Model Details

Summary

Urban heat mitigation (HM) is a priority for many cities that have undergone heat waves in recent years. Vegetation can help reduce the urban heat island (UHI) effect by providing shade, modifying thermal properties of the urban fabric, and increasing cooling through evapotranspiration. This has consequences for the health and wellbeing of citizens through reduced mortality and morbidity, increased comfort and productivity, and the reduced need for air conditioning (A/C).

from InVEST Documentation

The InVEST urban cooling model calculates an index of heat mitigation based on shade, evapotranspiration, and albedo, as well as distance from cooling islands (e.g. parks). The index is used to estimate a temperature reduction by vegetation. Finally, the model estimates the value of the heat mitigation service using two (optional) valuation methods: energy consumption and work productivity.

from InVEST Documentation

Data needs

Before running the InVEST Urban Cooling Model, check the key model input here.

How to run the model?

Model output

Layout

InVEST Urban Cooling model outputs have the following layout:

│  buildings_with_stats.dbf
│  buildings_with_stats.prj
│  buildings_with_stats.shp
│  buildings_with_stats.shx
│  hm.tif
│  InVEST-natcap.invest.urban_cooling_model-log-2023-01-27--21_34_30.txt
│  uhi_results.dbf
│  uhi_results.prj
│  uhi_results.shp
│  uhi_results.shx
│
└─intermediate
    │  albedo.tif
    │  area_kernel.tif
    │  cc.tif
    │  cc_park.tif
    │  cc_ref_aoi_stats.pickle
    │  eti.tif
    │  green_area.tif
    │  green_area_sum.tif
    │  heavy_loss_stats.pickle
    │  heavy_work_loss_percent.tif
    │  kc.tif
    │  light_loss_stats.pickle
    │  light_work_loss_percent.tif
    │  lulc.tif
    │  lulc.tif.aux.xml
    │  ref_eto.tif
    │  ref_eto.tif.aux.xml
    │  reprojected_aoi.dbf
    │  reprojected_aoi.prj
    │  reprojected_aoi.shp
    │  reprojected_aoi.shx
    │  reprojected_buildings.dbf
    │  reprojected_buildings.prj
    │  reprojected_buildings.shp
    │  reprojected_buildings.shx
    │  shade.tif
    │  T_air.tif
    │  t_air_aoi_stats.pickle
    │  T_air_nomix.tif
    │  t_air_stats.pickle
    │  wbgt.tif
    │  wbgt_stats.pickle
    │
    └─_taskgraph_working_dir
            taskgraph_data.db

Structure rundown

Folder	File name(s)	Explanation
./	buildings_with_stats.*(dbf,prj,shp,shx)	Maps showing various buidling-related statistics, e.g., energy savings average temperature value in buildings
./	uhi_results.*(dbf,prj,shp,shx)	A copy of the input vector “Building Footprints” with the following additional fields, including: energy savings and average temperature value
./	hm.tif	Calculated heat mitigation index (HMI)
./	*.txt	The txt file lists the parameter values and output messages for that run and will be named according to the service, the date and time

note

Only key outputs are listed in the above table.

As reflected by its name, files in the /intermediate folder are intermediate output.

If you want to learn more on these output, you can refer to this link.

Results visualization

Distribution of Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT)
Distribution of air temperature (T_air)
Distribution of albedo
Distribution of cooling capacity
Distribution of energy savings