Cole Brewer, Junior, Model Lab, Kentucky Jeremy Sandifer, STEM Project Coordinator, CAFSSS Dr. Buddhi Gyawali, Assistant Professor and SAP Director, CAFSSS

Urban Heat Islands are areas of relatively increased heat centered on urban areas versus the surrounding rural areas. This experiment was done to see if there was any relation between a city's layout of land cover features and the distribution of the Urban Heat Island. Various data maps were analyzed and compared in the ArcMap program, eventually bringing the group to the conclusion that the city's layout and land cover determined the shape and intensity of the urban heat island.

Most modern-day cities suffer from a phenomenon known as the Urban Heat Island. As a city grows, it begins to replace the natural, permeable soil and foliage with concrete buildings and asphalt roads. These new surfaces absorb heat better than before, and begin to radiate this heat into the air around them and causing an increase in local air and surface temperatures. This creates an effect known as the Urban Heat Island, where urban areas tend to be relatively warmer than the surrounding rural or forested land, as can be resolved in Figure 1. Heat islands can increase air pollution and lower quality of life. Each city's heat island is different, and we wanted