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Estimation of intra-urban thermal variability in Ahmedabad city using moving vehicle transects

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Abstract

Temperature differences within a city are called Intra-Urban Heat Islands (IUHI) and are important to estimate as they directly affect human health conditions. Monitoring the air temperature (Tair) throughout the city helps identify the places prone to extreme heat conditions, and such places require immediate warnings to mitigate extreme weather conditions like heat waves. The present study attempts to investigate intra-urban thermal variability within Ahmedabad city, India, by measuring near-surface Tair of different places representing diverse types of roads, vegetation, build-up areas like commercial or residential, water bodies like small ponds, lakes and rivers at different time of the day. Tair data is collected using HOBO thermo-hygrometer coupled with an automatic data logger mounted on a mobile vehicle (for every 1 second) and at stationary sites (for every 2 minutes). The Indian regional navigation satellite system (IRNSS), with the operational name of NAVIC (acronym for Navigation with Indian constellation) and global positioning system (GPS) receiver, is used to record vehicle location, speed and altitude for every second. The results show that there are significant differences in temperature responses at different places in urban areas. Surface properties and surroundings significantly influence spatial and temporal variability in Tair within a city. The temperature in residential areas is found to be lower than the nearest market places. Transect data analysis suggests that IUHI are more intense during night (ΔT = 6°C) than in day (ΔT = 0.5°C), which is mainly due to differences in cooling rate of the surfaces.

Research highlights

  • The diurnal variability in the air temperature at different places of Ahmedabad city during summer months has been studied using mobile vehicle transects experiments.

  • It is found that this form of mobile transect methodology is a quick and relatively economical approach in comparison to stationary automatic weather stations to investigate intra-urban thermal variability in Ahmedabad city.

  • The inter-comparison of air temperature observed by transect, rural and urban reference sites shows high thermal variabilities within a 1 km distance in the city. The sharp temperature gradients (4–6°C) ensure a significant intra-urban heat island.

  • The study is able to identify locations in the city where temperature is found higher during day and night hours, and this will provide some guidance to the concerned government authorities responsible for taking adequate mitigation measures.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Director, Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad and the Deputy Director of EPSA, SAC-ISRO for providing support for the study. The authors acknowledge the SAC Bopal Campus supporting staff for helping in the instrument installation. The transport SAC-ISRO is acknowledged for providing the vehicle as per the study requirements. The authors acknowledge the valuable suggestions by Dr M P Oza and Dr A S Rajawat for improving the manuscript. The authors are thankful to two anonymous reviewers for their critical comments and suggestions, which were helpful in improving the quality of the manuscript substantially.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Group, Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organization, Ahmedabad, 380 015, India

    Neeru Jaiswal, Sanjib K Deb, Sambit K Panda, Anup K Mandal, Aman W Khan & C M Kishtawal

Authors
  1. Neeru Jaiswal
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  2. Sanjib K Deb
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  3. Sambit K Panda
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  4. Anup K Mandal
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  5. Aman W Khan
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  6. C M Kishtawal
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Contributions

NJ performed maximum computations. NJ and SKD analysed the results from the computations and wrote the manuscript. CMK added his expertise to the analysed results and overhauled it in the present form. SKP, AKM, AWK along with other three authors have participated in the field campaign and data collection.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sanjib K Deb.

Additional information

Communicated by Parthasarathi Mukhopadhyay

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Jaiswal, N., Deb, S.K., Panda, S.K. et al. Estimation of intra-urban thermal variability in Ahmedabad city using moving vehicle transects. J Earth Syst Sci 132, 41 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-023-02063-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-023-02063-8

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