)1 Photogeology and Image Processing Laboratory, Department of Applied Geology, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dharbad 826004, India; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (S.N. ); 21 [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.V. )1 Photogeology and Image Processing Laboratory, Department of Applied Geology, Indian Institute of Mines), Dharbad 826004, India; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.V. )1 Photogeology and Image Processing Laboratory, Department of Applied Geology, Indian Institute of Mines), Dharbad 826004, India; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (S.N. ); 21 [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.V. )1 Photogeology and Image Processing Laboratory, Department of Applied Geology, Indian Institute of Mines), Dharbad 826004, India; suren@utkaluniversity. temperature caused by climate change since the mid-twentieth century is generally referred to as global warming. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report _AR6 Synthesis Report: Climate Change 2023,_ the surface temperature of the Earth in the early two decades of the 21 st century (2001-2020) was 0.99 (0.84 to 1.10) \({}^{\circ}\)C greater than 1850-1900 [2]. Seventy percent of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions come from urban areas which consist of only two percent of the global land cover [3]. By the year 2030, it is anticipated that over 100,000 cities in developing nations will see their built-up land areas expand threefold. Even in developed countries, cities are expected to grow 2.5 times larger, despite their comparatively smaller populations and slower population growth rates. Projections suggest that the global urban inhabitants will rise by 2.5 billion from 2018 to 2050, with nearly 90 percent of this rise concentrated in Asia and Africa [4]. The urban centers of India presently house nearly 34% of its total population, which by late 2050, is predicted to rise to more than 50% [4]. Urban areas undergo climatic changes due to increased surface roughness, altered albedo, and altered heat storage due to urbanization. These changes result in elevated temperatures, modified lapse rates, reduced horizontal winds, enhanced turbulence, and increased atmospheric pollutants. Studies have reported the effect of urbanization in stimulating summer rainfall and reducing snow cover and near-surface humidity, affecting solar radiation, long-wave radiation, and sunshine duration [5; 6]. In the context of rapid urbanization and global warming, urban surface temperature is one of the main parameters affecting urban climate, and the urban heat island (UHI) effect is the most pronounced and documented characteristic of urban climate. UHI refers to the vertical, horizontal, and temporal dimensional thermal anomaly where the temperatures of dense urban cities are higher than the surrounding suburban and rural areas of similar elevation [7]. Though both urban and rural environments around the world are warming because of global warming, the amount of warming in urban areas is compounded by the UHI effect [8]. The UHI effect can be studied either from the direct measurement of air temperature from fixed weather stations or mobile traverses, known as atmospheric urban heat island (AUHI), or from differences in land surface temperature (LST) between urban and surrounding non-urban areas retrieved from thermal infrared remote sensing data, known as surface urban heat island (SUHI). Unlike AUHIs, SUHIs offer advantages such as easier accessibility, continuous coverage, and a direct connection to surface conditions [9; 10]. Consequently, the SUHI effect has found widespread application in the study of heat islands.