Mapping heat impacts
The Queensland Government has developed 2 mapping tools to help industry sectors and government plan for the heat impacts caused by climate change.
Climate change is expected to make:
- heatwaves hotter, longer lasting and more frequent
- heat more intense and create urban ‘heat islands’ in built up areas.
These interactive maps show how extreme heat impacts human health and the environment across Queensland.
They were developed as part of a climate adaptation strategy.
Heatwave maps
The story maps show how heat generated by heatwaves impact Queensland communities at a local level.
They map the local drivers that determine a community’s heat:
- vulnerability
- hazard
- exposure
- overall risk.
The maps are part of a project to heatwaves and heat impact on a community’s health services (e.g. hospitals and ambulances).
Urban heat map
The mapping tool shows the urban parts of 27 local government areas in Queensland.
It provides projections for local urban temperatures and the thermal comfort for the people that live there.
It shows 1986–2005 levels and projects what urban heat is expected to be in 2030, 2050, 2070 and 2090. For more information, read the explanatory notes.
The tool can be used by government and professionals in:
- land use planning
- building and street design
- disaster management
- urban planning and design
- human health
- community wellbeing
- housing
- health and safety.
Heat/Thermal Index Mapping
Explanatory notes
The mapping tool uses a 50m2 resolution grid covering the urban parts of 27 local government areas in Queensland. It shows projections of local urban temperatures and thermal comfort for the years 2030, 2050, 2070 and 2090 under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change RCP 4.5 scenario (emissions peak in 2050 and decline rapidly thereafter) and RCP 8.5 scenario (business-as-usual emissions).
Data prepared by the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities. The Air-temperature Response to Green/blue infrastructure Evaluation Tool (TARGET) model was used to map and analyse current and future extreme heat hazard for urban settlements across 10 regions identified by the Queensland Government. The modelling project covered 10 regions across Queensland.
TARGET model is an urban heat island model that uses meteorological forces to calculate the air temperature at the neighbourhood to precinct scale. In TARGET model, ambient temperature is the most important force among others such as humidity, pressure, wind and radiation.
For the climate change scenarios, the long-term heatwave temperatures were extracted from 11 downscaled climate models for Queensland. Future heatwave conditions were looked at for 2 emissions projections, which are RCP 4.5 and 8.5 at a 20-year interval.
The output was Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) which is a more meaningful metric for human health impacts due to heat.
- Last updated
- 27 September 2024