KOLKATA: The study on urban temperature rise and heat islands, conducted jointly by Calcutta University and Vidyasagar University, has an interesting find: the human health comfort map.
It shows that the city’s centre, and a 20km buffer around it, contains stressful health conditions, with about 90% of the heat islands situated in this zone. The total amount of UHI growth has been 44.6sqkm over the last three decades, with an urban expansion of 28.7sqkm. The highest UHI extent index (UHIEI) was identified in the west southwest direction (areas such as Kidderpore and Budge Budge), and least towards the south and southeast (areas adjoining the East Kolkata Wetlands, such as Patuli and New Garia), the study said.
