Modelling urban heat island (UHI) and thermal field variation and their relationship with land use indices over Delhi and Mumbai metro cities

According to the World Urbanization Prospects of United Nations, the global urban population has increased rapidly over past few decades, reaching about 55% in 2018, which is projected to reach 68% by 2050. Due to gradual increase in the urban population and impervious surfaces, the urban heat island (UHI) effect has increased manifold in the cities of developing countries, causing a decline in thermal comfort. Therefore, this study was designed to model the spatio-temporal pattern of UHI and its relationships with the land use indices of Delhi and Mumbai metro cities from 1991 to 2018. Landsat datasets were used to generate the land surface temperature (LST) using mono window algorithm and land use indices, such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference built-up index (NDBI), normalized difference bareness index (NDBal), normalized difference moisture index (NDMI), and modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI). Additionally, the urban hotspots (UHS) were identified and then the thermal comfort was modelled using the UTFVI. The results showed that maximum (30.25–38.99 °C in Delhi and 42.10–45.75 °C in Mumbai) and minimum (17.70–23.86 °C in Delhi and 19.06–25.05 °C in Mumbai) LST witnessed steady growth in Delhi and Mumbai from 1991 to 2018. The LST gap decreases and the UHI zones are being established in both cities. Furthermore, the UHS and worst-category UTFVI areas increased in both cities. This research can be useful in designing urban green-space planning strategies for mitigating the UHI effects and thermal comfort in cities of developing countries.