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Fishing Around Urban Hotspots

Hotspots’ Explorers, 7^th junior High School of Ilioupoli-Athens

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Climate Detectives Summit 2025

1. In the laboratory experiment, we exposed the two models to solar radiation (Figure 2b). Measurements showed that the temperatures of the air, road (by asphalt) and sidewalks (by gray cement) are lower in the Iliopoli model (by 1-3°C) than in the model of the center of Athens.
2. For the in situ experiment, we set up 4 “improvised meteorological stations”, two in Ilioupoli and two in the center of Athens. We took two measurements on the same day, at 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., just after sunset. We did not observe any temperature differences in the midday measurement. However, immediately after sunset, an air temperature difference of at least 1°C lower was recorded in Ilioupoli compared to the center of Athens, due to the higher thermal radiation of vegetated surfaces compared to concrete surfaces.

Figure 2: a)Meteorological data processing diagrams

b) Laboratory experiment c) In situ experiment

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Figure 1: How the heat island

phenomenon occurs

Figure 3: a)Comic-book video b) Adult education

c) Poster of the Panhellenic Student Day

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How are urban hotspots created and how do they affect human body? How can we mitigate this problem?

We studied heat island effect, using indexes of EOBrowser and analysing data from the National Meteorological Service for the Hellinikon, an area close to Ilioupoli. We concluded that in the last decade there has been an increase in the mean maximum annual temperature by 0.5-2.5°C and also in the mean minimum annual temperature by 0.2-2°C compared to the mean maximum and minimum values for the 1990-2024 time series which are 23.01°C and 14.8°C respectively (diagram 1 &2,figure 2a). Using building materials we constructed a model that simulates a street with houses in Ilioupoli and a corresponding model for the downtown of Athens, in order to conduct laboratory experiment with the aim of recording the difference of temperature between the two models. The in situ experiment took place on March 8, 2025 and aimed to study the intensity of the urban heat island effect between downtown of Athens and Ilioupoli (a suburban

residential area with vegetation).

In order to communicate the results of our research and raise awareness to students, teachers and parents about the climate crisis:

1. We created a comic-book video about heatstroke in dogs.
2. A simulation of a lecture was held for the parents of our school to provide adult education on climate change. The role of trainers was assumed by the students.
3. We organized a Panhellenic Student Science Day Event, a simulation of a conference, held on April 4, 2025, which included a special session on climate change. 32 schools from all over Greece participated and students presented 45 papers.