According to US space agency NASA, the temperature in Delhi’s urban "heat islands" reached 39 degrees Celsius while surrounding areas in the rural fields were nearly 5 degrees Celsius colder. The “heat islands” are visible in the image as red spots.

Cities are often markedly warmer than the countryside, and that's critical in a heat wave. This image, taken by @NASA's ECOSTRESS instrument on the @Space_Station, shows "heat islands" in and near Delhi, India, with nighttime temps up to 102° F (40° hotter than nearby fields). pic.twitter.com/yjzkdjDYev

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) May 12, 2022

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has deployed a satellite instrument called Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment On Space Station (ECOSTRESS), which measures temperatures of the ground from space.

The US space agency said that human actions and the materials utilised in the built-up environment cause cities to be significantly warmer than the surrounding countryside.

According to the press note, the image covers around 12,350 square kilometres

The space agency explained that the latest data suggests that city dwellers are experiencing considerably higher temperatures than the average temperatures reported for their regions.

According to NASA, the recorded temperatures also show that even at night, the mercury remained high in several areas.

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In some cities, temperatures at night were reported to be as high as 39 degrees Celsius. Delhi, too, hovered around 35 degrees Celsius during the night, the press note said.

The temperatures mentioned in the report were recorded on May 5 and released on May 13.

NASA also informed that since mid-March, India and Pakistan have been engulfed in an unrelenting heatwave that has resulted in multiple deaths, fires, greater air pollution and low agriculture production.