Evaluating the contribution of urban ecosystem services in regulating thermal comfort

The study focuses on spatio-temporal dynamics of urban ecosystem services (UES) and their contribution in maintaining thermal comfort in Bhubaneswar city, India. An extensive increase in UES demand (grey) patches (187.95%) was observed during 1992–2016 in contrast to significant decline (47.94%) in UES supply (blue–green) patches, primarily in the northern and south–western directions. Also, a drastic rise in area under thermally highly uncomfortable zone (35–40 °C) from 0.005 to 56.68 km2 and a decrease in area of thermally comfortable zone (≤ 26 °C) from 0.46 km2 to zero during 1992–2016 exhibiting deteriorating natural urban living condition. Although, the land surface temperature (LST) was remained higher in urban areas, the peri-urban and neighbouring rural areas (27.31–33.98 °C) of Bhubaneswar city recorded a high increase in mean LST as compared to the urban areas (31.19–34.69 °C). In both the cases, UHI intensities were less as compared to other growing cities of India. The MODIS based time series analysis depicted similar trends with minor increase in LST (30.55–30.76 °C) during 2000–16. The study proves the intrinsic linkages of UES with thermal comfort and necessitates to adopt sustainable measures to make the city green and habitable.