Investigating the Relationship of Land Surface Temperatures With Varying Surface Parameters Over India's National Capital Region (NCR)
Abstract
In India, impervious surface coverings are rapidly replacing greenery to support the country's rapid population growth and industrialization. One of the most urbanized cities in the world, Delhi, is stretching beyond its borders to accommodate its population. This rapid transition from vegetation to an impervious surface changes the thermal properties of the land surface i.e albedo and emissivity. As a result of this transition, the surface's natural ability to absorb and release heat changes and affects the surface energy balance. This imbalance increases the Land Surface Temperature (LST), which in turn causes the Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) and contributes to global warming. The current study aimed to analyze the change in vegetation, albedo, and emissivity of the study area over the past two decades and to examine their relationship with LST. For the study, Landsat series and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data products from 2000 to 2021 were retrieved from Google Earth Engine (GEE) archives and employed for the analysis. The results show that over the past 20 years vegetation cover has been replaced by both formal and informal urban infrastructures. There are some interesting land cover transformation patterns are noticed in the city center and suburban regions. The suburban regions have turned into an impermeable shell, lowering albedo and increasing emissivity. On the other hand, the city center has a much more organized land cover transformation with properly placed trees on sidewalks, around the buildings and tree grates. Although, the government policies and citizen efforts to increase vegetation in the last 20 years do not seem to be restoring places to the cooling potential of abundantly-vegetated areas. In terms of large-scale reduction of the SUHI, in the last two decades, widespread adaptation of reflective roofs seems to be the most effective. These conclusions will help the government and city administrations to effectively evaluate white and green policies for effectively dealing with the problem of SUHI in Delhi, India.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022AGUFMGC34B..04A
- Keywords:
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- Urbanization;
- Albedo;
- Emissivity;
- Vegetation;
- Land Surface Temperature (LST)