The largely impoverished rural communities of India are unable to bear the costs involved in creating and maintaining substantial structural measures for riverbank protection. The monsoonal nature of the country’s streams and an agrarian economy based on intensive cultivation further heighten the risk posed by annual peak flows and shifting stream courses. Mitigating this requires urgent, sustainable and cost-effective means of conserving valuable farmlands and stabilising channel boundaries. Towards this, riverbank erosion mitigation using Vetiver grass has been a recent development in the country and has been experimented with in a few areas. In this article, we examine how such riparian buffers are created through riverbank modification, planted and nurtured and the effectiveness of the grass in mitigating erosion, taking a small case study from rural West Bengal as an example. We especially focus on the government policies and frameworks and local stakeholder involvements that facilitate such an undertaking, with particular emphasis on the organisational workflow and the ground-level perception of such endeavours, as these are crucial to the success and effectiveness of such schemes. The marked successes achieved through the use of the Vetiver grass in abating erosion and the hindrances encountered in implementing such mitigation projects are outlined, along with the importance of such community-based approaches to river management and monitoring. This case study can be a microcosm for similar such endeavours, particularly in the rural global south.
A study on seasonal and inter-annual variability of the atmospheric CO2 is carried out based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Carbon Tracker (NOAACT) re-analysis and satellite measurements of mid-troposphere CO2 by Atmosphere Infrared Sounder on board NASA’s Aqua and lower troposphere CO2 by Greenhouse-gas Observing Satellite. Seasonal and non-seasonal components of each time series were extracted by means of least square based harmonic analysis procedure. The data of surface CO2 fluxes used in the NOAACT are also analyzed to examine its relationship with the atmosphere CO2 variability at different time scales. There exists good consistency between NOAACT analysis and satellite observations in their respective seasonal harmonics and climatology. Surface layer CO2 exhibits large climatological mean over the regions of major anthropogenic sources together with strong seasonal cycle over the humid and cold climatic terrestrial regions especially over the northern hemisphere. Existence of high coherency with the different components of the surface fluxes shows that surface layer atmosphere CO2 seasonality is primarily contributed from the terrestrial ecosystem exchanges and secondarily by anthropogenic and oceanic exchanges. The mid-troposphere CO2 exhibits large values associated with climatology and amplitudes of semi-annual and annual cycles over the northern extra tropics and Polar Regions along with a gradual decreasing trend from northern to southern hemisphere. Inter-annual variability of atmospheric CO2 in the NOAACT in some extent is consistent with the satellite observations. Large scale circulation patterns, its fluctuations associated with ENSO events and large scale ecosystem disturbances have significant influence on the inter-annual variability. 相似文献
A suite of instruments on the Beagle 2 Mars lander was designed and built in order to investigate the environmental conditions at the landing site. The sensor suite was capable of measuring air temperature at two heights, surface level pressure, wind speed and direction, saltated particle momentum, UV flux (diffuse and direct at five wavelengths), the total accumulated radiation dose and investigating the nature of the oxidising environment. The scientific goals of the instruments are discussed within the context of current understanding of the environmental conditions on Mars, and the instruments themselves are described in detail. Beagle 2 landed on Mars in late 2003, as part of the ESA Mars Express mission. The expected lifetime of the lander on the surface was 180 sols, with a landing site in Isidis Planitia, but has not responded to attempts to contact it, and has now been declared lost. The Environmental Sensor Suite (ESS) was intended to monitor and characterise the current local meteorological parameters, investigating specific areas of scientific interest raised from previous missions, most notably dust transport and transient phenomena, and additionally to add context to the conditions that any possible martian micro-organisms would have to face. The design of the instrument suite was strongly influenced by mass limitations, with eight sensor subsystems having a total mass of approximately 100 g. Although Beagle 2 has been now declared lost, the scientific goals of an Environmental Sensors Suite still remain a valid target for any future astrobiology orientated missions. 相似文献
We aim to characterize the current status of knowledge on the accuracy of open-cluster parameters such as the age, reddening and distance. These astrophysical quantities are often used to study the global characteristics of the Milky Way down to the very local stellar phenomena. In general, the errors of these quantities are neglected or set to some kind of heuristic standard value. We attempt to give some realistic estimates for the accuracy of available cluster parameters by using the independently derived values published in the literature. In total, 6437 individual estimates for 395 open clusters were used in our statistical analysis. We discuss the error sources depending on theoretical as well as observational methods and compare our results with those parameters listed in the widely used catalogue by Dias et al. In addition, we establish a list of 72 open clusters with the most accurate known parameters which should serve as a standard table in the future for testing isochrones and stellar models. 相似文献
1INTRODUCTIONMandelbrot stated the uncertainty of the length of a coastline in his paper "How long is the coast of Britain? Statistical self-similarity and fractional dimension" pub- lished in Science in 1967 (MANDELBROT, 1967). The concepts of fractal and fractal dimension were presented for the first time in that paper and have been applied to quantitatively describing the difference of crooked coastlines of British and South Africa. Compared with the Euclidean geometry with more… 相似文献
The present study investigates the characteristics of CO2 exchange (photosynthesis and respiration) over agricultural site dominated by wheat crop and their relationship with ecosystem
