Two full days of thematic workshop at ASI Headquarters in Rome focused on urban heat islands, scientific studies and thermal applications with Earth Observation data

In the context of increasingly rapid urbanization and growing impacts due to climate change, cities and human settlements, as well as natural environments, water surfaces and glaciers, are exposed to higher temperatures, and changes of microclimate and their chemical-physical and biological properties.

Integrated with other detection methods, Earth Observation is nowadays a fundamental source of data to characterise these processes and test new applications in support to decision-making and identification of mitigation measures.

This is evidenced by the algorithmic and application developments that the Italian Space Agency (ASI) has conducted in recent years jointly with the national scientific community, for example in the "Innovation for Downstream Preparation for Science" (I4DP_SCIENCE) program for the study of urban heat islands and the assessment of thermal comfort in cities. These projects have demonstrated the integration of ASI’s Earth observation data such as PRISMA and the Copernicus missions, geospatial data, and ground-based measurements.

At the same time, ASI has promoted the development of thermal applications within the SBG-TIR mission study in the framework of the international cooperation with NASA, in relation to the estimation of vegetation parameters, mapping of surface temperature and heat islands, mapping of volcanic emissions and their composition, characterization of fires, mapping of topsoil and raw materials.

It is in this context that ASI is pleased to announce the organization of a thematic workshop at ASI headquarters in Rome, spread over the following two days:

Day 1 – “Earth Observation, urban heat islands and thermal comfort in cities: the experience of the Italy-Vietnam LCZ-UHI-GEO cooperation and beyond”

13 May 2026 @ 09:00 – @ 17:00

The technical-scientific sessions will:

· present the results achieved in the framework of the Italy – Vietnam project “Analysis of Local Climate Zones and Urban Heat Island using geomatic techniques (GIS and Earth Observation) – LCZ-UHI-GEO”, funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) for the period 2024-2026. LCZ-UHI-GEO is a collaborative project ASI, Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI) and the Vietnam National Space Center (VSNC), and promotes the use of satellite hyperspectral data from ASI’s PRISMA mission;

· provide a forum for discussion of the state of the art and most recent technological and algorithmic innovations in the field of scientific research and downstream applications for the study of urban heat islands, classification of Local Climate Zones and evaluation of thermal comfort. The presentations will also help to identify future lines for development.

Day 2 – “Algorithms and applications for Earth observation in the thermal infrared”

14 May 2026 @ 09:00 – @ 17:00

The technical-scientific sessions will: • present the results achieved in the framework of “THERESA – THErmal infRarEd SBG Algorithms” project, funded by ASI to promote scientific activities in support to the SBG-TIR mission. The project is a collaboration between ASI and the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV);

• provide a forum for discussion of the state of the art and most recent technological and algorithmic innovations in the field of scientific research and downstream applications for the study of sea surface temperature and marine heat waves, water resources, crop health status, surface temperature and heat island mapping, mapping of volcanic emissions and their composition, fire characterization, raw materials. The presentations will also help to identify future lines for development.

Call for abstract

The scientific and industrial community is therefore invited to submit abstracts in response to the Call for Abstracts according to the following deadlines:

· Registration with abstract submission: 31 March 2026.

· Registration without abstract submission: 20 April 2026.

· Authors will be notified about the acceptance of their abstracts by 13 April 2026.

Registration

The workshop will be held in person. The workshop language will be English.

Remote presentation will not be allowed.

In order to participate in the workshop, delegates must register using the registration form available at the link.

For any further information please do send an email to: eo@asi.it