How much heat are Atlantans feeling? A new study is taking a closer look.

As the planet warms because of human-caused climate change, studies have found metro Atlanta is experiencing more extreme heat. But exactly how hot it actually feels depends on where you are in the city.

Blocks shaded by trees are cooler than ones dominated by concrete, and researchers have long known that heat risk can vary from neighborhood to neighborhood, block to block and even house to house.

Now, an Emory University study is taking a more granular look at the issue, chronicling the heat, humidity and air pollution Atlantans are encountering in their daily lives.

The research is an initiative of Emory’s Climate & Health Actionable Research and Translation Center, or CHART.

The project started last year and has enrolled 61 households so far, with a goal of eventually reaching 120 homes. For now, the study is only enrolling Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett county residents, like Tessa Horehled.

Horehled lives in a 100-year old home in Westview, a few miles west of downtown Atlanta, and has asthma, a condition that can be exacerbated by extreme heat and poor air quality. With an infant at home, too, she said she decided to participate to understand her “baseline” exposure.

Children — along with the elderly and those with chronic health conditions like heart disease — are among the most vulnerable to heat-related illnesses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

“I’d love to … use it as something to keep in mind when I’m making decisions,” she said. “Like, do we want to take a bike or drive here?”

On a Tuesday in August, Emory environmental science professor Eri Saikawa and public health associate Jiyoung Hwang, installed sensors at Horehled’s home to begin gathering data.

To document outside heat and humidity, Saikawa and Hwang unfurled a tripod-mounted sensor in her backyard. Inside, they had Horehled place another monitor in her bedroom. Combined, the heat and humidity readings are used to calculate the heat index, Saikawa said, a measure of what it actually feels like inside and outside the home.

“We have a lot of data on the ambient temperature, but we don’t really know what’s indoor and what’s personal,” said Saikawa, the project’s lead researcher. “And for extreme heat, personal exposure is very important.”

One last wearable sensor traveled with Horehled on her hip, capturing GPS data and the air pollution levels she encountered as she went about her day.

For the next 48 hours, the trio of devices will help paint a fuller picture of her heat and pollution risk, the researchers said.