Investigating thermal behavior pattern (TBP) of local climatic zones (LCZs): A study on industrial cities of Asansol-Durgapur development area (ADDA), eastern India

Abstract

Local climatic zones (LCZs) is a comprehensive and micro level land use classification system originally developed to quantify the relation between urban heat island (UHI) and urban morphological pattern. Assessment thermal behavior pattern (TBP) of LCZ can contribute to quantify potential heat stress and health risks. This study aims to assess TBP in different landscape settings of five industrial cities in Asansol-Durgapur Development Area (ADDA) by adopting LCZ approach. This study used LCZ classification scheme proposed by Stewart and Oke (2012) and LCZ delineation method proposed by World Urban Database and portal Tools (WUDAPT) respectively. Land Surface Temperature (LST) has been derived from satellite images to establish relationship between LCZ and LST for the year of 2018. The result recorded that relatively higher LST was recorded over the built up types LCZs particularly area located near industrial area. Result found that there were substantial variation of LST across various LCZs. Relatively higher LST was observed in built up LCZs particularly in compact low rise (LCZ3) and open low rise (LCZ6) as compared to land cover LCZs (such as agricultural land, forest cover, water bodies). There was also substantial seasonal variation of LST across the cities of ADDA. The result also showed that relatively higher LST was recorded during post-monsoon season in Asansol (47 °C) followed by Durgapur (36.91 °C), Jamuria (34.66 °C), Kulti (34.45 °C) and Raniganj (33.84 °C) respectively. Being one of the important industrial belts of India, the findings of the study will surely assist to understand the thermal pattern of the cities at a very local scale as well as to implement urban climate management for environmental sustainability.