Recent Sea Level and Sea Surface Temperature Changes Along the Maldives Coast

Maldives, a South Asian small island nation in the northern part of the Indian Ocean is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of Sea Level Rise (SLR) due to its low altitude from the mean sea level. This artricle attempts to estimate the recent rates of SLR in Maldives during different seasons of the year with the help of existing tidal data recorded in the Maldives coast. Corresponding Sea Surface Temperature (SST) trends, utilizing reliable satellite climatology, have also been obtained. The relationships between the SST and mean sea level have been comprehensively investigated. Results show that recent sea level trends in the Maldives coast are very high. At Male, the capital of the Republic of Maldives, the rising rates of Mean Tidal Level (MTL) are: 8.5, 7.6, and 5.8 mm/year during the postmonsoon (October-December), Premonsoon (March-May) and southwest monsoon (June-September) seasons respectively. At Gan, a station very close to the equator, the increasing rate of MTL is maximum during the period from June to September (which is 6.2 mm/year). These rising trends in MTL along the Maldives coast are certainly alarming for this small developing island nation, which is hardly one meter above the mean sea level. Thus there is a need for careful monitoring of future sea level changes in the Maldives coast. The trends presented are based on the available time-series of MTL for the Maldives coast, which are rather short. These trends need not necessarily reflect the long-term scenario. SST in the Maldives coast has also registered significant increasing trend during the period from June to September. There are large seasonal variations in the SST trends at Gan but SST and MTL trends at Male are consistently increasing during all the seasons and the rising rates are very high. The interannual mode of variation is prominent both in SST as well as MTL. Annual profile of MTL along the Maldives coast is bimodal, having two maxima during April and July. The April Mode is by far the dominant one. The SST appears to be the main factor governing the sea level variations along the Maldives coast. The influence of SST and sea level is more near the equatorial region (i.e., at Gan). There is lag of about two months for the maximum influence of SST on the sea level. The correlation coefficient between the smoothed SST and mean tidal level at Gan with lag of two months is as high as ~ +0.8, which is highly significant. The corresponding correlation coefficients at Male with the lags of one and two months are +0.5 and +0.3, respectively. Thus, the important finding of the present work for the Maldives coast is the dominance of SST factor in sea level variation, especially near the region close to the equator.     

Mapping groundwater vulnerable zones using modified DRASTIC approach of an alluvial aquifer in parts of central Ganga plain,Western Uttar Pradesh

A detailed hydrogeological and hydrochemical study was carried out in Yamuna-Krishni sub-basin which is a part of the vast central Ganga plain. Groundwater is the major source of water supply for agricultural, domestic and industrial uses. The excess use of groundwater has resulted in depletion of water levels. The groundwater quality, too, has deteriorated in areas dominated by industrial activity. This has led to the preparation of a groundwater vulnerability map in relation to contamination. Groundwater vulnerability maps are valuable derivative maps that show, quantitatively or qualitatively, certain characteristics of the sub-surface environment that determine vulnerability of groundwater to contamination. The modified DRASTIC method was used to prepare vulnerability map. The parameters like depth to water, net recharge, aquifer media, soil media, impact of vadose zone, hydraulic conductivity and land use pattern, owing to its bearing on groundwater regime, were considered to prepare vulnerability map. The vulnerability index is computed as the sum of the products of weight and rating assigned to each of the input considered as above. The vulnerability index ranges from 140 to 180, and is classified into four classes i.e. 140–150, 150–160, 160–170 and 170–180 corresponding to low, medium, high and very high vulnerability zones respectively. Using this index, a groundwater vulnerability potential map was generated which shows that 7%, 40% and 53% of the study area falls in low, medium and high to very high vulnerability zones respectively. The map, thus generated, can be used as a tool for protection and management of aquifers from contamination.     

Post-disaster recovery in the cyclone Aila affected coastline of Bangladesh: women’s role,challenges and opportunities

Natural Hazards - The present study deals with the gender aspects of water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) situation in post-cyclone Aila period in Bangladesh. Data were collected using...     

Decomposition of wind speed fluctuations at different time scales

Understanding the inherent features of wind speed (variability on different time scales) has become critical for assured wind power availability, grid stability, and effective power management. The study utilizes the wavelet, autocorrelation, and FFT (fast Fourier transform) techniques to analyze and assimilate the fluctuating nature of wind speed data collected over a period of 29–42 years at different locations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The analyses extracted the intrinsic features of wind speed, including the long-term mean wind speed and fluctuations at different time scales (periods), which is critical for meteorological purposes including wind power resource assessment and weather forecasting. The long-term mean wind speed varied between 1.45 m/s at Mecca station and 3.73 m/s at Taif. The annual variation is the largest (±0.97 m/s) at Taif and the smallest (±0.25 m/s) at Mecca. Similarly, the wind speed fluctuation with different periods was also discussed in detail. The spectral characteristics obtained using FFT reveal that Al-Baha, Najran, Taif and Wadi-Al-Dawasser having a sharp peak at a frequency f = 0.00269 (1/day) retain a more regular annual repetition of wind speed than Bisha, Khamis-Mushait, Madinah, Mecca, and Sharourah. Based on the autocorrelation analysis and FFT results, the stations are divided into three groups: (i) having strong annual modulations (Al-Baha, Najran, Taif and Wadi-Al-Dawasser), (ii) having comparable annual and half-yearly modulations (Bisha, Khamis-Mushait, and Mecca) and (iii) having annual modulation moderately prominent (Madinah and Sharourah).     

