There has been paucity of field campaigns in India in past few decades on the urban heat island intensities (UHI). Remote sensing observations provide useful information on urban heat island intensities and hotspots as supplement or proxy to in-situ surface based measurements. A case study has been undertaken to assess and compare the UHI and hotspots based on in-situ measurements and remote sensing observations as the later method can be used as a proxy in absence of in-situ measurements both spatially and temporally. Capital of India, megacity Delhi has grown by leaps and bounds during past 2 - 3 decades and strongly represents tropical climatic conditions where such studies and field campaigns are practically non-existent. Thus, a field campaign was undertaken during summer, 2008 named DELHI-I (Delhi Experiments to Learn Heat Island Intensity-I) in this megacity. Urban heat island effects were found to be most dominant in areas of dense built up infrastructure and at commercial centers. The heat island intensity (UHI) was observed to be higher in magnitude both during afternoon hours and night hours (maximum up to 8.3?C) similar to some recent studies. The three high ranking urban heat island locations in the city are within commercial and/or densely populated areas. The results of this field campaign when compared with MODIS-Terra data of land surface temperature revealed that UHI hotspots are comparable only during nighttime. During daytime, similar comparison was less satisfactory. Further, available relationship of maximum UHI with population data is applied for the current measurements and discussed in the context of maximum UHI of various other countries.
D. Ward, “Urban Heat Islands,” 2008. http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/climate/urban_heat_islands.html
American Meteorological Society (AMS), “Glossary of Meteorology,” 2000. http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?id=urban-heat-island1
Y. Kikegawa, Y. Genchi, H. Yoshikado and H. Kondo, “Development of a Numerical Simulation System for Com- prehensive Assessments of Urban Warming Countermea- sures Including Their Impacts upon the Urban Building’s Energy Demands,” Applied Energy, Vol. 76, No. 4, 2003, pp. 449-466. doi:10.1016/S0306-2619(03)00009-6
H. Sarkar, “Study of Landcover and Population Density Influences on Urban Heat Island in Tropical Cities by Using Remote Sensing and GIS: A Methodological Con- sideration,” 3rd FIG Regional Conference, Jakarta, 3-7 October 2004. http://www.fig.net/pub/jakarta/papers/ts_20/ts_20_2_sarkar.pdf
W. Takeuchi, “Application of Remote Sensing and GIS for Monitoring Urban Heat Island in Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan Area,” Map Asia 2010 and the International Symposium and Exhibition on Geoinformation, Kuala Lumpur, 2010. http://www.mapasia.org/2010/proceeding/pdf/306.pdf
L. Manawadu and L. Nirosha, “Identifying Surface Temperature Pattern of the City of Colombo,” Engineer, Vol. 41, No.5, 2008, pp. 133-140.
S. Toy, “ Evaluation of 10-Year Temperature Differences between Urban and Rural Areas of a Well-Planned, Unin- dustrialized, and Medium-Sized Turkish Town, Erzin- can,” Journal of Urban Planning and Development, Vol. 136, No. 4, 2010, pp. 349-356. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000022
Y. Charabi and A. Bakhit, “Assessment of the Canopy Urban Heat Island of a Coastal Arid Tropical City: The Case of Muscat, Oman,” Atmospheric Research, Vol. 101, No. 1-2, 2011, pp. 215-227. doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2011.02.010
M. A. Pena, “Relationships between Remotely Sensed Surface Parameters Associated with the Urban Heat Sink Formation in Santiago, Chile,” International Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 29, No. 15, 2008, pp. 4385-4404. doi:10.1080/01431160801908137
O. R. Garcia-Cueto, E. Jauregui-Ostos, D. Y. Toudert and A. Tejeda-Martinez, “Detection of the Urban Heat Island in Mexicali, B. C., México and Its Relationship with Land Use,” Atmósfera, Vol. 20, No. 2, 2007, pp. 111-131.
