The heat island effect is extreme in the arid Southwest and are poised to increase in intensity due to population growth and climate change. With collaborators at the School of Earth Sciences and the Environment at Arizona State University, the DPEL is combining advanced remote sensing and machine learning with ground-based ecophysiological sensor technology to quantify tradeoffs between surface shading and water investment by landscape trees in real time. The work is to establish species-specific shading benefits relative to the financial cost of whole-tree water use.
Recent funding resources:
- ASU SESE Postdoctoral fellowship (Aparecido)
