Two MSI Principal Investigators were co-leads on a study that shows how temperatures can vary from cities to surrounding areas with less pavement and cement. The researchers, Peter Snyder and Tracy Twine, are both associate professors in the Department of Soil, Water and Climate. This “heat island” study was funded by the Institute on the Environment and recently appeared in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. It used temperature readings taken by 180 sensors every 15 minutes for three years over a 2,000-square-mile area.
An article about the research appears on the U’s Discover blog. The paper can be read on the journal’s website (B.V. Smoliak, P.K. Snyder, T.E. Twine, P.M.Mykleby, and W.F. Hertel. 2015. Dense network observations of the Twin Cities canopy-layer urban heat island. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. 54:1899-1917. Professor Snyder’s research was featured on the MSI website in June 2014.