Commentary: Earth observations of urban heat – Insights from NASA DEVELOP
Abstract
During the last decade, NASA DEVELOP has conducted more than 45 urban heat projects with cities and community action groups. Through this work, the DEVELOP Program gained insight into sensors that can be useful to communities seeking to mitigate and manage urban heat. DEVELOP partners with cities and other entities to use Earth observation data—often available at no cost—to characterize urban heat hazards and to inform policy, planning, and action. Highlighting case studies from select projects, the DEVELOP team details the use of Earth observations from sources such as Landsat 8 and International Space Station–based ECOSTRESS and describes how the Earth observations can be related to contextual socioeconomic datasets.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Urban Heat Island Mitigation
Climate Change and Health Impacts
Geothermal Energy Systems and Applications
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Journal of Urban Affairs
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 2334–2339
- Publication date
- 27 May 2026
- Language
- EN