IIT’s Develops IMPART To Track Climate Change Through Lake Water Tempuratures (image-twitter/iitbombay)

A new study by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has led to the development of IMPART, a web application that allows researchers to track changing water surface temperature which helps in tracking climate change across the world.

Recent studies based on sea surface temperature have shown that in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the temperature of the rivers. Lately, the sharpest rise in more than a century was noted in 2023. Water bodies including the lakes, which are considered to be critical sources of freshwater are also experiencing significant impacts.

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Usually, the materials on land heat up much faster than the water bodies. Thus, their surface temperature can be considered as the key indicator of global warming and climate change. Hence, monitoring the lake water surface temperature is essential for managing water sources and tracking climate changes.

Therefore to address the need, Kumar Nitish and Professor J Indu from the Department of Civil Engineering and Interdisciplinary Centre for Climate Studies at IIT, Bombay, developed a novel open-source web-based application called IMPART (Integration of dynamic water extend towards improved lake water surface temperature).

IIT Bombay’s IMPART bridges this gap by incorporating real-time changes in lake extents to calculate both static and dynamic lake water surface temperatures. The static temperature assumes a constant lake area, while the dynamic temperature adjusts for changes in water extent. IMPART’s intuitive, user-friendly interface makes it easy for individuals, researchers, and organizations to record and access lake water surface temperature data and track lake ecosystems more effectively.

IMPART bridges this gap by incorporating real-time changes in lake extends to calculate both static and dynamic lake water surface temperatures. The static temperature will assume a constant lake area while dynamic temperature adjusts for changes in the water extends. By using the temperature data recorded by satellite instruments and lake extent data from the lake images obtained from Google Earth Engine for the particular days, the researchers can determine the temperature of the lake area corresponding to that time.

The IMPART toolkit using this method calculated both static and dynamic lake water surface temperatures for 342 lakes worldwide, including 115 lakes in India.

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The findings revealed significant differences between the static and dynamic temperatures estimated in more than half of the lakes studied. Moreover, the studies have also helped in identifying the climate zones where dynamic measurements are crucial.