Seismic hazards assessment of Kumaun Himalaya and adjacent region

The ongoing continent?Ccontinent collision between Indian and Eurasian plates houses a seismic gap in the geologically complex and tectonically active central Himalaya. The seismic gap is characterized by unevenly distributed seismicity. The highly complex geology with equally intricate structural elements of Himalaya offers an almost insurmountable challenge to estimating seismogenic hazard using conventional methods of Physics. Here, we apply integrated unconventional hazard mapping approach of the fractal analysis for the past earthquakes and the box counting fractal dimension of structural elements in order to understand the seismogenesis of the region properly. The study area extends from latitude 28°N?C33°N and longitude 76°E?C81°E has been divided into twenty-five blocks, and the capacity fractal dimension (D ₀) of each block has been calculated using the fractal box counting technique. The study of entire blocks reveal that four blocks are having very low value of D ₀ (0.536, 0.550, 0.619 and 0.678). Among these four blocks two are characterized by intense clustering of earthquakes indicated by low value of correlation fractal dimension (D _c ) (0.245, 0.836 and 0.946). Further, these two blocks are categorized as highly stressed zones and the remaining two are characterized by intense clustering of structural elements in the study area. Based on the above observations, integrated analysis of the D _c of earthquakes and D ₀ of structural elements has led to the identification of diagnostic seismic hazard pattern for the four blocks.     

Cultural and economic residential sorting of Auckland’s population, 1991–2013: an entropy approach

Journal of Geographical Systems - Auckland, the largest city of New Zealand, is one of the most diverse cities in the world, with more than 40% of its population born abroad, more than 200...     

Advances in understanding of the mechanism for generation of earthquake thermal precursors detected by satellites

Stresses building up during an earthquake preparation phase also manifest themselves in the form of a so called increased land surface temperature (LST) leading to a thermal precursor prior to the earthquake event. This phenomenon has now been validated by our observations of short-term thermal anomalies detected by infrared satellite sensors for several recent past earthquakes around the world. The rise in infrared radiance temperature was seen to vary between 5 and 12 °C for different earthquakes. We discuss in this paper different explanations for the generation of such anomalies that have been offered. Emission of gases due to the opening and closure of micropores upon induced stresses and also the participation of ground water have been propounded as a possible cause for generation of thermal anomalies. Seismo-ionosphere coupling, by which gases like radon move to the earth–atmosphere interface and cause air ionization thus bringing about a change in air temperature, relative humidity, etc., has been put forth by some workers. A mechanism of low frequency electromagnetic emission was tested and experimented by scientists with rock masses in stressed conditions as those that exist at tectonic locations. The workers proposed the positive hole pair theory, which received support from several scientific groups. Positive holes (sites of electron deficiency) are activated in stressed rocks from pre-existing yet dormant positive hole pairs (PHPs) and their recombination at rock–air interface leads to a LST rise. A combination of remote sensing detection of rock mechanics behavior with a perception of chemistry and geophysics has been applied to propose the remote sensing rock mechanics theory. Remote sensing detections of such anomalies confirm so far proposed lab theories for such a hotly debated field as earthquake precursor study by providing unbiased observations with consistency in time and space distribution.     

Analyzing multi-year rice-fallow dynamics in Odisha using multi-temporal Landsat-8 OLI and Sentinel-1 Data

ABSTRACT

Sustainable intensification of existing cropland is one of the most viable options for meeting the escalating food demands of the ever-increasing population in the world. Accurate geospatial data about the potential single-crop (rice-fallows) areas is vital for policymakers to target the agro-technologies for enhancing crop productivity and intensification. Therefore, the study aimed to evaluate and understand the dynamics of rice-fallows in the Odisha state of India, using SAR (Sentinel-1) and Optical (Landsat OLI) datasets. This study utilized a decision-tree approach and Principal component analysis (PCA) for the segmentation and separation of different vegetation classes. The estimated overall accuracy of extracted rice-fallow maps was in the range of 84 to 85 percent. The study identified about 2.2, 2.0 and 2.1mha of Rice-Fallows in the years 2015–16, 2016–17, and 2017–18, respectively. The combined analysis (all three years) of rice-fallow maps identified about 1.34mha of permanent rice-fallows, whereas the remaining 0.6–0.8mha area was under the current-fallow category. About 50% of the total permanent rice-fallows were detected in the rainfed areas of Mayurbhanj, Bhadrak, Bolangir, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Baleswar, Nawarangpur and Bargarh districts. The study also illustrated the time-series profiles of SMAP (soil moisture) datasets for the ten agroclimatic zones of the Odisha, which can be utilized (along with rice-fallow maps) for the selection of crop and cultivars (e.g. short or medium duration pulses or oilseeds) to target the rice fallows. The approach utilized in the current study can be scaled up in similar areas of South and South-east Asia and Africa to identify single-crop areas for targeting improved technologies for enhanced crop productivity and intensification.     

Identification of Water Conservation Sites in a Watershed (WRJ-2) of Nagpur District, Maharashtra using Geographical Information System (GIS) Technique

The paper deals with the application of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) technique for a watershed development program. For this study, the WRJ-2 watershed falling under Narkhed and Katol Tahsils of Nagpur district, Maharashtra, India is investigated. Various thematic maps (i.e. drainage, geology, soil, geomorphology and land use/ land cover) have been prepared using the remote sensing and GIS techniques. Initially, differential weightage values are assigned to all the thematic maps as per their runoff characteristics. Subsequently, the maps are integrated in GIS environment to identify potential sites for water conservation measures like gully plugs, earthen check dams, continuous contour trenches, percolation tanks, cement bandhara, afforestration and farm ponds, etc. The study depicts that the GIS technique facilitates integration of thematic maps and thereby helps in an identification of micro-zones each with unique characters in-terms of hydrogeology, thus amenable to specific water conservation techniques. It is therefore concluded that, the GIS technique is suitable for an identification of water conservation structures.     

