Climate Change Studies Using Coupled Model: Land Surface Perspective

Community Climate System Model (CCSM3), a coupled model developed by National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) containing atmosphere, ocean, sea-ice and land processes, simulation have been analysed for suitability in the Indian Monsoon region. A long control run of CCSM3 with constant forcing at every year has been done and the model climatology has been generated using 20 years of simulation. Atmospheric component of the model has been able to capture the large scale phenomena, however, regional monsoon variability not fully captured by the model simulation. A suitable modification in the flux coupler and the convective parameterization process in regional scale certainly improve the atmospheric part of the climate system. Another major component of the climate model is the representation of Land Surface Processes (LSP). A successful inclusion of LSP in climate model must address the issues related to the regional scale variation of the properties of LSP. A proper understanding of land surface processes is very crucial for climate simulations using numerical models. To understand the LSP-monsoon coupling, the offline Community Land Model (CLM), taken from CCSM3 land component, simulation forced with three hourly atmospheric boundary conditions have also been analyzed and compared with the CLM version of coupled CCSM mode. The distribution of surface heat flux in CCSM coupled mode shows some discrepancies compared to the offline CLM. Both the simulation results are compared with existing climatological features and assessment to improve CCSM3 for the regional climate change studies is made.     

The relationship between volatile halocarbons and phytoplankton pigments during a Trichodesmium bloom in the coastal eastern Arabian Sea

Eukaryotic phytoplankton such as diatoms and prymnesiophytes produce biogenic halocarbons in the ocean that serve as important sources of chlorine and bromine to the atmosphere, but the role of cyanobacteria in halocarbon production is not well established. We studied distributions of chloroform (CHCl₃), carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄), methylene bromide (CH₂Br₂) and bromoform (CHBr₃) in relation to phytoplankton composition, determined from pigment analysis complemented by microscopic examination, for one month in coastal waters of the eastern Arabian that experienced a Trichodesmium bloom that typically occurs during the Spring Intermonsoon season. High concentrations of zeaxanthin (23 μg l⁻¹), alpha beta betacarotene (6 μg l⁻¹) and chlorophyll a (67 μg l⁻¹) were found within the bloom whereas the marker pigment concentrations were low outside the bloom. CHCl₃ and CCl₄ occurred in relatively high concentrations in surface waters whereas CH₂Br₂ and CHBr₃ were restricted to the subsurface layer. Chlorinated halocarbons were positively inter-correlated and with CHBr₃. The observed spatial and temporal trends in brominated compounds appear to be related to the abundance of Trichodesmium although correlations between concentrations of brominated compounds with various marker pigments were poor and statistically non-significant. The results support the existence of multiple sources and sinks of halogenated compounds, which might obscure the relationship between halocarbons and phytoplankton composition.     

An exact linearization and decoupling of the integral equations satisfied by time-dependent X- and Y-functions

We discuss a simple method of linearization and decoupling of the integral equations satisfied by time-dependentX - andY -functions which play an important rôle in the study of non-stationary radiative transfer problems.     

Similarity solutions for propagation of strong plane shock waves in an optically thin atmosphere

Similarity solutions, using Planck's diffusion approximation, for propagation of strong plane shock waves in an optically thin grey atmosphere of uniform density are obtained. Solutions for the ratio of specific heats 4/3 and several values of the radiation parameter are compared with those in the absence of any radiation. Excerpts from the results of integrations for different values of the ratio of specific heats are also given in Tables I-III.     

