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Using Buses To Track Valley Hot Spots

Bus Sensors
Mark Brodie/KJZZ
/
file | staff
ASU's Jannik Heusinger (left) and David Sailor with their bus sensor.

Supported by Intel

Climate has always been one of Arizona’s selling points, but this time of year, it can feel like more of a downside.

There are efforts to try to deal with the heat and, in some cases, reverse the warming trends.

A project led by Jannik Heusinger put 10 mobile sensors on the top of Valley Metro buses starting in June. The sensors measure air temperature and relative humidity.

Eventually, Heusinger, a post-doctoral associate at ASU, wants to map heat in the Valley and figure out which parts of town are hotter than others.

To find out more about the project, The Show spoke with Jannik at the East Valley Bus Operations and Maintenance Facility in Tempe. There, we sat on a bus, and we asked him what his data sensors can tell him.

Mark Brodie is a co-host of The Show, KJZZ’s locally produced news magazine. Since starting at KJZZ in 2002, Brodie has been a host, reporter and producer, including several years covering the Arizona Legislature, based at the Capitol.