I. Camilloni and M. Barrucand, “Temporal Variability of the Buenos Aires, Argentina, Urban Heat Island,” Theo- retical and Applied Climatology, Vol. 107, No. 1-2, 2012, pp. 47-58. doi:10.1007/s00704-011-0459-z
O. M. Akinbode, A. O. Eludoyin and O. A. Fashae, “Tem- perature and Relative Humidity Distributions in a Me- dium-Size Administrative Town in Southwest Nigeria,” Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 87, No.1, 2008, pp. 95-105. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.01.018
B. Kifle, “Urban Heat Island and Its Feature in Addis Ababa (a Case Study),” Fifth International Conference on Urban Climate, Lodz, 1-5 September 2003. http://nargeo.geo.uni.lodz.pl/~icuc5/text/P_6_11.pdf
M. Mohan, A. Kandya and A. Battiprolu, “Urban Heat Island Effect over National Capital Region of India: A Study Using the Temperature Trends,” Journal of Environmental Protection, Vol. 2, No.4, 2011, pp. 465-472. doi:10.4236/jep.2011.24054
H. D. Bahl and B. Padmanabhamurty, “Heat Island Studies at Delhi,” Mausam, Vol. 30, No. 1, 1979, pp. 119-122.
K. Nand and S. J. Maske, “Mean Heat Island Intensities at Delhi-Assessed from Urban Climatological Data,” Mausam, Vol. 32, No. 3, 1981, pp. 269-272.
B. Padmanabhamurty and H. D. Bahl, “Isothermal and Isohyetal Patterns of Delhi as s Sequel of Urbanization,” Mausam, Vol. 33, No. 1, 1984, p. 4.
M. Mohan, “Diurnal Variation of Mean Mixing Depths in Different Months at Delhi,” Mausam, Vol. 36, No. 1, 1985, pp. 71-74.
GIOVANNI, “Monsoon Asia Integrated Regional Study (MAIRS) 8-day Higher Resolution Products. National Aeronautics and Space Administration,” 2011. http://gdata1.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/daac-bin/G3/gui.cgi?instance_id=mairs_8day
I. D. Stewart, “Landscape Representation and the Urban- Rural Dichotomy in Empirical Urban Heat Island Literature, 1950-2006,” Acta Climatologica et Chorologica, Vol. 40-41, 2007, pp. 111-121. http://www2.sci.u-szeged.hu/eghajlattan/akta07/111-121.pdf
I. D. Stewart and T. Oke, “Classifying Urban Climate Field Sites by “Local Climate Zones the Case of Nagano, Japan”, 7th International Conference on Urban Climate, Yokohama, 29 June-3 July 2009. http://www.ide.titech.ac.jp/~icuc7/extended_abstracts/pdf/385055-1-090515165722-002.pdf
M. Mohan, “Dynamics of Urban Pollution a Curative Strategy Using RS and GIS Techniques: A Case Study of Mega City Delhi,” ISRO Report, 2010.
M. Mohan, S. K. Pathan, K. Narendrareddy, A. Kandya and S. Pandey, “Dynamics of Urbanization and Its Impact on Land-Use/Land-Cover: A Case Study,” Journal of Environmental Protection, Vol. 2, No. 9, 2011, pp. 1274-1283. doi:10.4236/jep.2011.29147
India Meteorological Department (IMD), “Climatological Table,” 2010. http://www.imd.gov.in/section/climate/newdelhiweb.htm
T. R. Oke, D. Yap and G. B. Maxwell, “Comparison of Urban Rural Cooling Rates at Night,” Conference on urban environment and second conference on biometeorology, Philadelphia, 31 October-2 November 1972, pp. 17-21.
L. Huang, J. Li, D. Zhao and J. Zhu, “A Fieldwork Study on the Diurnal Changes of Urban Microclimate in Four Types of Ground Cover and Urban Heat Island of Nanjing, China, ” Building and Environment, Vol. 43, No. 1, 2008, pp. 7-17. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2006.11.025
M. Sofer and O. Potchter, “The Urban Heat Island of a City in an Arid Zone: The Case of Eilat, Israel,” Theoretical and Applied Climatology, Vol. 85, No. 1, 2006, pp. 81-88. doi:10.1007/s00704-005-0181-9
H. Y. Mok, M. C. Wu and C. Y. Cheng, “Spatial Varia- tion of the Characteristics of Urban Heat Island Effect in Hong Kong,” The First International Conference on Sus- tainable Urbanization (ICSU) , Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 15-17 December 2010. http://www.weather.gov.hk/publica/reprint/r923.pdf
S. Giridharan, S. Ganesan and S. S. Y. Lau, “Daytime Urban Heat Island Effect in High-Rise and High-Density Residential Developments in Hong Kong,” Energy and Buildings, Vol. 36, No. 6, 2004, pp.525-534. doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2003.12.016
G. Renganathan, “Daytime Urban Heat Island Intensity in London during the Winter Season,” 25th Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture, Dublin, 22-24 Oc- tober 2008. http://architecture.ucd.ie/Paul/PLEA2008/content/papers/oral/PLEA_FinalPaper_ref_330.pdf
L. S. Alonso, J. L. Labajo and M. R. Fidalgo, “Characteris- tics of Urban Heat Island in City of Salamanca, Spain,” At- mosfera, Vol. 16, No. 3, 2003, pp. 137-148.
