Satellite monitoring of summer heat waves in the Paris metropolitan area

11 p.International audienceIn August 2003, for 9 consecutive days, the Paris metropolitan area experienced an extreme heat wave that caused 4867 estimated heat-related deaths. A set of 61 NOAA-AVHRR images and one SPOT-high resolution visible image were used to analyse the spatial variations of land surface temperature (LST) over the diurnal cycle during the heat wave.LSTs were sampled from images at the addresses of 482 elderly people to produce daily and cumulative minimal, maximal and mean thermal indicators, over various periods of time.These indicators were integrated into a conditional logistic regression model to test their use as heat exposure indicators, based on risk factors. Over the period 1–13 August, thermal indicators taking into account minimum nocturnal temperatures averaged over 7 days or over the whole period were significantly linked to mortality. These results show the extent of the spatial variability in urban climate variables and the impact of night-time temperatures on excess mortality