Spotlight on Heat

Created by a NOAA Hollings Scholar during their 2025 summer internship, this Science On a Sphere® live program dives into one of the most pressing dimensions of climate change: heat. Using global datasets, audiences explore how rising temperatures are experienced differently around the world, why cities can feel hotter than their surroundings, and how extreme heat links to drought, fire, and food security.

Real-world case studies, such as India's devastating 2015 heatwave, highlight the risks of prolonged high temperatures to human health, infrastructure, and agriculture. The program also emphasizes solutions—like greener city planning, cooling centers, and community action—that can help reduce the impacts of heat. Participants are encouraged to connect the science to their own communities and consider everyday actions that make a difference in a warming world.

• Global temperature anomalies and extreme heat days
• Urban heat island effect (day vs. night)
• Connections between heat, drought, and fire
• Health and food security impacts of heatwaves
• Community and individual solutions

• Script

Katherine Forson, NOAA Hollings Scholar used ArcGIS to create most of the datasets in this program. The datasets were found from the following source:

• 90th Percentile Heat Days - Climate Central
• Urban Heat Island - Global Urban Heat Island Intensity Dataset
• Drought - SPEI Global Drought Monitor
• Burned Area - Global Fire Data
• India Heat Wave - Land Surface Temperature, SOS archive