April 2026 · Illustrative model · Delhi
Why did Delhi
get hot?
Move the sliders to see how each driver contributed — and what partial recovery looks like.
Satellite record
Greenness lost, heat gained
Monthly composites showing NDVI (vegetation) and LST (surface temperature) across five decades.
Pre-satellite
See IISc LULC
reconstruction below
1973 · pre-satellite
Apr 2000 · MODIS NDVI
Apr 2024 · MODIS NDVI
Mar 2026 · MODIS NDVI
Pre-satellite
See IISc LULC
reconstruction below
1973 · pre-satellite
Apr 2000 · MODIS LST
Apr 2024 · MODIS LST
Mar 2026 · MODIS LST
NASA EOSDIS GIBS · MODIS Terra monthly composites · 1 km native resolution
The data behind the heat
50 years of urban transformation
Delhi, 1973 → 2026. Sources cited per card.
Built-up area grew since 2000
DU / HCL Tech / Terna — Research in Ecology 2025
Wetland area lost since 2000
DU / HCL Tech / Terna — Research in Ecology 2025
Vegetation cover lost 1991–2021
Shahfahad et al. — Habitat International 2024 (DOI:10.1016/j.habitatint.2024.103129)
Surface temperature up 1991–2021
Impact of urban growth in Delhi — Urban Climate 2024 (DOI:10.1016/j.uclim.2024.102010)
What if it played out differently?
Move the sliders to explore how much of Delhi's temperature rise comes from tree loss, lake loss, built-up growth, and aerosols — and what a different path might have looked like.