The overall objective of this project is to develop accurate, flexible, and cost-effective tools for monitoring extreme heat at Marine Corps installations to reduce heat-related illness, improve operational effectiveness, and support heat resilience across the Department of War (DoW). Extreme heat conditions significantly degrade warfighter mission readiness by reducing soldier training days with undue stress on capabilities. Accurate measure of military personnel exposure to extreme heat could eventually guide strategies for training deployment conditions.  

Using metrics like Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) and Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT) can help monitor heat stress accurately. Currently, the Marines use "Flag Conditions" based on WBGT, which is influenced by regional weather and can be inaccurate at micro-sites with different land covers (e.g., surface substate, vegetation, or built infrastructure.) Addressing extreme heat exposure at military bases, beyond city-scale research, is crucial for developing heat mitigation efforts. This project aims to assess the thermal environment and its moderation by land cover at several Marine Corps bases and provide data to support heat resilience solutions across the services. 

To measure WBGT and MRT, the project team will use the Kestrel 5400 Heat Stress Tracker from Nilsen-Kellerman, a U.S.-based company known for low- to mid-cost handheld sensors. The Kestrel 5400 provides direct measurement of WBGT and parameters for calculating MRT and is established for accurately recording microhabitat conditions. These measurements will be paired with a HOBO light data logger from Onset, capturing light data to distinguish between tree-shade and cloud-cover shade, and a FLIR C3-X handheld infrared camera from Teledyne FLIR LLC, providing high-resolution surface temperature imagery. This combined approach enhances precision in modeling thermal environments by correlating sensor data with land cover and weather station data, supported by recent high-resolution land cover data from the USMC bases.

Site-specific heat exposure maps will help identify safe and high-risk areas ahead of regional forecasts, improving daily decisions around built environments on installations. This data will help the DoW prioritize locations for cooling strategies like shade structures and tree plantings and guide policies to reduce heat exposure. Overall, this technology could reduce installation energy costs, improve life cycle effectiveness of buildings and systems, and improve health outcomes for military personnel. Project outcomes will also be scalable to other regions, such as high elevation bases in the Arctic. (Anticipated Project Completion - 2027)