The researchers of IIT-Gandhinagar analyses that urban areas are cooler than non-urban areas during heat waves

The researchers at IIT-Gandhinagar has conducted study of 89 urban areas in India. In it, they found that though there is an absolute increase in temperature during heat waves in both urban and non-urban areas, the urban areas are relatively cooler than the surrounding non-urban areas. At 1.94°C, the absolute increase in temperature during the day in non-urban areas during a heat wave was significantly higher than in urban areas (0.14°C). According to the analysis, urban areas were found to be relatively cooler than the surrounding non-urban areas during heat waves. At 44.5°C, the non-urban areas were warmer than urban areas (43.7°C). However, during the night, all urban areas were hotter than the surrounding non-urban areas. The study suggested that the lack of vegetation cover in summer after crops are harvested in rural areas may be the cause. The study was published in the journal ‘Environmental Research Communications’.