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18 months of the LIFE ASTI project: Reports

The LIFE ASTI project will lead to a substantial contribution to the overall aim of the EU Climate Adaptation Strategy by developing policies for a better adaptation to Urban Heat Island effect (UHI) impacts, especially during summer heat waves, reducing the heat wave risk in metropolitan areas by introducing heat prevention services, and better implementation of energy efficiency guidelines in European cities.

During the first 18 months of its implementation period, a number of reports have been published reflecting the expected results of the project. Ιndicatively:

• the Report on the installation of the supplementary urban weather stations, which analyses the LIFE ASTI UHI weather station network in Rome & Thessaloniki,
• the Report on heat health warning models definition protocol, which presents the protocol for the definition of heat health Watch Warning Systems for Rome and Thessaloniki. Heat warning systems serve as tool on which prevention and emergency measures should be modulated based on the severity of risks,
• the Methodological Report on UHI Forecsting Systems, which addresses the set-up of the pilot operational UHI forecasting systems, including the technical details realised in the systems.

Read the Reports here.

1st European Workshop in Rome

The first European workshop titled “Forecasting Urban Heat Island and Heat-Health related impacts in a Climate Changing Environment and Urban Adaptation” of the LIFE ASTI project was held in Rome in December 2019. The 2-days workshop was focused on the impact of the UHI effect on human life, aiming to raise awareness among citizens, local and national environmental institutions, as well as to create the initial bridge between science and decision-makers.

The first European workshop included mostly brainstorming and mutual exchange of know-how, bringing together a circle of researchers and stakeholders to discuss and identify opportunities for supporting and expanding sustainable actions on the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect.

The result was a valuable event for future coordinated work and collaboration actions between LIFE ASTI partners, networking partners and local stakeholders. Participants also envision an engaged and informed community that makes decisions that will benefit future generations.

LIFE ASTI System Platform

The LIFE ASTI project focuses on the Urban Heat Island effect and human health by using a system of numerical models that lead to the short-term forecast and future projection of the UHI phenomenon in three Mediterranean cities: Thessaloniki, Rome and Heraklion. The LIFE ASTI model system produces high-quality forecasting results, such as bioclimatic indicators and heating and cooling degree days to assess the energy needs of buildings.

The development of the geospatial management and visualisation platform includes the Central Database, Data access Services and User Interfaces (web / mobile). The database is operationally updated every day with new model results and heat health warning alerts using custom Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) scripts. The web application provide an easy to use interface for the users (experts and non-experts) to exploit the outputs of the models. The information is displayed as interactive maps or charts. A city dashboard is available for each city in order to provide aggregated information at city district level while the map view page provides access to hourly thematic maps of all UHI related parameters. It also allow users to get hyper local information about UHI at city block level. In addition, using the provided OGC compliant metadata and geospatial services, according to the specifications of the INSPIRE Directive, the data can be also discovered and re-used by other / external systems.

Explore the LIFE ASTI platform here.

ATMOS Conference

The Life Asti Project was presented at the 9th International Symposium on Atmospheric Sciences ATMOS 2019, held on 23-26 October 2019, in Instabul. Project partners of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Municipality of Thessaloniki presented the topic “Studying the effects of Urban Heat Island during hot days: the case of Thessaloniki, Greece” under the section “Air Pollution and Modeling”.

ATMOS was born as a result of the need to bring the national scientists working in the field of atmospheric sciences together. The first ATMOS was held in 1981 as a national meeting in the field of atmospheric sciences. Following the lines of a new mission and vision, ATMOS became international after 2011 focusing on the critical problems of the world and atmospheric sciences.

View the e-proceedings here.

Upcoming LIFE ASTI video

Why can temperatures become unbearable in cities during summer? Can the LIFE ASTI project approach be implemented beyond Thessaloniki and Rome? How is people’s health, specifically that of vulnerable groups, affected by heat waves? What are the LIFE ASTI project measures and what is to be expected as proposed solutions?

The upcoming LIFE ASTI video will answer these questions and explain, in an easy to understand way, the concept and vision behind the project. The video has been shot in Rome and Thessaloniki, and includes interviews with some of the key experts from the LIFE ASTI consortium.

Featured infographic: Health Effects of Heat

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