Assessment of Erythemal UV Level in Nepal Based on Solar UV Estimates from Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer

Nepal lies on the southern slope of Himalaya in Asia. In a width ranging between 150 and 250 km, the altitude varies greatly from about 100 m at its southern border to a maximum of 8848 min the northern part. Like the variation in altitude, climatic condition varies quite a lot. Long-term monthly mean erythemal UV daily dose values for Nepal are evaluated using Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) estimation from the time of its overpass between 1996 and 2003. The results are presented as summer and winter maps of mean UV levels in each satellite grid. The mean winter erythemal UV daily dose ranges between 2.1 and 3.6 kJ m-2 whereas summer values are found to lie between 4.6 and 9.7 kJ m-2. The altitude variation increases the UV levels by about 0.2 kJ km-1 in winter months, and 0.9 kJ km-1 in summer. A multiyear monthly average erythemal daily dose in most of the areas shows that the summer value is about three times higher than that in winter. Although year-to-year variation is not pronounced in high- and mid-elevation regions, UV levels seemed to decrease from 1997 to 2002 in the southern part of the country in the low elevation region by about 5.35%. Due to the combined effects of the altitude, low ozone concentration in the troposphere, and thin air, surface UV radiation at higher altitudes is found to be higher than in the surrounding regions.     

An assessment of the surface climate in the NCEP climate forecast system reanalysis

This paper analyzes surface climate variability in the climate forecast system reanalysis (CFSR) recently completed at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The CFSR represents a new generation of reanalysis effort with first guess from a coupled atmosphere?Cocean?Csea ice?Cland forecast system. This study focuses on the analysis of climate variability for a set of surface variables including precipitation, surface air 2-m temperature (T2m), and surface heat fluxes. None of these quantities are assimilated directly and thus an assessment of their variability provides an independent measure of the accuracy. The CFSR is compared with observational estimates and three previous reanalyses (the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis or R1, the NCEP/DOE reanalysis or R2, and the ERA40 produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). The CFSR has improved time-mean precipitation distribution over various regions compared to the three previous reanalyses, leading to a better representation of freshwater flux (evaporation minus precipitation). For interannual variability, the CFSR shows improved precipitation correlation with observations over the Indian Ocean, Maritime Continent, and western Pacific. The T2m of the CFSR is superior to R1 and R2 with more realistic interannual variability and long-term trend. On the other hand, the CFSR overestimates downward solar radiation flux over the tropical Western Hemisphere warm pool, consistent with a negative cloudiness bias and a positive sea surface temperature bias. Meanwhile, the evaporative latent heat flux in CFSR appears to be larger than other observational estimates over most of the globe. A few deficiencies in the long-term variations are identified in the CFSR. Firstly, dramatic changes are found around 1998?C2001 in the global average of a number of variables, possibly related to the changes in the assimilated satellite observations. Secondly, the use of multiple streams for the CFSR induces spurious jumps in soil moisture between adjacent streams. Thirdly, there is an inconsistency in long-term sea ice extent variations over the Arctic regions between the CFSR and other observations with the CFSR showing smaller sea ice extent before 1997 and larger extent starting in 1997. These deficiencies may have impacts on the application of the CFSR for climate diagnoses and predictions. Relationships between surface heat fluxes and SST tendency and between SST and precipitation are analyzed and compared with observational estimates and other reanalyses. Global mean fields of surface heat and water fluxes together with radiation fluxes at the top of the atmosphere are documented and presented over the entire globe, and for the ocean and land separately.     

How predictable is the northern hemisphere summer upper-tropospheric circulation?

The retrospective forecast skill of three coupled climate models (NCEP CFS, GFDL CM2.1, and CAWCR POAMA 1.5) and their multi-model ensemble (MME) is evaluated, focusing on the Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer upper-tropospheric circulation along with surface temperature and precipitation for the 25-year period of 1981–2005. The seasonal prediction skill for the NH 200-hPa geopotential height basically comes from the coupled models’ ability in predicting the first two empirical orthogonal function (EOF) modes of interannual variability, because the models cannot replicate the residual higher modes. The first two leading EOF modes of the summer 200-hPa circulation account for about 84% (35.4%) of the total variability over the NH tropics (extratropics) and offer a hint of realizable potential predictability. The MME is able to predict both spatial and temporal characteristics of the first EOF mode (EOF1) even at a 5-month lead (January initial condition) with a pattern correlation coefficient (PCC) skill of 0.96 and a temporal correlation coefficient (TCC) skill of 0.62. This long-lead predictability of the EOF1 comes mainly from the prolonged impacts of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) as the EOF1 tends to occur during the summer after the mature phase of ENSO. The second EOF mode (EOF2), on the other hand, is related to the developing ENSO and also the interdecadal variability of the sea surface temperature over the North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean. The MME also captures the EOF2 at a 5-month lead with a PCC skill of 0.87 and a TCC skill of 0.67, but these skills are mainly obtained from the zonally symmetric component of the EOF2, not the prominent wavelike structure, the so-called circumglobal teleconnection (CGT) pattern. In both observation and the 1-month lead MME prediction, the first two leading modes are accompanied by significant rainfall and surface air temperature anomalies in the continental regions of the NH extratropics. The MME’s success in predicting the EOF1 (EOF2) is likely to lead to a better prediction of JJA precipitation anomalies over East Asia and the North Pacific (central and southern Europe and western North America).     