M. Mohan, Y. Kikegawa, B. R. Gurjar, S. Bhati, A. Kandya and K. Ogawa, “Assessment of Urban Heat Islands Intensi- ties over Delhi,” The Seventh International Conference on Urban Climate, Yokohama, 29 June-3 July 2009. http://www.ide.titech.ac.jp/~icuc7/extended_abstracts/pdf/375621-2-090515211144-004.pdf
F. Pasquill, “The Estimation of The Dispersion of Wind- borne Material,” The Meteorological Magazine, Vol. 90, No. 1063, pp. 33-49.
J. H. Seinfeld and S. N. Pandis, “Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics,” Wiley, New York, 1998.
W. H. Terjung and S. Louie, “Solar Radiation and Urban Heat Islands,” Annals of the Association of American Ge- ographers, Vol. 63, No. 2, 1973, pp. 181-207. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1973.tb00918.x
K. P. Gallo, A. L. Mcnab, T. R. Karl, J. F. Brown, J. J. Hood and J. D. Tarpley, “The Use of NOAA AVHRR Data for Assessment of the Urban Heat-Island Effect,” Journal of Applied Meteorology, Vol. 32, No. 5, 1993, pp. 899-908. doi:10.1175/1520-0450(1993)032 2.0.CO;2
J. A. Voogt and T. R. Oke, “Thermal Remote Sensing of Urban Climates,” Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 86, No. 3, 2003, pp. 370-384. doi:10.1016/S0034-4257(03)00079-8
P. A. Mirzaei and F. Haghighat, “Approaches to Study Ur- ban Heat Island—Abilities and limitations,” Building and Environment, Vol. 45, No. 10, 2010, pp. 2192-2201. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2010.04.001
M. C. Peel, B. L. Finlayson and T. A. McMahon, “Updated World Map of the K?ppen-Geiger Climate Classification,” Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Vol. 11, No. 5, 2007, pp. 1633-1644. doi:10.5194/hess-11-1633-2007
S. R. Gaffin, C. Rosenzweig, R. Khanbilvardi, L. Parshall, S. Mahani, H. Glickman, R. Goldberg, R. Blake, R. B. Slosberg and D. Hillel, “Variations in New York City’s Urban Heat Island Strength over Time and Space,” Theo- retical and Applied Climatology, Vol. 94, No. 1-2, 2008, pp. 1-11. doi:10.1007/s00704-007-0368-3
A. Sarkar and K. Ridder, “The Urban Heat Island Intensity of Paris: A Case Study Based on a Simple Urban Surface Parametrization,” Boundary Layer Meteorology, Vol. 138, No. 3, 2011, pp. 511-520. doi:10.1007/s10546-010-9568-y
Greater London Authority (GLA), “London’s Urban Heat Island: A Summary for Decision Makers,” 2006. http://static.london.gov.uk/mayor/environment/climate-change/docs/UHI_summary_report.pdf
Y. Wang and F. Hu, “Variations of the Urban Heat Island in Summer of the Recent 10 Years over Beijing and Its En- vironment Effects,” Chinese Journal of Geophysics, Vol. 49, No. 1, 2006, pp. 59-67.
T. S. Saitoh, T. Shimada and H. Hoshi, “Modeling and Simulation of the Tokyo Urban Heat Island,” Atmospheric Environment, Vol. 30, No. 20, 2006, pp. 3431-3442. doi:10.1016/1352-2310(95)00489-0
Wikipedia, “New York City,” 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City
M. Roth, “Effects of Cities on Local Climates,” Work- shop of GES/APN Mega-City Project, Kitakyushu, 2002. http://enviroscope.iges.or.jp/contents/13/data/PDF/24%20Jan%20PDF/ROTH_IEGS.pdf
T. R. Oke, “City Size and the Urban Heat Island,” Atmospheric Environment (1967), Vol. 7, No. 8, 1973, pp 769-779.
M. Roth, “Review of Urban Climate Research in (Sub)- Tropical Regions,” International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 27, No. 14, 2007, pp. 1859-1873. doi:10.1002/joc.1591