Land use and land cover (LULC) change has been shown to have significant effect on climate through various pathways that modulate land surface temperature and rainfall. However, few studies have illustrated such a link over the Indian region using observations. Through a combination of ground, satellite remote sensing and reanalysis products, we investigate the recent changes to land surface temperature in the Eastern state of Odisha between 1981 and 2010 and assess its relation to LULC. Our analysis reveals that the mean temperature of the state has increased by ~0.3 °C during the past three decades with the most accelerated warming (~0.9 °C) occurring during the recent decade (2001 to 2010). Our study shows that 25 to 50% of this observed overall warming is associated with LULC. Further we observe that the spatial pattern of LULC changes matches well with the independently estimated warming associated with LULC suggesting a physical association between them. This study also reveals that the largest changes are linked to changing vegetation cover as evidenced by changes to both LULC classes and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Our study shows that the state has undergone an LULC induced warming which accounts for a quarter of the overall temperature rise since 2001. With the expected expansion of urban landscape and concomitant increase in anthropogenic activities along with changing cropping patterns, LULC linked changes to surface temperature and hence regional climate feedback over this region necessitates additional investigations.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

<p>The impact of local climate change induced by urbanization or changes in the Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) has been contributing as much as ~50% of the total rise in surface air temperature over the Eastern Indian state of Odisha. While analysing the physical mechanism of such rise, it is found that the changes in the specific heat capacity of the surface regulates the changes in the surface energy budget of the region. A slight change in the energy budget may significantly disturb the regional/local climate balance thereby simulating the primary meteorological parameters such as the temperature and surface heat fluxes. LULC which characterises the surface properties can contribute immensely to the energy budget cycle through biophysical and biochemical processes like evaporation, evapotranspiration, shortwave and long wave radiation, absorption and reflection. In this study, we used observational and modeling techniques to quantify the ramifications of LULC changes on the climate of Odisha during the period 2004-2015. A significant change in the spatial pattern of temperature has been observed towards the eastern part of the region.  We try to find out whether this shift in temperature pattern is because of LULC or global climate forcing. Significant diversification in the agricultural practices have also been noticed in the region in the recent times.  To evaluate such effects, Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale modeling system has been enforced to visualize how significantly changes in LULC have impacted parameters like surface temperature, heat fluxes, humidity etc. However, the modeling results also follow consistency with that of the observational signatures and a rise of ~0.5-1.0 <sup>o</sup>C has been observed. Along with the spatial analysis, vertical profiles are also studied where we found significant impact of changed LULC on specific humidity and temperature. This study discusses the dynamics of land-atmosphere interactions instigated by local LULC effects.</p><p><strong>Keywords</strong>: LULC, urbanization, remote sensing, numerical modeling, climate change </p>