在8月炎热的一天，数十名志愿者在堪萨斯城做标记。 他们的任务是：开一个小时的车，更多地了解整个城市的热量分布情况。
Kansas City is one of about a dozen cities taking part in a 全国研究项目 funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 其目标是绘制一幅地图，指出哪里有比周围地区更温暖的土地。 研究人员称这些地区为城市热岛。
威尼斯人娱乐城地球与环境科学教授孙凤鹏博士是堪萨斯城实验小组的负责人。 他说，虽然大多数人都熟悉温室气体排放是如何导致全球变暖的，但他们也应该意识到土地利用和土地覆盖变化是如何影响气温的。
“You think about the Kansas City area compared to 30 years ago. 我们有更多的建筑。 We have more concrete and more asphalt, we have less trees, less soil,” said Sun. “We want to utilize this project to showcase how the temperature has been distributed across our community.”
在这项研究中，志愿者在他们的车上安装了一个传感器，每秒记录空气温度、空气湿度和GPS位置。 然后他们沿着事先规划好的80平方英里的环形路线行驶。 之后，这些数据被发回NOAA， NOAA将其与卫星数据相结合，绘制出一张地图，显示出热岛的位置。
志愿者包括威尼斯人娱乐城的学生和教师，社区成员和威尼斯人娱乐城社区合作伙伴的员工以及堪萨斯城。
Amanda Mercier是环境科学专业的学生。 在为世界各地的环境项目做了几年志愿者之后，她决定攻读学位，希望能产生更大的影响。 她说，她渴望有机会与孙一起工作，为研究做出贡献。
“As soon as they were letting people back on campus, I think I was one of the first people to sign up for this,” said Mercier.
美国国家海洋和大气管理局预计将在大约两到三个月内返回数据。 孙说，在那之后，他的团队收集的研究可以用各种方式来帮助缓解堪萨斯城的热岛问题，从将他的数据与社会影响数据进行比较，到帮助为市政府决策提供信息。
“They are the policy makers. Hopefully my voice, the results that we get, can be heard by them,” said Sun. “It’s very important for them to develop some kind of adaptation strategy and also mitigation strategy. Make sure that your city, that your area is going to be sustainable and, most importantly, it’s going to be resilient enough in a warming world.”
它还可以帮助项目合作伙伴和当地非营利组织通过其2020年通过的城市森林总体规划弥合差距。
“We will eventually be able to see, through this data, where we might want to concentrate more of our tree planting efforts,” said Kristin Riott, the non-profit’s executive director.
最重要的是，孙说，他希望社区参与进来，并看到结果。 这就是他邀请社区志愿者帮助收集数据的原因。 他甚至把路线安排在可识别的堪萨斯城地标附近，这样一旦研究结果公布，公众就会更感兴趣。
“It can give people more of an impression about the data,” said Sun. “Climate change is not something really far away from us. It’s happening. It’s happening in our neighborhood. 我们知道我们正在经历越来越多的高温天气，这正是我们想要传达给人们的。 它可以发生在任何地方。 The impact could be different, but it can happen everywhere.”
The data collection led by Sun came just days before the United Nations released an 紧急的报告 warning that climate change is widespread, rapid and intensifying; and exactly a week before NOAA announced 新数据 showing July 2021 as the hottest month ever recorded on earth.
“We all need to do this together, we’re running out of time,” said Mercier.