Impact of urbanization on climate change and geographical analysis of physical land use land cover variation using RS-GIS.

Abstract

<p>This study focuses on the impact of climate change on rainfall-runoff pattern, and to assess the surface runoff and groundwater recharge potential from the intensified rainfall for the effective management of surface and groundwater resources in Tirunelveli city. The rainfall contribution is consistent, dependent, maximum and intensified during the month of November followed by October and December. The intensified rainfall in these months causes a temperature decrease and the climate becomes more and more colder than ever. The indices SPI and DI clear show that there is a change in climatic pattern. Landuse Landcover (LULC) analysis shows that the residential area and mining area is on the increasing trend, Village area is slightly increasing, agricultural area and dense scrub area is on the decreasing trend. The present capacity of the storage tanks available in Tirunelveli city is less than the maximum runoff generated during the month of November. The increase in residential area in LULC reflects the direct linear relation with the population increase of the city. The impact of urbanization leads to LULC change with the loss of agricultural land and water bodies.</p>