IRADe
How IRADe Advanced Heat-Health Research Through Hyperlocal Weather Monitoring
Enabling Heat-Health Research Through Hyperlocal Weather Intelligence
Extreme heat poses growing risks to public health, particularly for vulnerable low-income households. Housing conditions, ventilation, access to cooling infrastructure, humidity, and daily physical activities can influence how people experience heat.
City-level weather observations alone may not capture these differences at the household level. IRADe required continuous, location-specific environmental data to investigate the combined effects of temperature and humidity and understand their relationship with household heat exposure.
Through its collaboration with IMD, IRADe led the research and analysis, while Aurassure deployed and maintained the hyperlocal monitoring network across the study locations.
Project Snapshot
📍 Location
Balasore, Odisha, and Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
🏙 Sector
Climate Change & Public Health
𖣠 Research Focus
Household Heat Exposure, Heat-Health Impacts, Hyperlocal Weather Monitoring
🛰 Deployment
102 monitoring points — 100 household monitoring locations + 2 outdoor monitoring points.
🖥 Platform
Real-Time Environmental Intelligence Platform
📑 Research Partners
IRADe and India Meteorological Department (IMD)
Inside This Case Study
Discover how hyperlocal weather intelligence supported IRADe’s heat-health research across two Indian cities.
✔ Continuous household-level temperature and humidity monitoring
✔ Outdoor monitoring of temperature, humidity, and wind speed
✔ Distributed environmental data collection across 100 household locations
✔ At least hourly measurements to capture changing heat conditions
✔ Integration of household and ambient weather observations
✔ Field support and maintenance provisions to improve data continuity
✔ Community participation in local monitoring activities
✔ Environmental evidence to support research into heat exposure and health impacts
Why This Case Study Matters?
Heat exposure is not uniform across a city. Two households experiencing the same regional weather conditions may face different levels of heat because of differences in housing, ventilation, humidity, and other local factors.
Without household-level observations, these variations can be difficult to capture through conventional city-level weather data alone.
The IRADe project demonstrates how hyperlocal monitoring can provide a more detailed environmental evidence base for studying heat exposure among vulnerable communities. By combining indoor household measurements with outdoor weather observations, researchers gained a clearer picture of how temperature and humidity varied across locations and over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the objective of the IRADe heat-health study?
The study aimed to understand the combined impacts of temperature and humidity on vulnerable low-income households in Balasore and Varanasi and investigate local heat exposure and associated health impacts.
What role did Aurassure play in the project?
Aurassure deployed and maintained the hyperlocal weather monitoring network, providing continuous household-level and outdoor environmental data for IRADe’s research.
Which environmental parameters were monitored?
Household monitoring captured temperature and relative humidity. Outdoor monitoring captured temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed.
Why was hyperlocal monitoring important?
Hyperlocal monitoring provided location-specific data that city-level weather observations could not fully capture, helping researchers examine variations in heat conditions across individual households.
Who should explore this case study?
Public health researchers, climate scientists, policymakers, urban planners, development institutions, and organisations working on heat resilience and vulnerable communities.
The IRADe project demonstrates how hyperlocal weather monitoring can strengthen the evidence available for understanding heat exposure in vulnerable communities. By capturing household and ambient conditions across Balasore and Varanasi, the deployment supported a more detailed assessment of temperature and humidity variations and their relevance to heat-health research.
Through its collaboration with IMD and Aurassure’s monitoring infrastructure, IRADe established a valuable environmental data foundation for research into local heat exposure and heat-index-based thresholds.
