A study done by Researchers Faculty of Natural Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, Osmania University in Hyderabad, and Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh, revealed that Mumbai has experienced a rise in the average temperature by 2 degrees across 27 years (1991-2018). In the same period, the built-up area in Mumbai has risen by 66%.
Shahfahad, who is the lead author of the study and a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Geography from Jamia University, said that it was observed in the heat island zones that in 1991 average temperature was 34.08 degrees. In 2018 it was 36.28 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees rise). This exposed people to higher heat risk.
Also read: New Study By A UK Firm Reveals That Mumbai Is The Least Happy City In The World To Buy A Home
A study titled ‘Urban Heat Island Dynamics in Response to Land-Use/Land-Cover Change in the Coastal City of Mumbai’ reveals that in the last three decades, Mumbai has seen a pace in urbanization and landscape transformation. Therefore, it is likely that the urban heat island intensity will increase further in Mumbai. In the peer-reviewed Springer Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, this study was published.
Heat islands are the urbanized areas that witness higher temperatures than rural areas. It happens due to the buildings, roads that absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat which is more than natural landscapes. From 1991-2018, the city has lost 81% of its barren spaces without vegetation, 40% green cover, and 30% of water bodies, reveals the study.
The authors of the study have said that to curb the heat stress, there is a pressing need to encourage urban greening at the micro/wards/mohalla level. There is also a need to promote rooftop gardening and not to encourage the use of glass in high-rise buildings.
Share
Tweet
