"Thermographic analyses for the monitoring of urban areas by means of infra-red technologies to study heat islands"

Urban settlements bring about variations of the local meteorological characteristics. One of the most important effect is the increase of the temperature in urban areas in comparison with the neighbouring rural environment. This phenomenon is known as urban heat island. This work presents the results of a research activity jointly carried out by researchers of the CNR LARA (Laboratorio Aereo Ricerche Ambientali ? Airborne Laboratory for Environmental Research) and the University of Rome "La Sapienza?", Dept. of Technical Physics, Faculty of Engineering. This paper describes the first results obtained so far in processing and analysing remotely sensed data and integrating then with investigations carried out in situ about the thermal behaviour of materials, based on the consideration that covering materials in urban areas considerably contribute in forming urban heat islands. In particular the first space-temporal results about values on the storage and subsequent release of heat by materials present in the portion of the urban texture of the town of Rome examined, are here described. There results have enabled the assessment of the temperature trend both of the whole area investigated, and of the single materials such as asphalt, travertine, bare soil and grass, in specific environmental conditions. Knowing the thermal response of building materials to sun radiation and studying the interactions with the atmosphere will help in finding solutions to improve their thermal efficiency and consequently to mitigate partially at least the phenomenon of heat islands.