Spectral wave characteristics off Gangavaram,Bay of Bengal

Spectral wave characteristics were studied based on waves measured for 1 year during 2010 off Gangavaram, Bay of Bengal. Maximum wave height of 5.2 m was observed on 19 May 2010 due to the influence of cyclonic storm LAILA. The wave spectrum was single-peaked during 57 % of the time and the double-peaked spectrum observed was mainly swell-dominated. Low-frequency waves (0.05–0.15 Hz) were predominantly from 150° to 180°, whereas high-frequency waves (>0.15 Hz) during November–January were mainly from 90° to 120°, and during July and August from 180° to 210°. Annual average significant wave height was similar to the value (1 m) observed in the eastern Arabian Sea.     

On the Predictability of Northeast Monsoon Rainfall over South Peninsular India in General Circulation Models

In this study the predictability of northeast monsoon (Oct–Nov–Dec) rainfall over peninsular India by eight general circulation model (GCM) outputs was analyzed. These GCM outputs (forecasts for the whole season issued in September) were compared with high-resolution observed gridded rainfall data obtained from the India Meteorological Department for the period 1982–2010. Rainfall, interannual variability (IAV), correlation coefficients, and index of agreement were examined for the outputs of eight GCMs and compared with observation. It was found that the models are able to reproduce rainfall and IAV to different extents. The predictive power of GCMs was also judged by determining the signal-to-noise ratio and the external error variance; it was noted that the predictive power of the models was usually very low. To examine dominant modes of interannual variability, empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis was also conducted. EOF analysis of the models revealed they were capable of representing the observed precipitation variability to some extent. The teleconnection between the sea surface temperature (SST) and northeast monsoon rainfall was also investigated and results suggest that during OND the SST over the equatorial Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, the central Pacific Ocean (over Nino3 region), and the north and south Atlantic Ocean enhances northeast monsoon rainfall. This observed phenomenon is only predicted by the CCM3v6 model.     

Micro pulse lidar observations of mineral dust layer in the lower troposphere over the southwest coast of Peninsular India during the Asian summer monsoon season

A large aerosol plume with optical depth exceeding 0.7 engulfs most parts of the Arabian Sea during the Asian summer monsoon season. Based on Micro Pulse Lidar observations during the June–September period of 2008 and 2009, the present study depicts, for the first time, the existence of an elevated dust layer occurring very frequently in the altitude band of 1–3.5 km over the west coast of peninsular India with relatively large values of linear depolarization ratio (δ_L). Large values of δ_L indicate the dominance of significantly non-spherical aerosols. The aerosol optical depth of this layer (0.2) is comparable to that of the entire atmospheric column during dust-free days. Back-trajectory analysis clearly shows the advection of airmass from the arid regions of Arabia and the west Arabian Sea, through the altitude region centered around 3 km. This is in contrast to the airmass below 1 km originating from the pristine Indian Ocean region which contains relatively spherical aerosols of marine origin with δ_L generally <0.05.     

Development of fragility functions as a damage classification/prediction method for steel moment‐resisting frames using a wavelet‐based damage sensitive feature

Fragility functions are commonly used in performance‐based earthquake engineering for predicting the damage state of a structure subjected to an earthquake. This process often involves estimating the structural damage as a function of structural response, such as the story drift ratio and the peak floor absolute acceleration. In this paper, a new framework is proposed to develop fragility functions to be used as a damage classification/prediction method for steel structures based on a wavelet‐based damage sensitive feature (DSF). DSFs are often used in structural health monitoring as an indicator of the damage state of the structure, and they are easily estimated from recorded structural responses. The proposed framework for damage classification of steel structures subjected to earthquakes is demonstrated and validated with a set of numerically simulated data for a four‐story steel moment‐resisting frame designed based on current seismic provisions. It is shown that the damage state of the frame is predicted with less variance using the fragility functions derived from the wavelet‐based DSF than it is with fragility functions derived from an alternate acceleration‐based measure, the spectral acceleration at the first mode period of the structure. Therefore, the fragility functions derived from the wavelet‐based DSF can be used as a probabilistic damage classification model in the field of structural health monitoring and an alternative damage prediction model in the field of performance‐based earthquake engineering. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biological Characteristics of Central Indian Basin Waters During the Southern Summer

Phytoplankton biomass, taxonomy, primary productivity, and photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) were studied as part of baseline data collection for prospective nodule mining in the Central Indian Basin during the ORV Sagar Kanya cruise SK-120 in January 1997. The phytoplankton cell counts and chlorophyll a estimates showed low biomass level, suggesting low rates of primary productivity in the region studied. The average chlorophyll a value was 0.775 mg m^?3 at surface and 17.75 mg m^?2 in the water column. Similarly, average primary productivity at surface was 3.72 mg C m^?3 d^?1 and was 51.23 mg C m^?2 d^?1 in column. The chlorophyll a maxima at 50 to 80 m was the characteristic feature of the euphotic zones of the area. Average phytoplankton counts at the surface were low (3960 cells/l), compared to those at 25 m (6421 cells/l) and 75 m (5187 cells/l). At most of the stations mesozooplankton biomass was maximum in the top 50 m water column, indicating the importance of grazing in the euphotic zone. Appreciable quantities of mesozooplankton were observed below the euphotic zone, where settlement of chlorophyll a occurs. The low iron concentration in the water and its relationship with the water column productivity were correlated. The results show that waters in the CIB have low productivity in the surface as well as subsurface layers. This is expected to change in this case of a mining discharge in to these layers, possibly locally affecting the existing marine ecosystems. The final impact of such mining activity may remain negligible in the deep sea environment.     

