Space Based Investigation and Spatio Temporal Monitoring in Sub Tropical Environment of Karunagappally A Fast Growing City in the Western Coast of Peninsular India

Abstract

Environment and development are the two sides of the same coin. The environmental problems are much worse than the earlier times and most of the people today are aware of the existence of it. Nowadays people are more concerned about the quality of life that they can enjoy in their own locality. These thoughts may be triggered by various events affecting the air they breathe, the water they drink, or the open green space they are accustomed to newlineusing for leisure. The problems arising from human use of land, air and water are growing fast. Humans have measurement and observations of key aspects of the changes that occur to the resource and the environment since an early stage in the development of our civilization and culture. Satellite remote sensing has become a common tool for investigations in different fields of Earth and Environmental Sciences, especially in the field of land use/land cover changes and urban studies. newlineThe current study is an effort to investigate the spatio-temporal variations in the Land Use/Land Cover (LULC), newlineurban sprawl and Land Surface Temperature (LST) of a coastal municipality on the western coast of peninsular newlineIndia that experiences a tropical climate. Karunagappally is a fast-growing municipality is located in Karunagappally Taluk of Kollam district in Kerala, The years 1988, 1997, 2001, 2014, 2016, and 2018 have been newlineused for the investigation. The study revealed a noticeable decrease in vegetated areas and barren lands during 30 newlineyears. The built-up area increases from 1% to 22% of the total study area during these years. Shannon s entropy newlinevalue calculated for the municipality showed a high degree of dispersion in the urban areas of the study area. The newlineaverage land surface temperature has been augmented from 22.2°C to 29.2°C in the study area from 1988 to 2018. newlineBased on the study, it is recommended the need for the strengthening of the green cover and making the developments more sustainable and environmentally friendly.Spatio-temporal database generated through the newlinestudy can be use..