Most cities in India turning into "urban heat islands": Study
(Eds: With minor edits)
Kolkata, Feb 7 (PTI) A team of researchers from IIT
Kharagpur has found that most cities in the country are
turning into "urban heat islands" in all seasons during day
and night, officials said.
In their study, researchers from Centre for Oceans,
Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL) of IIT-KGP and
its Architecture and Regional Planning department showed that
most big cities in the country with population more than one
million have recorded rise in mercury level during daytime
while showing an increasing trend in the night hours.
The study, 'Anthropogenic forcing exacerbating the
urban heat islands in India', noted that the relatively warmer
temperatures in urban areas, compared to suburbs, have
potential health hazards due to heat waves apart from
pollution, an IIT-KGP statement said on Friday.
"Our research is a detailed and careful analysis of
urban heat islands of India, which is the difference between
urban and surrounding rural land surface temperatures, across
all seasons in 44 major cities from 2001 to 2017," Professor
Arun Chakraborty, one of the researchers, said.
He further said, "For the first time, we have found
evidence of mean daytime temperature of Surface Urban Heat
Island (UHI Intensity) going up to 2C for most cities, as
analysed from satellite temperature measurements in monsoon
and post-monsoon periods."
In Kolkata, Pune and Guwahati where the urban areas
are surrounded by large green cover in suburban regions, there
is "an enhanced cooling effect on surface" in suburban areas
during daytime as against cities in arid regions, the
researchers said.
"Evidence from our study suggests that more green
spaces within the city and its boundary could reduce the
temperature in the city and its neighbourhood," co-author of
the paper Prof. Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath said.
Conservation of water bodies and expansion of green
areas in and around cities could be an effective strategy to
curb the effects of urban heat islands, he said.
The construction of buildings and infrastructure
with eco-friendly materials could also prove to be crucial to
mitigate the effects of heat islands, he said. PTI SUS
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