The Library is once again pleased to welcome Raja Sengupta, Associate Professor in the Department of Geography & McGill School of Environment, for Science Literacy Week.

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is one where nighttime temperatures (e.g., around 1 am) in downtown core of cities are higher than a surrounding rural area. In Montreal, it can be 5-6 deg C higher. However, UHI remains a poorly understood phenomenon in the context of the presence of green spaces between buildings in urban areas. This is primarily due to the sparse placement of measurement stations in most cities, which do not allow for local variability in temperatures to be captured with any detail.
 
A better understanding of this phenomenon can be obtained by low-cost temperature and humidity sensor networks for UHI mapping via an ongoing research project in cities and University campuses in Canada and India. McGill University is one site of this project, with sensors placed at locations around Burnside Hall. 

The tour will cover details of what is UHI, and how it is of increasing concern with increased urbanization. It will also discuss the design and placement of low cost sensors on McGill's campus and other areas of Montreal, and how the project helped create a temperature profile using the collected data.  Findings include the impact of higher nighttime temperatures on vulnerable populations (the poor, elderly, and visible minorities).

Meet outside the entrance of Burnside Hall.