Assessment of Heatwave Vulnerability Index And Its Spatial Distribution Over Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

The recurring extreme events are garnering a lot of attention these days, understanding heatwave vulnerability has been a hot topic among researchers due to its parameters which solely depend upon the local climate, socio-economic conditions, physiological conditions, and also on its local environmental conditions. This study looks into the spatial distribution of heatwave vulnerability over the Uttar Pradesh (UP) region divided into 75 districts. An index has been developed called the Heatwave Vulnerability Index (HVI) employing three variables namely Exposure, Sensitivity, and Adaptive capacity. In these variables, various environmental and socio-economic factors were considered. Spatial distribution for Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) have also been analyzed in this study. Furthermore, this study evaluated that a total of 11 districts have been found to be in the extremely vulnerable category. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in the country, and this study can provide valuable insights into planning various mitigation strategies and formulating various policies for coping with heat waves