Sustainable conjunctive use of groundwater for additional irrigation

The key to ‘sustainable conjunctive use of groundwater for additional irrigation’ is the salt balance of groundwater below an irrigated field. This paper aims to develop a mathematical tool to study the accumulation of salt in the groundwater below an irrigated field as caused by irrigation recirculation. This study derives a salt balance of groundwater to ensure that the additional irrigation from groundwater remains possible in the future. The water and salt budgets by themselves do neither provide information concerning farmers' options nor on the limits of the individual terms in the budget equations. It is presumed that farmers will intuitively aim for (1) an optimal value of the actual evapotranspiration, and (2) a return flow as a feasible low fraction of the available water. We, therefore, derive the irrigation from groundwater Q as a consequence of the predefined farmers' aims to achieve a high actual evapotranspiration in combination with a given optimally used irrigation system. Our model concludes that the required amount of drainage is only dependent on the ratio of the salinity in the surface irrigation water and the acceptable salinity of the groundwater. The final salinity in the saturated zone only depends on salt‐carrying inflows and outflows. From the aforesaid model, it is further concluded that sustainable conjunctive use of groundwater for additional irrigation requires long‐term salt management, which should be founded on the essential controlling factors as derived in this paper. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ecohydrology from Concepts to On-ground Actions： Report of Special Side Event on Ecohydrology--An Interdisciplinary Challenge, January 5-7, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand

International Hydrological Programme Ⅶ (IHP-Ⅶ) directs the research objectives of hydrologists all over the world from 2008 to 2013. As a key programme contributed to the IHP Ⅶ, UNESCO's Ecohydrology Programme (EHP) has evolved into a trans-disciplinary scientific programme to analyze dynamic relationships between hydrological, social and ecological systems. Twenty international experts from 12 countries were invited by UNESCO to attend the side event on "Ecohydrology--An Interdisciplinary Challenge" in Bangkok, Thailand. It aimed to synthesize knowledge gaps for addressing issues related to critical water systems. This event focused on how better knowledge of the interrelationships between the hydrological cycle, livelihoods and ecosystems could be contributed to more cost-effective and environmental-friendly management. The five themes of the event with 20 keynote lectures were given as fellows.     

Bridging the gaps: the role of local government capability and the management of a natural disaster in Bantul, Indonesia

This paper examines local government capability in managing pre-, during and post-natural disaster in Indonesia. The case study is the Bantul local government which had experience in managing the 2006 earthquake. Bantul is located in the most densely populated area of Java, where 1,500 people per square km square, and the earthquake destroyed domestic industries that had become the main resource of the Bantul local government. The capability of local government and the requirement to manage a disaster are very important issues for exploring the important role of local government in mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery disaster management activities, particularly in regard to the characteristics of local government in developing countries. In this paper, capability of local government in managing a disaster is defined as a function of institutions, human resources, policy for effective implementation, financial, technical resources and leadership. The capability requirement of each stage of disaster management has also been explained from the point of view of state and non-state actors and institutions. Finally, the paper integrates the capability requirement and reality in order to bridge these gaps.     

Seismogenic sources in the Bay of Bengal vis-à-vis potential for tsunami generation and its impact in the northern Bay of Bengal coast

Geodynamic status, seismo-tectonic environment, and geophysical signatures of the Bay of Bengal do not support the occurrence of seismogenic tsunami. Since thrust fault and its intensity and magnitude of rupture are the key tectonic elements of tsunamigenic seismic sources, the study reveals that such characteristics of fault-rupture and seismic sources do not occur in most of the Bay of Bengal except a small segment in the Andaman–Nicobar subduction zone. The inferred segment of the Andaman–Nicobar subduction zone is considered for generating a model of the deformation field arising from fluid-driven source. The model suggests local tsunami with insignificant inundation potential along the coast of northern Bay of Bengal. The bathymetric profile and the sea floor configuration of the northern Bay of Bengal play an important role in flattening the waveform through defocusing process. The direction of motion of the Indian plate makes an angle of about 30° with the direction of the opening of Andaman Sea. The opening of Andaman Sea and the direction of plate motion of the Indian plate results in the formation of Andaman trench where the subducting plate dives more obliquely than that in the Sunda trench in the south. The oblique subduction reduces significantly the possibilities of dominant thrust faulting in the Andaman subduction zone. Further, north of Andaman subduction in the Bengal–Arakan coast, there is no active subduction. On the otherhand, much greater volume of sediments (in excess of 20 km) in the Bengal–Arakan segment reduces the possibilities of mega rupture of the ocean floor. The water depth (≈1,000 m) along most of the northern Bay of Bengal plate margin is not optimum for any significant tsunami generation. Hence, very weak possibility of any significant tsunami is suggested that based on the interpretation of geodynamic status, seismo-tectonic environment, and geophysical signatures of the Andaman subduction zone and the Bengal–Arakan coast.