Local warming: The heat is on

Local warming: The heat is on
Bengaluru


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The threat of a climate change disaster is real with the city steadily turning into a pressure cooker. June 5 will be observed as World Environment Day, but question remains about what is being done to mitigate this, report Amit S. Upadhye and Madhumitha B. Air and water pollution are the biggest and ate concerns for Bengaluru. If we go about with a ‘business as usual’ attitude, we will head towards a drastic climate alteration that will cause health hazards and environment disasters. We have to sacrifice a little today for a safer planet in the future.

immedi- Prof. J. Srinivasan, chairman, Divecha Centre for Climate Change, IISc The urban heat island effect is spreading in the city.With the decreasing number of trees, the climate in Bengaluru is becoming similar to that of a desert. Hot afternoons followed by cold nights are coupled with evaporation of water and diminishing moisture in the air. Humidity levels have dropped in peak winter.

environmental expert The statistics of previous years on various weather parameters not necessarily indicate severe summer conditions. But because of some metrological occurrences like dry weather prevailing for a longer period and weak premonsoon, temperatures might rise to 38 degree Celsius during summer in Bengaluru.

A. Muthachami, director, Indian Met Department Sunil Kumar,

If you have felt hotter than usual this summer in the city, you had better be prepared for more of the same in the years to come. Bengaluru is experiencing what scientists are calling “local warming” as a result of heat being trapped in buildings and radiated into the atmosphere outside.
Over the last decade, there has been a drastic rise in the average temperature inside city buildings due to their glass exteriors and other factors, according to them.

The interiors of buildings are four to five degrees warmer than before, which in turn leads to hotter exteriors, the scientists explain, ahead of World Environment Day which will be celebrated on June 5.“Heat generated from within homes and commercial buildings is contributing to the overall temperature rise in the city,” warn climate change experts from IISc. They say the city has seen a minimum temperature rise of 1.8 degree in March over the past century.

Buildings supported by ACs close all routes for natural ventilation creating heat islands in their immediate exterior which is not helped by the fact that there are rows of concrete buildings with only isolated green cover in the city.

“With concrete buildings radiating heat and glass buildings trapping heat, local warming has led to hotter exteriors around buildings.

Rain can lower temperature rise but if the city continues to witness long periods of dry weather, we can expect an alarming 40 degrees to hit Bengaluru soon,” warns Prof J Srinivasan, chairman of the Divecha Centre for Climate Change at the IISc.

“We are heading towards a severe urban summer stress that will demand more air conditioners causing more emissions and requiring more power,” says Prof.

N.H. Ravindranath, associate faculty, Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, adding, “With the growing shortage of energy and water, it is not pleasant times we are heading for.” In Prof. Srinivasan’s view built-up areas must be surrounded with greenery to provide much needed lung space while Prof. Ravindranath feels that only political will and awareness can help change things for the better. He says “while it is possible to predict temperature, rainfall is a hard natural phenomenon to be prepared for especially with the patterns Bengaluru has been witnessing in present times.

Floods are the result, particularly when the city is continuing to develop on crucial lake and river beds,” he adds.