parameters derived from MODIS. Eddy covariance measurement of CO2 and H2O exchanges was carried out at 10 Hz interval and fluxes of CO2 were computed at half-hourly time steps. The net ecosystem exchange (NEE) was partitioned into gross primary productivity
(GPP) and ecosystem respiration (Re) by taking difference between day-time NEE and respiration. Time-series of daily reflectance and surface temperature products
at varying resolution (250–1000 m) were used to derive ecosystem variables (EVI, NDVI, LST). Diurnal pattern in Net ecosystem
exchange reveals negative NEE during day-time representing CO2 uptake and positive during night as release of CO2. The amplitude of the diurnal variation in NEE increased as LAI crop growth advances and reached its peak around the anthesis
stage. The mid-day uptake during this stage was around 1.15 mg CO2 m−2 s−1 and night-time release was around 0.15 mg CO2 m−2 s−1. Linear and non-linear least square regression procedures were employed to develop phenomenological models and empirical
fits between flux tower based GPP and NEE with satellite derived variables and environmental parameters. Enhanced vegetation
index was found significantly related to both GPP and NEE. However, NDVI showed little less significant relationship with
both GPP and NEE. Furthemore, temperature-greenness (TG) model combining scaled EVI and LST was parameterized to estimate
daily GPP over dominantly wheat crop site. (R2 = 0.77). Multi-variate analysis shows that inclusion of LST or air temperature with EVI marginally improves variance explained
in daily NEE and GPP. 相似文献
The crystallines in the Kumaon Himalaya, India are studied along Goriganga, Darma and Kaliganga valleys and found to be composed
of two high-grade metamorphic gneiss sheets i.e. the Higher Himalayan Crystalline (HHC) and Lesser Himalayan Crystalline (LHC)
zones. These were tectonically extruded as a consequence of the southward directed propagation of crustal deformation in the
Indian plate margin. The HHC and its cover rocks i.e. the Tethyan Sedimentary Zone (TSZ) are exposed through tectonic zones
within the hinterland of Kumaon Himalaya. The HHC records history of at least one episode of pre-Himalayan deformation (D1), three episodes of Himalayan deformation (D2, D3, D4). The rocks of the HHC in Kumaon Himalaya are thoroughly transposed by D2 deformation into NW-SE trending Sm (S1+S2). The extent of transposition and a well-developed NE-plunging L2 lineation indicate intense strain during D2 throughout the studied portion of the HHC. Ductile flow continued, resulting in rotation of F1 and F2 folds due NE-direction and NW-SE plunging F3 folds within the HHC. The over thickened crystalline was finally, superimposed by late-to-post collisional brittle-ductile
deformation (D4) and exposed the rocks to rapid erosion. 相似文献
Monitoring of Agricultural crops using remote sensing data is an emerging tool in recent years. Spatial determination of sowing date is an important input of any crop model. Geostationary satellite has the capability to provide data at high temporal interval to monitor vegetation throughout the entire growth period. A study was conducted to estimate the sowing date of wheat crop in major wheat growing states viz. Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Madhya Pradesh (MP), Rajasthan and Bihar. Data acquired by Charged Couple Detector (CCD) onboard Indian geostationary satellite INSAT 3A have continental (Asia) coverage at 1 km?×?1 km spatial resolution in optical spectral bands with high temporal frequency. Daily operational Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) product from INSAT 3A CCD available through Meteorological and Oceanographic Satellite Data Archival Centre (MOSDAC) was used to estimate sowing date of wheat crop in selected six states. Daily NDVI data acquired from September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010 were used in this study. A composite of 7 days was prepared for further analysis of temporal profile of NDVI. Spatial wheat crop map derived from AWiFS (56 m) were re-sampled at INSAT 3A CCD parent resolution and applied over each 7 day composite. The characteristic temporal profiles of 7 day NDVI composite was used to determine sowing date. NDVI profile showed decreasing trend during maturity of kharif crop, minimum value after harvest and increasing trend after emergence of wheat crop. A mathematical model was made to capture the persistent positive slope of NDVI profile after an inflection point. The change in behavior of NDVI profile was detected on the basis of change in NDVI threshold of 0.3 and sowing date was estimated for wheat crop in six states. Seven days has been deducted after it reached to threshold value with persistent positive slope to get sowing date. The clear distinction between early sowing and late sowing regions was observed in study area. Variation of sowing date was observed ranging from November 1 to December 20. The estimated sowing date was validated with the reported sowing date for the known wheat crop regions. The RMSD of 3.2 (n?=?45) has been observed for wheat sowing date. This methodology can also be applied over different crops with the availability of crop maps. 相似文献
The present study demonstrated the methodology to assess agro-climatic suitability of the soybean crop through integration of crop suitability based on FAO framework of land evaluation and biophysical (water limited) yield potential in the rainfed agro-ecosystem. A long term climatic database (1980–2003) was prepared to compute decadal rainfall and temperature variations of 13 IMD stations in part of Madhya Pradesh state. The climatic database was used in soil water balance software–BUDGET to compute crop specific length of growing period (LGP) and biophysical production potential such as water limited crop yield potential of each soil types for soybean crop. Water limited crop yield potential of soils were found to be varied from 33 to 100 and LGP ranged from 65 to 180 days in the area. FAO based land suitability was analyzed in association with the water limited yield potential for better appraisal of land potential and assess their suitability in rainfed area. FAO based land suitability indicated 2.45 % area as highly suitable and 57.49 % area as moderately suitable. However, integration of water limited crop yield potential with FAO based land suitability lead to agro-climatic suitability analysis indicated 17.60 % and 40.03 % area, respectively as highly suitable and moderately suitable. FAO based land evaluation showed 88.13 % of plains as moderately suitable whereas agro-climatic suitability indicated only 47.79 %. Agro-climatic suitability analysis revealed undulating plateau and undulating plains as most suitable for soybean crop. 相似文献