Farzad Hashemi, a Hamer Center researcher, said in the news release. “This is due to the combination of physical factors, such as impervious surfaces and lack of vegetation, and social factors, such as vulnerability to heat-related health effects.”
For this study, researchers used the social vulnerability index (SVI) as well as data about tree coverage to identify two Philadelphia neighbourhoods—one with the lowest SVI and high tree coverage, and another with the highest SVI and the lowest tree coverage.
Researchers analyzed several characteristics of the neighbourhoods including construction materials, land cover, how well pavement reflects sunlight and heat generated by human activities, among others. Researchers also ran 24-hour simulations for six scenarios—winter, spring, summer, fall, extreme hot and extreme cold—in each neighborhood to see how different factors affected each other.
Researchers found the trees’ cooling effect is limited to their immediate surroundings, while areas without trees had significantly higher mean radiant temperatures. Additionally, the effect of trees on air temperature decreased as distance from areas with many trees increased.
Chi said these findings suggest ways urban climate knowledge can contribute to better city planning and design.
“For example, using taller and denser buildings alongside pavement surfaces with higher albedo could be considered to support more comfortable thermal conditions, particularly in urban blocks with less vegetation coverage,” Chi said. “Overall, the study highlights the importance of considering urban morphology and vegetation coverage in the design of sustainable and livable urban environments.”
Hashemi said the study can form the basis for more in-depth research in the future.
“Our study focused on Philadelphia, which is in the U.S. Northeast region,” he said. “Expanding the data to incorporate more cities from other climate zones, including hot and dry or extremely cold, could give us a better understanding of the effects of urban properties on varying climates and social vulnerability indexes.”
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
If you're cruising down a highway and realize you have a flat tire, you may want to think twice before stopping to fix it on the side of the road.
Dangerous storms crashed over parts of the U.S. South on Thursday even as the region cleaned up from earlier severe weather that spawned tornadoes, killed at least three people, and gravely injured a boy who was swept into a storm drain as he played in a flooded street.
The National Post is reporting that Rex Murphy, the pundit and columnist who hosted a national call-in radio show for decades, has died.
Over the last decade, students have pushed universities to cut financial ties with fossil fuel producers, weapons manufacturers, tobacco companies and prison firms. Here's why it's not always that simple.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.