Solar Photocatalytic Decolorization and Detoxification of Industrial Batik Dye Wastewater Using P(3HB)‐TiO2 Nanocomposite Films

Solar photocatalytic decolorization and detoxification of batik dye wastewater using titanium dioxide (TiO₂) immobilized on poly‐3‐hydroxybutyrate (P(3HB)) film was studied. The effects of initial dye concentration, catalyst concentration, P(3HB) film thickness, and fabrication methods of the nanocomposite films were evaluated against methylene blue, a standard organic dye. It was observed that 0.4 g of P(3HB)‐40 wt% TiO₂ removed 96% of the color under solar irradiation. P(3HB) and TiO₂, mixed concurrently in chloroform followed by stirring for 24 h showed a more even distribution of the photocatalyst on the polymer surface and yielded almost 100% color removal. The photocatalytic films were able to completely decolorize real industrial batik dye wastewater in 3 h and induced a chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction of 80%. Reusability of the 0.4 g P(3HB)‐40 wt% TiO₂ film in decolorizing the batik dye wastewater was also possible as it gave a high consistent value of decolorization percentage (>80%) even after the sixth repeated usage. Recovery step of the photocatalysts was also not required in this simple treatment system. The decolorized batik dye wastewater had less/no toxic effects on mosquito larvae, Aedes aegypti, and microalgae, Scenedesmus quadricauda indicating simultaneous detoxification process along with the decolorization process.     

Influence of the mean period of ground motion on the inelastic dynamic response of single and multi degree of freedom systems

This paper focuses on examining the effects of frequency content of the ground motion on the inelastic demands imposed on both single degree of freedom (SDF) and multi degree of freedom (MDF) steel‐framed systems. A detailed literature review is conducted to identify the indicator that best represents the frequency content of ground motion. The mean period (T_m) of ground motion is selected owing to its ability to distinguish between various spectral shapes of ground motion, and its relationship with magnitude, distance and site characteristics. Inelastic displacement demands on SDF systems for target ductility levels are first studied in the light of T_m, using a suite of 128 ground motion records. The study is then extended to MDF systems with the help of incremental dynamic analysis by employing the same ground motion ensemble to assess the influence of T_m on various engineering demand parameters. The results obtained indicate that, for SDF systems, the amplification of displacements occurs when the period ratio between elastic period (T_e) and T_m is lower than unity. For MDF systems, the results demonstrate that the influence of higher modes on the base shear and maximum storey drift profile becomes more pronounced, as T_m approaches the higher mode periods of the structure. These observations, for both SDF and MDF systems, tend to be more evident for higher levels of inelasticity. The significance of the results, with particular reference to European seismic design procedures, is highlighted. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Indus flood of 2010 in Pakistan: a perspective analysis using remote sensing data

The Indus flood in 2010 was one of the greatest river disasters in recent history, which affected more than 14 million people in Pakistan. Although excessive rainfall between July and September 2010 has been cited as the major causative factor for this disaster, the human interventions in the river system over the years made this disaster a catastrophe. Geomorphic analysis suggests that the Indus River has had a very dynamic regime in the past. However, the river has now been constrained by embankments on both sides, and several barrages have been constructed along the river. As a result, the river has been aggrading rapidly during the last few decades due to its exceptionally high sediment load particularly in reaches upstream of the barrages. This in turn has caused significant increase in cross-valley gradient leading to breaches upstream of the barrages and inundation of large areas. Our flow accumulation analysis using SRTM data not only supports this interpretation but also points out that there are several reaches along the Indus River, which are still vulnerable to such breaches and flooding. Even though the Indus flood in 2010 was characterized by exceptionally high discharges, our experience in working on Himalayan rivers and similar recent events in rivers in Nepal and India suggest that such events can occur at relatively low discharges. It is therefore of utmost importance to identify such areas and plan mitigation measures as soon as possible. We emphasize the role of geomorphology in flood analysis and management and urge the river managers to take urgent steps to incorporate the geomorphic understanding of Himalayan rivers in river management plans.     

