What is the colour of Climate Change?

The Climate Change currently under way – subject of discussion for its possible anthropogenic nature – is bringing many changes on our planet, among which (though perhaps less important than others, except as a sign of transformations under way) is a change in its colour, both in natural areas and, less evidently, in anthropic ones. NASA’s 20-year satellite monitoring system was succeeded by the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-Of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS), a satellite-borne instrument with the ability to observe changes in progress on both land and oceans. For example, Chris Potter, a researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center, reports that, in Alaska, large fires caused by storms, triggered by rising temperatures, destroyed a moss layer that protected permafrost, exposing frozen ground that has changed in consistency to a sea of mud. One of the most noticeable effects of Climate Change in densely-urbanized areas is an accentuation of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. This is causing big cities’ municipal administrations, but also citizens’ associations, to undertake initiatives to protect buildings from solar irradiation in summer. These include the White Roof Project, in New York, and the International Green Roof City Network, in Tokyo, which treat buildings with reflective paints or vegetal layers aimed at reducing solar heat absorption.