Terrestrial Ecosystem Research and Analysis (TERRA) Lab

Assessing the Role of Urban Expansion in an Industrial City (Rourkela, India) on Land Use/Land Cover Dynamics and its Impacts on Aerosols and Land Surface Temperature - Journal of the Indian Society of Remote SensingUrban expansion in industrial cities has accelerated significantly due to the growing human population migrating from rural and other areas, leading to increased demand for infrastructure. The present study aims to investigate the long-term impacts of urbanization on Land Use/Land Cover (LULC), Land Surface Temperature (LST), and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) in Rourkela industrial city in India, using multi-source remote sensing satellite/gridded datasets from 2001 to 2020. The Landsat-series satellite datasets were utilized for annual LULC dynamics and urban expansion analysis. While Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based LST (MOD11A2) and AOD (MCD19A2) datasets were used for surface heat monitoring and aerosol levels assessment, respectively. The key findings of the study revealed a substantial increase in settlement area coverage, growing from 28.73 km2 in 2001 to 38.97 km2 in 2020, reflecting ~ 36% expansion over two decades, at a rate of 0.45 km2/year. This urban growth has come at the expense of cropland and forest, which decreased by approximately 11% and 18%, respectively. Specifically, cropland area decreased from 89.07 km2 in 2001 to 85.95 km2 in 2020, at a rate of 0.018 km2/year. While forest decreased from 48.34 km2 to 39.40 km2 over the same period, at a rate of 0.473 km2/year. Moreover, the study identified a significant and continuous rise in AOD levels. The analysis of the 3-month mean (spatial) AOD during the summer season (March to May) demonstrated an increase with a slope of ~ 0.01 per year, starting from ~ 0.45 in 2001 to ~ 0.64 in 2020. Similarly, the winter season (November to January) showed a rise in mean AOD with a slope of ~ 0.014 per year, increasing from ~ 0.38 in 2001 to ~ 0.63 in 2020. However, contrary to expectations, the mean (spatial) LST analysis did not revealed a consistent increasing trend over the study period. LST remained relatively stable, with only slight fluctuations. These findings underscore the need for sustainable urban planning and policy interventions to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of rapid urbanization, particularly in industrial cities like Rourkela.

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