Modelling groundwater levels in an urban coastal aquifer using artificial neural networks

The prediction of groundwater levels in a basin is of immense importance for the management of groundwater resources, especially in coastal regions where the water table fluctuations are to be limited to avoid seawater intrusion. In this paper, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) methodology is presented to predict groundwater levels in individual wells with one month lead. Groundwater levels were also predicted in neighboring wells using model parameters from the best network of a well. This methodology is applied to an urban coastal aquifer in Andhra Pradesh state, India. The results suggest that the feed forward neural network with Levenberg Marquardt (LM) algorithm is a good choice for predicting groundwater levels in individual wells. Bayesian Regularization (BR) model parameters of Balaji Nagar well are also used successfully to predict groundwater levels in the study area. It was observed that the ANN‐based algorithms were a better choice for the prediction of groundwater levels with limited hydrological parameters. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Granularity and textural analysis as a proxy for extreme wave events in southeast coast of India

Extreme wave events of 1000 and 1500 years (radiocarbon ages) have been recently reported in Mahabalipuram region, southeast coast of India. Subsequently, we carried out extensive sedimenttological analysis in regions covering a total lateral coverage of 12 km with a new archeological site as the central portion of the study area. Twelve trenches in shore normal profiles exhibit landward thinning sequences as well as upward fining sequences confirming with the global signatures of extreme wave events. The sediment size ranges from fine-to-medium and moderately well sorted-to-well sorted, and exhibit positive skewness with platykurtic-to-leptokurtic nature. We now propose the abrupt winnowing or back and forth motion including unidirectional transport of these deposited sediments, which results in positive skewness. Textural analyses derived from scanning electron microscope studies (SEM) demonstrate the alteration produced, in the ilmenite mineral with vivid presence of pits and crescents with deformation observed on the surface due to extreme wave activities. This is further confirmed with the predominance of high-density mineral such as magnetite (5.2) and other heavy minerals in these deposits inferred the high-intensity of the reworking process of the beach shelf sediments.     

Sub-daily variations observed in Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ) streams

To investigate the sub-daily variation in Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ), a few special experiments have been conducted with mesosphere–stratosphere–troposphere (MST) radar located at Gadanki(13.5°N, 79.2°E) under Study on Atmospheric Forcing and Responses (SAFAR) campaign during 2008–2009. Large sub-daily changes in the TEJ characteristics are observed within a day in addition to day-to-day changes. Based on this observational study, three possible mechanisms for the sub-daily variations are proposed i.e., (1) motion of TEJ core, (2) large updrafts and downdrafts, and (3) strong wave activity. Interestingly, TEJ peak altitude is seen above the Cold Point Tropopause altitude for about 42% of the days.     

Kantowski–Sachs bulk viscous string cosmological model in Brans–Dicke theory of gravitation

This paper deals with the collapse and expansion of relativistic anisotropic self-gravitating source. The field equations for non-radiating and non-static plane symmetric anisotropic source have been evaluated. The non-radiating property of the fluid leads to evaluation of the metric functions. We have classified the dynamical behavior of gravitational source as expansion and collapse. The collapse in this case leads to the final stage without the formation of apparent horizons while such horizons exists in case of spherical anisotropic source. The matching of interior and exterior regions provides the continuity of masses over the boundary surface.     

Kantowski–Sachs bulk viscous cosmological model in a scalar–tensor theory of gravitation

Field equations are obtained in the scalar–tensor theory of gravitation proposed by Saez and Ballester (Phys. Lett. A 113:467, 1986) with the aid of spatially homogenous and anisotropic Kantowski–Sachs space–time in the presence of bulk viscous fluid containing one dimensional cosmic strings. A determinate solution of the field equations is obtained, using some plausible physical conditions, which represents a Kantowski–Sach’s bulk viscous Cosmological model in the new scalar–tensor theory. Physical and kinematical properties of the model are also discussed.     

Utilization of satellite data in land surface hydrology: sensitivity and assimilation

This paper investigates the sensitivity of potential evapotranspiration to input meteorological variables, i.e. surface air temperature and surface vapor pressure. The sensitivity studies have been carried out for a wide range of land surface variables such as wind speed, leaf area index and surface temperatures. Errors in the surface air temperature and surface vapor pressure result in errors of different signs in the computed potential evapotranspiration. This result has implications for use of estimated values from satellite data or analysis of surface air temperature and surface vapor pressure in large‐scale hydrological modeling. The comparison of cumulative potential evapotranspiration estimates using ground observations and satellite observations over Manhattan, Kansas for a period of several months shows a variable difference between the two estimates. The use of satellite estimates of surface skin temperature in hydrological modeling to update the soil moisture using a physical adjustment concept is studied in detail, including the extent of changes in soil moisture resulting from the assimilation of surface skin temperature. The soil moisture of the 1 cm surface layer was adjusted by 0·9 mm over a 10‐day period as a result of a 3 K difference between the predicted and the observed surface temperature. This is a considerable amount given the fact that the top layer can hold only 5 mm of moisture. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Some aspects of an explanation of the soft x-ray solar emission lines on the basis of a finite-temperature schrödinger equation

We discuss the range of validity of solutions of the Schrödinger equation with a temperaturemodified Coulomb potential. Such a potential, as was recently pointed out, may be relevant to the resolution of the long-standing problem of unidentified solar emission lines. We also consider in detail a predictive test of our approach, and draw attention to some related conceptual issues.     

Tides—a modern perspective

Progress in tidal science has been rapid in recent years. The advent of precision altimetry has enabled, for the very first time in tidal history, an accurate measurement of tides in most of the global oceans. This has revolutionized our knowledge of tides and tidal processes. Combined with high‐resolution numerical models of tides (and other recent advances in astronomy and geodesy), this increased knowledge is providing valuable assistance in effecting closure on many outstanding problems in this three‐centuries‐old science. For example, we now know the dissipation rate of lunar tides to be 3.17 TW to within 2%. However, there do remain some outstanding issues. While we know the rate at which tidal energy is being dissipated in the global oceans, there is still considerable uncertainty as to the mechanisms, locations, and magnitudes of various tidal energy sinks. Imminent advances in shallow‐water barotropic and deep‐water baroclinic tides hold the prospect of a better understanding of these also. Improved knowledge of oceanic tides and high‐precision satellite measurements of tides are enabling better assessment of some matters of geophysical interest, such as the anelasticity and the length‐of‐day fluctuations of the Earth's mantle. It has been possible to map long‐period lunar tides more accurately and derive their contribution to the Earth's rotation rate fluctuations and its anelasticity at these frequencies. We discuss various aspects related to tides, including tidal dissipation and its consequences, as well as several other topics such as tidal energetics, internal tides, and long‐period tides, where considerable progress has been made in the last decade. Both oceanographic and geophysical implications are mentioned.