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Geospatial quantification and analysis of environmental changes in urbanizing city of Kolkata (India)

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Abstract

Over the past five decades, the fragile wetland ecosystem surrounding the city of Kolkata has witnessed extensive changes in the name of urban development. In this study, we elaborate relationships among biophysical parameters and land surface temperature (LST) in Kolkata city and nearby surrounding areas where rapid urbanization has occurred. LST and associated surface physical characteristics were assessed using Landsat images acquired for the years 1989, 2006, and 2010. The satellite data was used to study the spatiotemporal urban footprint and correlation among normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference built-up index (NDBI), normalized difference water index (NDWI) and LST. Land use land cover (LULC) maps prepared using supervised classification had overall accuracy of 90, 88, and 86 % and kappa coefficient of 0.8726, 0.8455, and 0.8212 for 1989, 2006, and 2010, respectively. The spatial expansion as a consequence of increasing urban population is 108.94 km2 over past two decades. The urban built-up in and around the city extends up to 88.71 km2 in 1989, 144.64 km2 in 2006, and 197.65 km2 in 2010. These changes have attributed in elevating surface temperature in the study region. Analysis of biophysical parameters shows LST and NDBI having a positive correlation, LST and NDVI having negative correlation, while NDBI and NDWI having a perfectly negative correlation. Satellite estimated temperatures of the surface show a warming trend evident from increasing mean surface temperature values from 27.36 °C in 1989 to 30.025 °C in 2006 and 33.023 °C in 2010. The magnitude and extent of the estimates of LST are consistent with the urbanization pattern throughout the city and adjoining areas.

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Acknowledgments

RS and PKJ thank the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, and AC acknowledges HSBC Climate Scholarship of the TERI University for funding PhD research. The authors also acknowledge the anonymous reviewers and editorial board for their constructive comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Natural Resources, TERI University, New Delhi, 110070, India

    Richa Sharma, Anusheema Chakraborty & Pawan Kumar Joshi

  2. National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), New Delhi, 110003, India

    Richa Sharma

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  1. Richa Sharma
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Correspondence to Pawan Kumar Joshi.

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Sharma, R., Chakraborty, A. & Joshi, P.K. Geospatial quantification and analysis of environmental changes in urbanizing city of Kolkata (India). Environ Monit Assess 187, 4206 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-4206-7

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