A DEM-based evaluation of potential flood risk to enhance decision support system for safe evacuation

A practical, DEM-based practical method is proposed to enhance flood risk management in fluvial areas by quantifying relative risk as a function of vulnerability to inland and evacuation difficulty. Both measures are based mainly on the topography of the region, so the method does not require detailed data on the physical characteristics of the land. First, we use the deterministic 8-node method on a digital elevation map (DEM) to trace storm waterways. Second, we repeat the process on a reversed DEM to trace evacuation routes that avoid the waterways and zones dangerously close to the rivers. Finally, on the basis of such two flow lines of evacuee and storm water, we proposed the protocol to evaluate the flood risk at every point on the map taking into account both the minimum time required for floodwater to arrive and duration of an evacuation from that location. The time that must be allocated for safe evacuation is defined as the potential flood risk of evacuation (PFRE). The method is demonstrated on a fluvial area of the Kaki River in Nagaoka city, Japan. In addition, we illustrated the application of the PFRE map to divide the region into areas of greater or lesser evacuation urgency.     

Low-frequency internal waves and their influence on transmission loss variability

Analysis of the time series data collected from a stationary location in the continental shelf of the southeastern Arabian Sea during different month indicated prominent internal wave (IW) activity. Time evolution of temperature, resolved using Morlet wavelet technique, revealed that maximum energy was concentrated in the diurnal band at the density interface, whereas within the interior of thermocline, the dominant energy concentration shifted to semi-diurnal band. Both these harmonics have maximum amplitude (>15 m) during the pre-monsoon and monsoon season when the water column was highly stratified (>0.05 kg/m⁴), but they were not discernable in the temperature record when the stratification was weak (i.e., especially during winter). An acoustic propagation model based on ray theory, Bellhop (http:/oalib.hlsresearch.com/modes/acoustictoolbox/at.zip) was utilized to compute the transmission loss (TL) associated with the passage of low-frequency IWs. The TL was computed using the model considering (1) range-dependent and range-independent environmental scenario and (2) for different source and receiver depth configurations. Intermittent fading of acoustic signals was observed in the presence of IW. It was also observed that fading of signals very much depends on the source–receiver configuration.     

Variability of Nonionellina labradorica Dawson in Surface Sediments from Kongsfjorden, West Spitsbergen

Kongsfjorden is a fjord in Spitsbergen (Svalbard archipelago) that lies adjacent to both Arctic and Atlantic water masses and is therefore a suitable site to understand the effects of climate change on ecosystems. To decipher the effect of the lateral advection of transformed Atlantic water (TAW) within the fjord, spatial variations of foraminiferal tests, their test size variations and stable isotopic composition (δ13C and δ18O) in the surface sediments were studied. Total organic carbon and textural analyses were also carried out. The dominant benthic foraminifera included Nonionellina labradorica, Elphidium excavatum, Cassidulina reniforme, Quinqueloculina stalkeri and Islandiella islandica. Nonionellina labradorica was the predominant species in the outer fjord, whereas Elphidium excavatum and Cassidulina reniforme were dominant in the inner fjord. Total organic carbon and the test size of Nonionellina labradorica within the fjord were highly correlated (r2?=?0.97) and both showed a decreasing trend towards the inner fjord. Based on the distribution and abundance of Nonionellina labradorica as well as temperature profiles, we suggest that there was little or no major change in the lateral advection of TAW within the fjord in the immediate past.     

Sound level produced during rock drilling vis-à-vis rock properties

The process of drilling, in general, always produces sound. Though sound is used as a diagnostic tool in mechanical industry, its application in predicting rock property is not much explored. In this study, an attempt has been made to estimate rock properties such as uniaxial compressive strength, Schmidt rebound number and Young's modulus using sound level produced during rotary drilling. For this purpose, a computer numerical controlled vertical milling centre was used for drilling holes with drill bit diameters ranging from 6 to 20 mm with a shank length of 40 mm. Fourteen different rock types were tested. The study was carried out to develop the empirical relations using multiple regression analysis between sound level produced during drilling and rock properties considering the effects of drill bit diameter, drill bit speed and drill bit penetration rate. The F-test was used to check the validity of the developed models. The measured rock property values and the values calculated from the developed regression model are fairly close, indicating that the developed models could be efficiently used with acceptable accuracy in prediction of rock properties.