Effect of Land Surface Temperature on Urban Heat Island in Varanasi City, India

Amit Kumar, Vivek Agarwal, Lalit Pal, Surendra Kumar Chandniha and Vishal Mishra
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Amit Kumar: School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Vivek Agarwal: Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Lalit Pal: Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, India
Surendra Kumar Chandniha: Department of Soil and Water Engineering, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya Raipur, Raipur 492012, India
Vishal Mishra: Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, India

J, 2021, vol. 4, issue 3, 1-10

Abstract: Crucial changes in urban climate can be witnessed due to rapid urbanisation of cities across the world. It is important to find a balance between urban expansion and thermal environment quality to guarantee sustainable urban development. Thus, it is a major research priority to study the urban heat island (UHI) in various fields, i.e., climate change urban ecology, urban climatology, urban planning, mitigation and management, urban geography, etc. The present study highlighted the interrelationship between land surface temperature (LST) and the abundance of impervious cover and green cover in the Varanasi city of Uttar Pradesh, India. For this purpose, we used various GIS and remote-sensing techniques. Landsat 8 images, land-use–land-cover pattern including urban/rural gradients, and grid- and metric-based multi-resolution techniques were used for the analysis. From the study, it was noticed that LST, density of impervious cover, and density of green cover were correlated significantly, and an urban gradient existed over the entire city, depicting a typical UHI profile. It was also concluded that the orientation, randomness, and aggregation of impervious cover and green cover have a strong correlation with LST. From this study, it is recommended that, when planning urban extension, spatial variation of impervious cover and green cover are designed properly to ensure the comfort of all living beings as per the ecological point of view.

Keywords: surface urban heat island (SUHI); Varanasi; land surface temperature (LST); Landsat 8; remote sensing; impervious cover; green cover (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I10 I12 I13 I14 I18 I19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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