Impact of urbanization on surface energy balance components over metropolitan cities of India during 2000–2018 winter seasons

• Published in: Theoretical and applied climatology 2022-04, Vol.148 (1-2), p.693-725
• Main Authors: Sultana, Sabiha, Satyanarayana, A. N. V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Atmospheric Sciences; Cities; Climate change; Climate science; Climatology; coasts; Components; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth resources technology satellites; Earth Sciences; Energy balance; Energy trading; Energy transfer; Enthalpy; Fluctuations; Heat; Heat flux; Heat transfer; India; Land surface temperature; Land use; Landsat; Landsat satellites; Latent heat; Latent heat flux; Net radiation; Original Paper; Radiation; Radiation balance; Radiation flux; Remote sensing; Satellite imagery; Sensible heat; Sensible heat flux; Sensible heat transfer; Superhigh frequencies; Surface energy; Surface energy balance; Surface properties; Surface temperature; Urbanization; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Winter
• ISSN: 0177-798X; 1434-4483
• DOI: 10.1007/s00704-022-03937-5

The present study attempts to evaluate the urban energy balance components concerning increasing urbanization and artificial surfaces over Indian metropolitan cities during the 2000–2018 winter seasons by using Landsat 7 and 8 satellite imageries. The results indicate that the estimated ranges of the energy fluxes are in the typical values reported in the earlier literature over global cities. The sensible heat flux (SHF) increased considerably, and the latent heat flux (LHF) slightly decreased during the study period. The mean SHF over the built-up areas (BA) and the dry lands (DL) of Delhi record a maximum increase of 28.2  Wm −2 and 39.7  Wm −2  during the study period. The inland cities have high values of SHF over DL than the coastal cities, and the LHF is high over all the land use classes for the west coast cities. The SHF (LHF) shows a positive (negative) correlation with the land surface temperature. The SHF (LHF) is about 19–33% (1.9–15%) of the net radiation flux, and the residual heat flux is about 60 to 80% of the net radiation flux. The present study advocates that the substantial changes of the surface energy balance parameters have a profound influence on the energy exchange mechanism and could affect regional climatic change.