Prototypes for enhanced urban heat monitoring leveraging Copernicus services and satellite data

Urban planners seek for the exploitation of Earth Observation (EO) intelligence towards sustainability, particularly in relation to the challenges of climate change. The continuously increasing temperatures worldwide is among the main challenges the cities have to face, with their local climate variations imposing the need for improved mapping and monitoring tools. The Copernicus Programme is designed to provide open and free EO data products for environmental and security applications, including services targeting cities (i.e. the Urban Atlas) and others providing useful information for heat mapping and monitoring (i.e. land surface temperature, air temperature), although yet not in the appropriate scale for spatial and temporal urban application. Here, we present how combining information from the Copernicus Core Services, the Copernicus Satellites and third party sources is used to retrieve information on urban heat. Five service prototypes allow access to information on the dynamics of land surface temperature at local scale, the surface urban heat island, the assessment of urban heat emissions and heat storage monitoring and the thermal comfort. Example spatially disaggregated information at a local scale is presented and discussed, aiming at a proof-of-concept that urban planning and management strategies, enhancing the resilience of cities, can be supported by similar services.