Impact of Pastoral Practices on Forest Cover and Regeneration in the Outer Fringes of Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary,Western Himalaya

The study reports the impact of migratory livestock in the buffer area of Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary. The cumulative impacts of livestock grazing, fuel wood extraction and other anthropogenic pressures on forest cover in and around camping sites have been analyzed using satellite data and field observations. Multi-date satellite data were used to map the forest cover around 16 seasonal livestock camps. An annual loss of about 7.25 ha of forest covers during 1976–1990, 13.57 ha during 1990–1999 and 11.46 ha during 1999–2005 are recorded. A loss of 108.53 ha of forestland has been estimated during 1976–1990, about 122.16 ha during 1990–1999 and 68.78 ha during 1999–2005. It is also observed that many of the isolated camping sites are now connected due to loss of vegetation. Phytosociological analysis indicates that the number of seedlings and saplings in three species of Quercus (Q. leucotrichophora, Q. floribunda and Q. semecarpifolia) as compared to mature tress is very less around cattle camping sites. The ratio of number of sapling with seedling and trees indicates that the status of sapling is nil to very poor, an indication of loss of saplings due to either trampling or grazing.     

Uncertainty analysis of soil erosion modelling using different resolution of open-source DEMs

The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is one of the important parameters of soil erosion assessment and notable uncertainties are found in using different resolutions of the DEM. Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation model has been applied to analyze the effect of open-source DEMs with different resolution and accuracy on the uncertainties of soil erosion modelling in a part of the Narmada river basin in Madhya Pradesh in central India. Selected open-source DEMs are GTOPO30 (1 km), SRTM (30 and 90 m), CARTOSAT (30 m) and ASTER (30 m), used for estimating erosion rate. Results with better accuracy are achieved with the high-resolution DEMs (30 m) with higher vertical accuracy than the coarse resolution DEMs with lower accuracy. This study has presented potential uncertainties introduced by the open-source DEMs in soil erosion modelling for better understanding of appropriate selection and acceptable errors for researchers.     

Diagnostics of subseasonal prediction biases of the Asian summer monsoon by the NCEP climate forecast system

Biases of subseasonal prediction of the Asian summer monsoon are diagnosed using daily data from the hindcasts of 45-day integrations by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Climate Forecast System version 2. The retrospective forecasts often show apparent systematic biases, which are mostly represented by the underestimation of the whole Asian monsoon. Biases depend not only on lead time, but also on the stage of monsoon evolution. An abrupt turning point of bias development appears around late June and early July, when ensemble spread and bias growth of winds and precipitation show a significant change over the northwestern Pacific (NWP) and the South Asian summer monsoon (SASM) region. The abrupt turning of bias development of winds, precipitation, and surface temperature is also captured by the first two modes of multivariate empirical orthogonal function analysis. Several features appear associated with the abrupt change in bias development: the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) begins its first northward jump and the surface temperature over the Tibetan Plateau commences a transition from warm bias to cold bias, and a reversal of surface temperature biases occurs in the eastern tropical Indian Ocean and the SASM region. The shift of WPSH position and the transition of surface thermal bias show close relationships with the formation of bias centers in winds and precipitation. The rapid growth in bias due to the strong internal atmospheric variability during short leads seems to mainly account for the weak WPSH and SASM in the model. However, at certain stages, particularly for longer-lead predictions, the biases of slowly varying components may also play an important role in bias development of winds and precipitation.     

Studies of accretion flows around rotating black holes – I. Particle dynamics in a pseudo-Kerr potential

We study the formation of the absorption features, called the cyclotron–annihilation lines, in the γ-spectra of the neutron stars (pulsars), owing to the fundamental quantum-electrodynamic effect of the one–photon pair creation in magnetized vacuum. As a result, we substantiate a new method for the determination of the neutron star magnetic fields B based on measuring the interval between the main annihilation and the first cyclotron–annihilation absorption lines. It is found that these lines may be easily resolved, and, consequently, the method is surely applicable if the following conditions are satisfied. (i) A γ-source has to be compact enough and located near a star, but not close to its magnetic poles. For instance, it may be a disc in the plane of a star magnetic equator with latitudinal angular width less than     and radial extent up to 25 per cent of the star radius. (ii) The source is to produce detectable γ-radiation at large angles ≳60° to the local magnetic field. Being situated in a closed field line region and having a broad radiation pattern, such a source is not what is usually considered in the context of the polar cap and outer gap models of the pulsar γ-emission dealing with open field lines only. (iii) Magnetic field strength must lie in a certain narrow interval with the centre at  ∼(3–4) × 10¹²  G. Its width depends on the star orientation and disc radial extend and in the most favourable case is about 20–30 per cent of its lower boundary. Finally, the influence of the star rotation on this method employment is considered and new possibilities arising from forthcoming polarization observations are briefly discussed.     

An exact similarity solution in radiation magneto-gas-dynamics for the flows behind a spherical shock wave

An exact similarity solution for a spherical magnetogasdynamic shock is obtained in the case when radiation energy, radiation pressure and radiative heat flux are important. The total energy of the shock wave increase with time. We have shown that due to the magnetic field the flow variables are considerably changed. Also, due to increases in radiation pressure number the radiation flux is increased.