A Comparative Evaluation of the Geotechnical Index Properties of Clayey Sediments along the West Coast of India

Sediment core samples collected during geotechnical surveys along the West Coast of India in the near shore areas of Arabian Sea have generated data on the geotechnical index properties of clayey sediments up to nearly 5 m depth below seafloor. A comparative study of three sectors within themselves is attempted before carrying out a final evaluation between the sectors. Cohesive clayey sediments of Gujarat sector are comparable though widely variant in a few aspects; in the Maharashtra-Goa-Karnataka sector though, plasticity levels and clay type vary, and activity and consistency levels are quite similar. Though broadly comparable, the clayey sediments of Kerala-Tamilnadu sector have quite diverse characteristics that fail to conform to any particular pattern as each area has an exclusive set of geotechnical properties.     

Vertical structure of sea-breeze circulation over Thumba (8.5°N,?76.9°E,?India) in the winter months and a case study during W-ICARB field experiment

This research article aims at characterization of the sea-breeze circulation over Thumba (8.5°N,?76.9°E,?India) in the winter season from December 2008 to February 2009, when this mesoscale circulation over the study domain was prominent. The characteristics of sea-breeze circulation cell comprising sea-breeze and compensatory return flow are investigated for clear-sky and cloudy days. The study indicated delayed onset of sea-breeze on the cloudy days as compared to the clear-sky days and the vertical thickness of sea-breeze circulation cell was found to be larger for the clear-sky days. Vertical thickness of the return flow for both clear-sky and cloudy days was larger than that of the sea-breeze flow. Simultaneous observations of upper-air meteorological parameters obtained through balloon-borne GPS sonde ascents carried out from Thumba and its adjoining coastal ocean on 29 January 2009 as part of the Winter phase of Integrated Campaign for Aerosols, gases and Radiation Budget (W-ICARB) are utilized for a case study towards investigation of diurnal evolution of the sea-breeze circulation cell. Results obtained from this study indicated systematic evolution of sea-breeze circulation over Thumba, however, it was not very clear over ocean which is attributed to cloudy conditions that prevailed on the day of measurement.     

Laboratory technique for quantitative thermal emissivity measurements of geological samples

Thermal infrared spectroscopy is a powerful technique for the compositional analysis of geological materials. The spectral feature in the mid-IR region is diagnostic of the mineralogy and spectral signatures of mixtures of minerals that add linearly, and therefore, can be used as an important tool to determine the mineralogy of rocks in the laboratory and remotely for planetary exploration. The greatest challenge in the emission measurement lies in the measurement of the weak thermal photons emitted from geological materials in a laboratory setup, and accurately records the temperature of the rock sample. The present work pertains to the details of a new Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) laboratory that has been developed under the ISRO Planetary Science and Exploration (PLANEX) programme, for emission related mineralogical investigations of planetary surfaces. The focus of the paper is on the acquisition and calibration technique for obtaining emissivity, and the deconvolution procedure to obtain the modal abundances of the thermal emission spectra in the range of 6–25 μm using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The basic technique is adopted from the work of Ruff et al (1997). This laboratory at the Department of Earth Sciences, IIT-Bombay is currently developing pure end mineral library of mineral particulates (<65 μm), and adding new end members to the existing ASU spectral library. The paper argues the need for considering Lunar Orbiter Thermal Emission Spectrometer (LOTES) for future Indian Moon mission programme (Chandrayan-II) to determine evidences of varied lithologies on the lunar surface.     

Temperature dependent variation of pulsar periods

Changes in the radii of neutron stars due to variations in core temperature are studied qualitatively in a simple model. The resulting irregular changes in pulsar periods are compared with observed values. For the millisecond pulsar PSR 1937 + 214 the random changes in period due to temperature variation is estimated to be of the order of 10^-14s yr^-1 which is two orders of magnitude smaller than the steady variation due to loss of energy by radiation.     

Proper depiction of monsoon depression through IRS-P4 MSMR

In this paper, daily variations of satellite-derived geophysical parameters such as integrated water vapour (IWV), cloud liquid water content (CLW), sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface wind speed (SSW) have been studied for a case of monsoon depression that formed over the Bay of Bengal during 19th-24th August 2000. For this purpose, IRS P4 MSMR satellite data have been utilized over the domain equator — 25‡N and 40‡-100‡E. An integrated approach of satellite data obtained from IRS-P4, METEOSAT-5 and INSAT was made for getting a signal for the development of monsoon depression over the Indian region. Variations in deep convective activity obtained through visible, infrared and OLR data at 06 UTC was thoroughly analyzed for the complete life cycle of monsoon depression. Geophysical parameters obtained through IRS-P4 satellite data were compared with vorticity, convergence and divergence at 850 and 200 hPa levels generated through cloud motion vectors (CMVs) and water vapour wind vectors (WVWVs) obtained from METEOSAT-5 satellite. This comparison was made for finding proper consistency of geophysical parameters with dynamical aspects of major convective activity of the depression. From the results of this study it is revealed that there was strengthening of sea surface winds to the south of low-pressure area prior to the formation of depression. This indicated the possibility of increase in cyclonic vorticity in the lower troposphere. Hence, wind field at 850 hPa with satellite input of CMVs in objective analysis of wind field using optimum interpolation (OI) scheme was computed. Maximum cyclonic vorticity field at 850 hPa was obtained in the region of depression just one day before its formation. Similarly, with the same procedure maximum anticyclonic vorticity was observed at 200 hPa with WVWVs input. Consistent convergence and divergence at 850 and 200 hPa was noticed with respect to these vorticities. In association with these developments, we could get lowest values of OLR (120 W/m² ) associated with major convective activity that was consistent with the maximum values of integrated water vapour (6-8gm/cm²) and cloud liquid water content (50-60 mg/cm² ) persisting particularly in the southwest sector of the monsoon depression.