Feasibility Assessment Report: Internet-based Heat Evaluation and Assessment Tool (I-HEAT)
Authors: Susan Maxwell (PI), Robert Rommel, Geoffrey Jacquez – BioMedware, Inc.;
Marie O’Neill, Kathryn Conlon, Natalie Sampson – University of Michigan School of Public Health
Over the past two decades heat waves were responsible for more deaths in the U.S. than any other natural hazard (e.g., floods, winter storms, hurricanes). The U.S. Global Change Research Program identified mapping and modeling tools for identifying populations vulnerable to climate changes as an important need. This project developed and evaluated the feasibility of a computer software tool, the Internet-based Heat Evaluation and Assessment Tool (I-HEAT) to assist health professionals in determining populations most vulnerable to extreme heat events.
The I-HEAT study was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from June 2011 to June 2013 under contract NNH11CD21C to assess the feasibility of providing health professionals and risk assessors with an advanced geospatial web-based system for preparing and responding to emergency heat events, developing mitigation strategies, and educating the public. The concept was to integrate temperature and vegetation data derived from Landsat satellite imagery with demographic data and a previously developed vulnerability index within a browser-based software package to map heat-related morbidity and mortality risks at the neighborhood level.