Eugene

🌿 Can trees cool #Calgary ? Summer 2025 data from 193 neighborhoods reveals a tipping point: 0.34 NDVI.
🔹 Below 0.34: Isolated trees in "concrete jungles" provide ~0 cooling ROI.
🔹 Above 0.34: Cooling "clicks in" & efficiency jumps.
Stats: Vegetation explains 40% of heat; 60% is locked in asphalt & design. Where we can't plant, we must use high-albedo materials.
Validated by Davies test. Part of my broader #YYC microclimate suite.

Link to the previous stage of research:
https://www.datastory.org.ua/calgarys-summer-heat-a-2025-satellite-perspective/

#DataScience #ClimateAction #RemoteSensing #RStats #GreennesOfCalgary #Alberta #Calgary #fossgis #ClimateSolutions

Apr 23 at 11:59amWeb
Show threadDan CarpenterApr 23
@datastory this is fascinating work, and really interesting results. I look forward to hearing more about this work, thanks for sharing.
Show threadEugeneApr 23
@drdcarpenter
Thanks! I’m glad it caught your eye.
What surprised me the most is the scale invariance of this threshold. I initially found the ~0.34 breakpoint at the pixel level, but it remains remarkably robust even after spatial aggregation to neighborhood-level averages across 193 areas.
I’m currently re-validating the calculations and checking for potential MAUP effects, but the signal seems to hold.