Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Urban Environmental Stress in the Rapidly Developing Coastal-Industrial Landscape of Thoothukudi, India

Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Urban Environmental Stress in the Rapidly Developing Coastal-Industrial Landscape of Thoothukudi, India | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Urban Environmental Stress in the Rapidly Developing Coastal-Industrial Landscape of Thoothukudi, India Aishwarya Lakshmi RJ, Sulochana Shekhar This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9080765/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Recent studies indicate that the intensification of Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects is significantly altering the thermal equilibrium of rapidly industrialising coastal cities. However, the multi-dimensional mapping of persistent environmental criticality through the integration of thermal and biophysical stressors has remained underexplored. This study investigates the spatio-temporal dynamics of urban stress in Thoothukudi, India, by developing an Urban Environmental Stress Index (UESI) that synthesises Land Surface Temperature (LST), Normalised Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Over a six-year period (2020–2025), a multi-stage geospatial workflow was implemented, utilising Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression and Global Moran’s I to evaluate the influence of impervious surface density (ISD) and green space density (GSD) on environmental criticality. Our findings reveal that UESI saturation unexpectedly peaked in the 5–10 km transitional buffer (15.43% of the area), while the urban core (Zone 1) exhibited the highest ISD value at 58.91%. OLS regression confirmed a strong distance-dependent relationship, with residuals stabilising in the 20 km buffer, indicating that surface characteristics increasingly govern stress patterns in the periphery. Global Moran’s I values (ranging from − 0.228 to 0.496; p > 0.05) confirmed the absence of significant spatial autocorrelation in residuals, validating the model’s spatial independence. The study identifies distinct Urban Stress Corridors and proposes a targeted spatial strategy to enhance climate resilience by prioritising green-blue infrastructure in high-vulnerability transitional zones. These results offer a robust framework for sustainable urban planning in emerging industrial hubs facing extreme thermal challenges. Spatio-temporal Analysis Urban Heat Island Urbanisation LST NDVI Remote Sensing Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9080765","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":615093069,"identity":"f3fd5fd7-1807-4e9c-9407-7cc71fc8e173","order_by":0,"name":"Aishwarya Lakshmi RJ","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Central University of Tamil Nadu","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Aishwarya","middleName":"Lakshmi","lastName":"RJ","suffix":""},{"id":615093070,"identity":"ce5dbb99-be5c-4bb8-ad97-fccc3839e5c0","order_by":1,"name":"Sulochana Shekhar","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Central University of Tamil Nadu","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sulochana","middleName":"","lastName":"Shekhar","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-10 07:53:11","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9080765/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9080765/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108082484,"identity":"542d511c-0ca4-448e-a8a9-f7ccaffdb6dd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-29 07:56:47","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":3113332,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Draft1.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9080765/v1_covered_d1cabd49-b328-4b70-80cd-63eb1a845396.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Urban Environmental Stress in the Rapidly Developing Coastal-Industrial Landscape of Thoothukudi, India","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Spatio-temporal Analysis, Urban Heat Island, Urbanisation, LST, NDVI, Remote Sensing","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9080765/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9080765/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eRecent studies indicate that the intensification of Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects is significantly altering the thermal equilibrium of rapidly industrialising coastal cities. However, the multi-dimensional mapping of persistent environmental criticality through the integration of thermal and biophysical stressors has remained underexplored. This study investigates the spatio-temporal dynamics of urban stress in Thoothukudi, India, by developing an Urban Environmental Stress Index (UESI) that synthesises Land Surface Temperature (LST), Normalised Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Over a six-year period (2020\u0026ndash;2025), a multi-stage geospatial workflow was implemented, utilising Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression and Global Moran\u0026rsquo;s I to evaluate the influence of impervious surface density (ISD) and green space density (GSD) on environmental criticality. Our findings reveal that UESI saturation unexpectedly peaked in the 5\u0026ndash;10 km transitional buffer (15.43% of the area), while the urban core (Zone 1) exhibited the highest ISD value at 58.91%. OLS regression confirmed a strong distance-dependent relationship, with residuals stabilising in the 20 km buffer, indicating that surface characteristics increasingly govern stress patterns in the periphery. Global Moran\u0026rsquo;s I values (ranging from \u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;0.228 to 0.496; p\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;0.05) confirmed the absence of significant spatial autocorrelation in residuals, validating the model\u0026rsquo;s spatial independence. The study identifies distinct Urban Stress Corridors and proposes a targeted spatial strategy to enhance climate resilience by prioritising green-blue infrastructure in high-vulnerability transitional zones. 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