Indian cities could see far higher temperature rise than projected, says study

Key Highlights

• Rather than asking how hot regions become on average, the study asks a different question: how much faster do cities warm than their surrounding countryside?
• For instance, it found that in Patiala, Punjab, land surface temperatures could rise at double the rate of warming projected by global climate models in comparison to its surrounding rural region — an extreme “outlier.” Karur, in Pakistan, was the only other place in the researchers’ analysis that showed as much differential warming.
• This means that if the models used in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s assessments predict a 2°C temperature rise in Patiala, the rise would actually be 4°C when urban heat-island effects are accounted for.
• An extra 2°C rise in temperature can have significant implications for susceptibility to heat strokes, water availability, and public expenditure on cooling.
• The study includes 18 Indian cities and finds that all of them warm faster than nearby rural areas.