Open-pit coal mining exacerbates urban heat island in Bontang City, Indonesia

Abstract

Global energy demand has surged, especially on coal commodities. To accommodate the demand, open-pit coal mining became a faster and cheaper solution, but left a land-use change and degradation. This research tried to examine the impact of open-pit coal mining on urban heat island (UHI) in Bontang city. The study used multitemporal Landsat images (2002 and 2019) to assess land surface temperature. Then, the UHI and non UHI area were calculated and excluded the sea for the calculation. As a result, UHI was only distributed in the centre of Bontang city. In 2019, UHI intensity distributed in the city centre and also occurred in the open-pit coal mining area with the UHI intensity >5°C distributed equally. The UHI intensity in coal mining is higher than the city. The impact was causing discomfort for the people and could lead to health problems due to interaction with air pollution from mining activities. This study concludes mining should be accompanied with restoration to enhance quality of life and other environmental benefits.