By Emily Heber, TNC media relations manager
In the shade of towering Garry Oaks on a hot summer day, staff and supporters of the Tacoma Tree Foundation and The Nature Conservancy in Washington gathered in South Park for a “temperature blitz”, a day of temperature data collection in the surrounding Tacoma Mall neighborhood. This is all part of an ongoing partnership and research effort known as Greening Research in Tacoma (GRIT), a multi-disciplinary study looking at the effect increasing urban tree canopy has on air temperature and community well-being overtime.
Two TNC staffers, Courtney Baxter and Maia Murphy-Williams collect temperature data in the South Tacoma Mall neighborhood. Credit: Hannah Letinich/TNC
As part of this work, scientists at The Nature Conservancy and UW have installed temperature loggers on utility poles throughout the neighborhood that collect datum throughout the day. But these installed loggers don’t tell the full story. How people experience the temperature around them depends on more than just the air, it also depends on ground surface. Ailene Ettinger, a Quantitative Ecologist at TNC and lead scientist on the project, noted:
“In the same way that trees impact microclimate, so does the type of ground surface. Without data on the temperature at ground level, we are missing an important piece of how people experience temperature.”
360 Photo [Click and drag to move around]. Temperature loggers, like the small white device installed on this telephone pole, sense and record air temperature in this Tacoma mall neighborhood. These devices are helping researchers at the University of Washington and The Nature Conservancy in Washington study greening efforts like tree plantings and the relationship between environmental surroundings and human well-being in the neighborhood.
The group gathered at South Park was there to help fill-in that missing data set. Split into pairs, the teams were given a map with the locations of 4-6 temperature loggers installed on utility poles and a temperature logger. Fanned out across the neighborhood, teams were asked to place the temperature logger on the ground near the utility pole, note their location, the time, and the type of ground surface (e.g. concrete, grass, etc). After a few minutes, they could move on to the next spot on the map.
TNC staff member James Hong and University of Washington researcher Olivia Hill place the temperature logger on the grass to collect air temperature data at ground level. Credit: Hannah Letinich/TNC
As participants walked around the South Tacoma neighborhood to collect the data, they could feel the noticeable difference between the temperature and comfort in an area without trees and where the ground is concrete versus a spot with some shade and grass on the ground. Then walking back into the park, they would almost sigh with relief in the shade of the tall trees.
This blitz event is a way to fill in the missing data, which Ettinger and GRIT team members can use to draw a correlation between air and ground temperature and tell a more complete story of the environment in South Tacoma. While the blitz was mostly conducted by project partners, the team hopes to host another blitz event geared towards engaging local community members in the process and progress of the work.
Featured photo: Using a temperature logger, printed map, and their phones, TNC and partner staff members collect air temperature data. Credit: Hannah Letinich/TNC
