Mapping and Monitoring Turfgrass Cooling Effects from the House to the City Scale in Inland California ($20,000, 2018-19)


In the last decade, due to prolonged and persisting drought conditions, California USA has restricted water allocated for outdoor landscape irrigation and developed a plan to replace natural turfgrass in California’s lawns by offering rebates for removal. Consequently, its removal may lead to a drastic increase of urban heat in inland areas. Te hottest temperature recorded in scientific literature for artificial turf is 200 degrees Fahrenheit (93.3 degrees Celsius) during a day with a daytime air temperature of 98 degrees Fahrenheit (36.6 degrees Celsius). Previous research modeling the heating effect of artificial turfgrass on an average summer day in coastal Southern California found that the removal of natural turfgrass could lead to an increase in ground temperature of 72.7 degrees Fahrenheit (22.6 degrees Celsius). However, all previous studies conducted on natural turfgrass’s cooling potential were either conducted on a small scale or were based on models. Tis study proposes spatial and temporal resolution on actual temperature increases in desert cities when turfgrass is replaced by artificial turf and other landscape cover options.


Te main objectives of this study are to first, detect differences among natural turfgrass, artificial turf, and desert landscapes during the summer months in Riverside, CA. Differences in temperature will be studied at different scales: household, neighborhood, and whole-city; and second, to conduct a survey on irrigation practices on artificial turf areas (e.g., high school sport fields) to quantify the amount of water used in these areas during the summer months.


Temperature differences among different land covers (natural turfgrass, desert plants, and artificial turf) will be assessed using airborne and satellite thermal imagery. Airborne thermal imagery will be acquired over selected areas (~10 square miles/25 square kilometers) of the city of Riverside (Figure 3). Tree to four flights per summer will be carried out in 2018 and 2019 and airborne thermal imagery will be acquired at a resolution of 1-square-foot (0.09-square-meters). Airborne imagery time series will be used to quantify the net temperature differences between different ground covers. An example of thermal imagery of different ground covers can be seen in Figure 4 where various bands of the electromagnetic spectrum are used to display imagery. Spatial statistics and cluster analyses will be used to characterize the cool and/or heat island effects due to each cover type at multiple scales: from the single household to the neighborhood scale (tens and hundreds of households). Tese spatial analyses will be used to determine if the choice of landscape cover type affects household temperatures, neighbors’ household temperatures, etc.


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Flight routes for the thermal airborne imagery are plotted over selected areas of the city of Riverside, CA.


Termal imagery of different groundcovers can be seen in the various bands of the electromagnetic spectrum displayed in figure 4.


Remote sensing imagery from the Landsat 8 satellite (NASA and USGS) will be available for the entire city of Riverside with a temporal resolution of 16 days. Remote sensing will be used to quantify the net temperature differences among different ground covers over public spaces (e.g., public parks, sport fields at schools or recreational areas). Te cooling/heating effects of different land cover types will be studied at the Landsat resolution from the neighborhood scale, to the whole-city scale, while airborne and remote sensing imagery will be complemented by ground measurements of temperature, humidity, and other meteorological variables.


In addition, a series of irrigation surveys will be conducted to assess differences in water consumption between artificial and natural turfgrass used for sport surfaces. Turfgrass managers will be interviewed to better understand artificial turf irrigation practices while at the same time a series of distribution uniformity tests will be conducted on sport surfaces during the summer when water consumption for irrigation is at its peak to precisely calculate irrigation water volumes used to cool down artificial turf.


TPI Turf News September/October 2018


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