Racing climate change: Collaboration and conflict in California's global climate change policy arena

Media accounts routinely refer to California's Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32), the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, as “landmark” climate change legislation. On its surface, this label is an accurate reflection of the state's forward-thinking stance across many environmental issues including pesticides, toxic substances, solid waste, and air quality. For all its promise, however, AB 32 can also be considered a low point in the landscape of conflict between state environmental regulators and California's environmental justice movement. While the legislation included several provisions to address the procedural and distributive dimensions of environmental justice, the implementation of AB 32 has been marked by heated conflict. The most intense conflicts over AB 32 revolve around the primacy of market mechanisms such as “cap and trade.” This article examines the drivers and the manifestations of these dynamics of collaboration and conflict between environmental justice advocates and state regulators, and pays particular attention to the scalar and racialized quality of the neoliberal discourse. The contentiousness of climate change politics in California offers scholars and practitioners around the world a cautionary tale of how the best intentions for integrating environmental justice principles into climate change policy do not necessarily translate into implementation and how underlying racialized fractures can upend collaboration between state and social movement actors.     

Nonplanar ion acoustic solitary waves with superthermal electrons and positrons

The properties of cylindrical and spherical ion acoustic solitary waves (IASWs) are investigated in a three-component unmagnetized, collisionless plasma consisting of warm ion fluid and superthermally distributed electrons and positrons in a nonplanar cylindrical or spherical geometry. Using the reductive perturbation technique, the nonplanar cylindrical and spherical Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equations are derived. The effects of spectral index of electron and positron, and other plasma parameters are studied. It is found that both negative as well as positive solitary potential structures are formed in nonplanar geometries. The numerical solution shows that amplitude of the soliton is large in spherical geometry in comparison with cylindrical geometry. Numerical results indicate that the amplitude of the soliton is large in spherical geometry in comparison with cylindrical geometry.     

Determination of nitrogen dioxide in ambient air employing diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

This paper presents the development of a simple and precise analytical method for the determination of nitrogen dioxide in ambient air. In this method nitrogen dioxide is determined in the form of nitrite. The determination of nitrogen dioxide needs no reagents except for a solution of sodium hydroxide mixed with sodium arsenite (NaOH–Na₂As₂O₃) which is used as an absorbing reagent for trapping the nitrogen dioxide from the atmosphere in the form of nitrite, i.e., a prior analysis step. The determination of submicrogram levels of nitrogen dioxide is based on the selection of a strong and sharp quantitative analytical peak at 1380 cm^− 1 using diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy (DRS-FTIR). The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification of the method are found to be 0.008 μg g^− 1 NO₂⁻ and 0.05 μg g^− 1 NO₂⁻, respectively. The precision in terms of standard deviation and relative standard deviation value at a level of 2 μg NO₂⁻ / 0.1 g KBr for n = 10 is found to be 0.036 μg NO₂⁻ and 1.8%, respectively. The relative standard deviation (n = 10) for the determination of nitrogen dioxide in ambient air was observed to be in the range 2.6–3.8%. The method proposed is time-saving and eliminates the slow and cumbersome steps of pH maintenance of the reaction mixture and color formation of the EPA recommended spectrophotometric and other methods for quantitative determination of nitrogen dioxide.     

Identification of pre-seismic anomalies of soil radon-222 signal using Hilbert–Huang transform

Concentration of Rn-222 in soil has been monitored continuously at Ravangla in the Sikkim Himalayan Region of eastern India for about 7 months from October 2015 to May 2016 to detect earthquake-induced anomalies. The recorded data clearly show that various physical and meteorological parameters influence the soil radon concentration, leading to very complex soil Rn-222 time series. The components due to such external influences have been removed from the present time series, and Hilbert–Huang transform (HHT) applied for analysis of the data. Two radon anomalies caused due to earthquakes of magnitude M _b = 5.0 that occurred on 19 November 2015 and 5 April 2016 within an epicentral distance of 500 km from the monitoring station have been identified on the soil Rn-222 time series. These two precursory anomalies occurred 9 and 10 days, respectively, before the occurrence of the earthquakes. The absence of spurious signals or missing anomalies demonstrates that HHT is advantageous for analysis of nonlinear non-stationary data, and hence, it is a promising technique to analyse soil radon behaviour for predicting the possibility of occurrence of earthquakes.