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Researchers at Portland State are taking the lead in analyzing to what extent human behavior impacts urban climates, and assessing the role that public policies play in affecting heat waves and episodes of poor air quality.

The project, "Complex Interactions Among Urban Climate, Air Quality, and Adaptive-Reactive Human Response," is funded by a $1.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation's Biocomplexity in the Environment initiative, and runs from September 2004 though February 2009.

The work will focus on two cities where climate and human response may be very different-Portland, Ore., and Houston, Tx.-in order to determine how people react to news of adverse weather conditions or health advisories, and how human response in turn affects urban climate and air quality.

The principal investigator is David Sailor, an associate professor in the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science's Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering; other researchers from PSU include Linda George, Center for Science Education (College of Liberal Arts and Sciences), and Jan Semenza, School of Community Health (College of Urban and Public Affairs), as well as researchers from San Jose State University, University of Delaware and Altostratus, Inc.

"To date, the complex interactions among urban climate, air quality and human activity are poorly understood. An improved understanding of these interactions and the associated feedback mechanisms will enable the development and implementation of improved policies and advisory systems to reduce the severity of heat waves and episodes of poor air quality," said David Sailor, principal investigator on the project.

The goal of the NSF-funded project is to develop an integrated analysis framework that can be used to evaluate human response to, and impact on, heat waves and episodes of poor air quality, linking models of meteorology, air quality, energy consumption and human response, incorporating feedback mechanisms among each component. Researchers will work to measure the impact of human response to these policies, take field measurements to accurately measure air pollution and meteorological conditions, and gather energy and transportation data to quantify anthropogenic waste heat release profiles-heat generated through human activities such as driving and running air conditioning units.

Currently, urban planning, policy actions and regulatory decisions work to control urban climates and air quality in part by managing human behavior. In Portland, drivers are encouraged to carpool or utilize mass transportation on days when air quality is particularly bad, for example. Policies are often developed with limited evaluation of the potential interactions in the urban climate-air quality system, and without sufficiently measuring subsequent response to these policies. These recommendations may, therefore, have unintended impacts on health or energy consumption, as they do not adequately assess feedback mechanisms in the urban environment or the effects of population growth, technological change, global climate change and human adaptation.

The scientific objectives of this study will be combined with an educational component that includes high school students and teachers, and college students and faculty. Portland State University will host an intensive four-week institute in summer 2005 for area high school teachers and their students, who will assist in gathering data for the project.

For more information, visit the project Web site, www.fuse.pdx.edu.

Source:
David Sailor, PSU Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science (503-725-4265)

For Immediate Release (#05-011)