Land surface temperature distribution in Mahanadi delta: impact of land use land cover change

The spatial distribution of land surface temperature (LST) is a driving factor in global climate change studies, but research on LST in deltaic regions, particularly the Mahanadi delta, is very limited. Therefore, we analyzed the spatial variation of LST in the Mahanadi delta region using time series Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 8 OLI data over a 28-year period (1990–2018) and explored its relationships with land use land cover (LULC) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Over the course of 28 years, the area for agricultural land decreased by around 8.7%, while built-up land increased by 62.32%. Between 1990 and 2000, forest area decreased by 12%, while it increased by 28.54% from 2000 to 2018.Among the different LULC, the maximum LST varied from 308 to 315 °K over built-up areas, while the lowest LST was observed over forest (289 to 301 °K) from 1990 to 2018. The rising values of LST from 1990 to 2018 were associated with rapid growth in urban as well as rural built-up areas. Except for water body, there was a negative relationship between LST and NDVI for built-up land, forest, agricultural land, and wasteland. The paper’s findings may be useful for further analyzing the interrelationship between land use land cover change and climate change, which may aid in agricultural planning in fragile ecosystems such as the deltaic region.