A recent study by researchers from the School of Earth Ocean and Climate Sciences at IIT Bhubaneswar has found that increased urbanisation of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack has led to increased land surface temperature in the last 20 years (2001-2020). While there has been an increase in relatively cooler regions over Bhubaneswar and Cuttack during daytime, the reverse is seen during night time. However, during the night, both cities have been witnessing increased urban heat island effect. As a result, there has been a reduced daytime and night time temperature difference.
The results of the study have been published in the journal Environment, Development and Sustainability.
“The urban areas of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack are about 0.75 degree C and 1.22 degree C warmer than the surrounding rural areas, respectively. The core city area is warmer than the recently developed suburban regions. The temperature changes over the last two decades have been more rapid in the suburban areas in the two cities, and suburbs experience almost twice the warming than by the entire city,” says Dr. V. Vinoj, who is the corresponding authors of the paper.
