Contributions from oceanic and ionospheric dynamos to the lunar daily variation at Alibag

Summary. The contributions from the oceanic and ionospheric dynamos, L_o and L_I respectively, to the geomagnetic lunar daily variation, L , at Alibag, a coastal station in the Indian equatorial region, are calculated from the L harmonics derived from a 41–yr long series of observations. The analysis in the calendar months shows a steady and significant ocean dynamo contribution in the vertical component, Z, in all the months except April. Examination, by an analysis of the data year by year, of the association of L_o and L_I with varying solar and magnetic activities reveals, surprisingly, a stable correlation between the magnetic activity index A _P and the oceanic part in the horizontal and vertical components but not in declination, which probably indicates the influence of induced currents, along the latitudes, on L _o.     

Annual and sub-annual effects of euv heating—I. Harmonic analysis

In this paper we compute the rate of solar EUV heating in the upper atmosphere by photo-dissociation and photo-ionization, taking care to include properly the effects of oblique incidence of solar flux, sphericity of the atmosphere and ellipticity of the Earth's orbit. The time and latitudinal variations of the computed heat function are revealed by numerical Fourier analysis of the heat function into harmonics of the yearly cycle. It is shown that EUV absorption contains a ‘latitude independent’ semi-annual component of heating with the ‘proper phase’ to account for the semi-annual density variations. Further, the annual component of the heat function predicts the existence of ‘summer polar’ density increases in the northern and southern hemispheres.     

Airborne gravimetry used in precise geoid computations by ring integration

Two detailed geoids have been computed in the region of North Jutland. The first computation used marine data in the offshore areas. For the second computation the marine data set was replaced by the sparser airborne gravity data resulting from the AGMASCO campaign of September 1996. The results of comparisons of the geoid heights at on-shore geometric control showed that the geoid heights computed from the airborne gravity data matched in precision those computed using the marine data, supporting the view that airborne techniques have enormous potential for mapping those unsurveyed areas between the land-based data and the off-shore marine or altimetrically derived data. Received: 7 July 1997 / Accepted: 22 April 1998     

Soil characterization based on land cover heterogeneity over a tropical landscape: an integrated approach using earth observation data-sets

Soil is a vital part of the natural environment and is always responding to changes in environmental factors, along with the influences of anthropogenic factors and land use changes. The long-term change in soil properties will result in change in soil health and fertility, and hence the soil productivity. Hence, the main aim of this paper focuses on the analysis of land use/land cover (LULC) change pattern in spatial and temporal perspective and to present its impact on soil properties in the Merawu catchment over the period of 18?years. Post classification change detection was performed to quantify the decadal changes in historical LULC over the periods of 1991, 2001 and 2009. The pixel to pixel comparison method was used to detect the LULC of the area. The key LULC types were selected for investigation of soil properties. Soil samples were analysed in situ to measure the physicochemical soil properties. The results of this study show remarkable changes in LULC in the period of 18?years. The effect of land cover change on soil properties, soil compaction and soil strength was found to be significant at a level of <0.05.     

Crop Residue Discrimination Using Ground-Based Hyperspectral Data

Crop residue has become an increasingly important factor in agriculture management. It assists in the reduction of soil erosion and is an important source of soil organic carbon (soil carbon sequestration). In recent past, remote sensing, especially narrowband, data have been explored for crop residue assessment. In this context, a study was carried out to identify different narrow-bands and evaluate the performance of SWIR region based spectral indices for crop residue discrimination. Ground based hyperspectral data collected for wheat crop residue was analyzed using Stepwise Discriminant Analysis (SDA) technique to select significant bands for discrimination. Out of the seven best bands selected to discriminate between matured crop, straw heap, combine-harvested field with stubbles and soil, four bands were from SWIR (1980, 2030, 2200, 2440 nm) region. Six spectral indices were computed, namely CAI, LCA, SINDRI, NDSVI, NDI5 and hSINDRI for crop residue discrimination. LCA and CAI showed to be best (F?>?115) in discriminating above classes, while LCA and SINDRI were best (F?>?100) among all indices in discriminating crop residue under different harvesting methods. Comparison of different spectral resolution (from 1 nm to 150 nm) showed that for crop residue discrimination a resolution of 100 nm at 2100–2300 m region would be sufficient to discriminate crop residue from other co-existing classes.     

Land use/land cover dynamics in Umngot watershed of Meghalaya using geospatial tools

Meghalaya is a landlocked state where the progress of industrialization is very slow. Majority of the population (rural) depends on agriculture. Agriculture in the state is carried on in primitive ways with Jhumming prevailing in many parts. This practice is considered destructive as vast forest areas are cleared and burnt. Such areas are used for cultivation and left out. After a gap of few years (2–3 years as of now and 15–20 years in past) the area is revisited for cultivation without allowing to rejuvenate. The present work provides a status and trend of Land use land cover dynamics in parts (at watershed level) of Meghalaya. The geospatial tools have been used to assess (a) the changes in land use land cover since 1970s to 2005; (b) patch dynamics for understanding the degree of fragmentation; (c) changes along the terrain topography. Umngot watershed of Meghalaya is taken as experimental area, which is a representative of mid-altitudinal watershed particularly in the Jaintia hills district of Meghalaya.     

Classical globally reflected gravity field determination in modern locally oriented multiscale framework

The purpose of this paper is the canonical connection of classical global gravity field determination following the concept of Stokes (Trans Camb Philos Soc 8:672–712, 1849), Bruns (Die Figur der Erde, Publikation Königl. Preussisch. Geodätisches Institut, P. Stankiewicz Buchdruckerei, Berlin, 1878), and Neumann (Vorlesungen über die Theorie des Potentials und der Kugelfunktionen. Teubner, Leipzig, pp 135–154, 1887) on the one hand and modern locally oriented multiscale computation by use of adaptive locally supported wavelets on the other hand. The essential tools are regularization methods of the Green, Neumann, and Stokes integral representations. The multiscale approximation is guaranteed simply as linear difference scheme by use of Green, Neumann, and Stokes wavelets. As an application, gravity anomalies caused by plumes are investigated for the Hawaiian and Iceland areas.     

A hierarchical model for estimating methane emission from wetlands using MODIS data and ARIMA modeling

A three-step hierarchical Semi Automated Empirical Methane Emission Model (SEMEM) has been used to estimate methane emission from wetlands and waterlogged areas in India using Moderate Resolution Imagine Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor data onboard Terra satellite. Wetland Surface Temperature (WST), methane emission fluxes and wetland extent have been incorporated as parameters in order to model the methane emission. Analysis of monthly MODIS data covering the whole of India from November 2004 to April 2006 was carried out and monthly methane emissions have been estimated. Interpolation techniques were adopted to fill the data gaps due to cloudy conditions during the monsoon period. AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model has been fitted to estimate the emitted methane for the months of May 2006 to August 2006 using SPSS software.     

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.