Temporal statistical downscaling of precipitation and temperature forecasts using a stochastic weather generator

Statistical downscaling is based on the fact that the large-scale climatic state and regional/local physiographic features control the regional climate. In the present paper, a stochastic weather generator is applied to seasonal precipitation and temperature forecasts produced by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society(IRI). In conjunction with the GLM(generalized linear modeling) weather generator, a resampling scheme is used to translate the uncertainty in the seasonal forecasts(the IRI format only specifies probabilities for three categories: below normal, near normal, and above normal) into the corresponding uncertainty for the daily weather statistics. The method is able to generate potentially useful shifts in the probability distributions of seasonally aggregated precipitation and minimum and maximum temperature, as well as more meaningful daily weather statistics for crop yields, such as the number of dry days and the amount of precipitation on wet days. The approach is extended to the case of climate change scenarios, treating a hypothetical return to a previously observed drier regime in the Pampas.     

Processes Controlling Groundwater Chemistry from Mulakalacheruvu Area,Chittoor District,Andhra Pradesh,South India: A Statistical Approach Based on Hydrochemistry

In India groundwater is an important source for domestic and agricultural purposes. Management of this resource is very important to meet the increasing demand of water. In this study, the ionic concentrations of groundwater from Mulakalacheruvu area, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh, South India have been calculated during May 2014 and the major ionic concentrations have been analyzed by hydrochemcial and statistical methods in order to trace the main processes controlling the groundwater chemistry. The results have suggested that these groundwater samples belong to Na-HCO₃ (18 samples), Ca-HCO₃ (16 samples) and Mg-HCO₃ (6 samples) types. The hydrochemical methods suggest that the rocks in the aquifer system are sources of the major ions in the groundwater, and the silicate is the main mineral phase. Three sources viz. mafic silicate, felsic silicates and easily soluble minerals have been identified as responsible for the chemical variations of the groundwater. Further, the source contributions of silicate minerals for the groundwater hydrochemistry have been analyzed. These results suggest that the hydrochemistry of the groundwater in the south-eastern area is mainly controlled by weathering of felsic silicate (61-100%), whereas the north-western area is principally contributed by mafic silicate minerals (48-100%).     

Enhancing hydrologic modelling through the representation of traditional rainwater harvesting systems: A case study of water tanks in South India

Water tanks as traditional rainwater harvesting systems for agriculture are widely distributed in South India. They have a strong impact on hydrological processes, affecting streamflow in rivers as well as evapotranspiration. This study aims at an accurate representation of water harvesting systems in a hydrologic model to improve model performance and assessment of the catchment water balance. To this end, spatio-temporal variations of water bodies between the years 2016 and 2018 and the months of January and May 2017 were derived from Sentinel-2 satellite data to parameterize the water tanks (reservoir) parameters in the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT+) model of the Adyar basin, Chennai, India. Approximately 16% of the basin is covered by water tanks. The initial model performance was evaluated for two model setups, with and without water tanks. The best model run was selected with a multi-metric approach comparing observed and modelled monthly streamflow for 5000 model runs. The final model evaluation was carried out by comparing estimated water body areas by the model and remote sensing observations for January to May 2017. The results showed that representing water tanks in the hydrologic model led to an improvement in the representation of the seasonal variations of streamflow for the whole simulation period (2004–2018). The model performance was classified as good and very good for the calibration (2004–2011) and validation (2012–2018) periods as NSE varies between 0.67 and 0.85, KGE varies between 0.65 and 0.72, PBIAS varies between −24.1 and −23.6, and RSR varies between 0.57 and 0.39. The best fit was shown for the high and middle flow segments of the hydrograph where the coefficient of determination (R²) ranges from 0.81 to 0.97 and 0.75 to 0.81, respectively. The monthly variation of water body areas in 2017 estimated by the hydrologic model was consistent with changes observed in remote sensing surveys. In summary, the water tank parametrization using remote sensing techniques enhanced the hydrologic model's efficiency and applicability for future studies.     

Homotopy Perturbation Method‐Based Analytical Solution for Tide‐Induced Groundwater Fluctuations

The groundwater variations in unconfined aquifers are governed by the nonlinear Boussinesq's equation. Analytical solution for groundwater fluctuations in coastal aquifers under tidal forcing can be solved using perturbation methods. However, the perturbation parameters should be properly selected and predefined for traditional perturbation methods. In this study, a new dimensional, higher‐order analytical solution for groundwater fluctuations is proposed by using the homotopy perturbation method with a virtual perturbation parameter. Parameter‐expansion method is used to remove the secular terms generated during the solution process. The solution does not require any predefined perturbation parameter and valid for higher values of amplitude parameter A/D, where A is the amplitude of the tide and D is the aquifer thickness.     

Statistical and analytical evaluation of groundwater quality of Tirupati area,Chittoor district,Andhra Pradesh,South India

Buildings constructed on the expansive soil of Oji-Agu Akpugo area exposed to natural factors such as water, temperature and surface run off. Effect caused by these factors on the soil has a negative impact on the built structures in the area.     

Tree species biomass and carbon stock measurement using ground based-LiDAR

This study scrutinises the use of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) to measure diameter at breast height (DBH) and tree height at individual tree species level. LiDAR point cloud scans are collected from uniformly defined control points. The result of processed TLS data demonstrates the precise measurements of tree height and DBH by comparing it with field data (DBH, tree height, tree species and location). The average tree height and DBH obtained through TLS measurements were 9.44?m and 43.30?cm, respectively. A linear equation between TLS derived parameters and field measured values were established, which gave the coefficient of determination (r2) of 0.79 and 0.96 for tree height and DBH, respectively. Further, these parameters were used to calculate above ground biomass (AGB) for individual tree species by considering a non-destructive approach. The total AGB and carbon stock from 80 different trees are computed to be 49.601 and 22.320?tonnes, respectively.     

Paleoseismological investigations along Joggers Park Fault,Port Blair,South Andaman: Implications towards delineation of blind thrusting and related crustal deformation through ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity techniques (ERT and VES)

A comprehensive paleoseismological investigations was carried out along Joggers Park Fault (striking NW-SE) reveals pervasive traces of active compressional tectonics (blind thrusting) and shallow-surface recent tectonic signatures along the fault. The geometry and trends in the tectonic deformation of the blind zone (shallow-subsurface stratigraphy) were examined with GPR and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and vertical electrical sounding (VES), strongly demonstrates severe tectonic deformation (persistent tectonic style) from Quaternary to Holocene times in a compressive stress regime. The surface manifestation of deformation (topographic expression) along the fault can be marked as hanging wall uplift and can be visually observed in the exposed sections at nearly half kilometer distance from the table land of Joggers Park in the form of a well-defined disconnected high angle thrust fault scarp (reverse fault). The reverse fault kinematically and intimately linked with underlying fault geometry provides adduced evidence to evaluate strike displacement profiles (displacement length relationship) along the fault. In addition, deformed stacked colluvial wedge below the scarp represents a powerful basis to calibrate recent and long term slip rates of the underlying fault.