ON THE THEORIES OF HYDRAULIC GEOMETRY

Hydraulic geometry is of fundamental importance in planning, design, and management of river engineering and training works. Although some concepts of hydraulic geometry were proposed toward the end of the nineteenth century, the real impetus toward formulating a theory of hydraulic geometry was provided by the work of Leopold and Maddock (1953). A number of theories have since been proposed. Some of the theories are interrelated but others are based on quite different principles. All theories, however, assume that the river flow is steady and uniform and the river tends to attain a state of equilibrium or quasi-equilibrium. The differences are due to the differences in hydraulic mechanisms that the theories employ to explain the attainment of equilibrium by the river.     

Impulse response of a linear diffusion analogy model as a flood frequency probability density function

Abstract

The impulse response of a linear convective-diffusion analogy (LD) model used for flow routing in open channels is proposed as a probability distribution for flood frequency analysis. The flood frequency model has two parameters, which are derived using the methods of moments and maximum likelihood. Also derived are errors in quantiles for these parameter estimation methods. The distribution shows that the two methods are equivalent in terms of producing mean values—the important property in case of unknown true distribution function. The flood frequency model is tested using annual peak discharges for the gauging sections of 39 Polish rivers where the average value of the ratio of the coefficient of skewness to the coefficient of variation equals about 2.52, a value closer to the ratio of the LD model than to the gamma or the lognormal model. The likelihood ratio indicates the preference of the LD over the lognormal for 27 out of 39 cases. It is found that the proposed flood frequency model represents flood frequency characteristics well (measured by the moment ratio) when the LD flood routing model is likely to be the best of all linear flow routing models.     

EFFECT OF INCLINED ANISOTROPIC SUBSTRATUM ON MAGNETOTELLURIC RESPONSE*

In tectonically active regions electrical conductivity anisotropies are the dominating features. The importance of conductivity anisotropy in the interpretation of magnetotelluric data is well known. In the present study numerical results presented which show the effect of a substratum with inclined anisotropy on the magnetotelluric response. The pronounced change on the magnetotelluric response is found for the models in which the substratum underlies (i) conductive and (ii) resistive overburden.     

First results from imaging riometer installed at Indian Antarctic station Maitri

Cosmic noise absorption (CNA) measurred by imaging riometer, is an excellent tool to passively study the high latitude D-region ionospheric conditions and dynamics. An imaging riometer has been installed at Indian Antarctic station Maitri (geographic 70.75°S, 11.75°E; corrected geomagnetic 63.11°S, 53.59°E) in February 2010. This is the first paper using the imaging riometer data from Maitri. The present paper introduces the details of this facility, including its instrumentation, related CNA theory and its applications. Sidereal shift of around 2 hours in the diurnal pattern validates the data obtained from the newly installed instrument. Moreover, the strength of cosmic noise signal on quiet days also varies with months. This is apparently due to solar ionization of D-region ionosphere causing enhanced electron density where collision frequency is already high. The main objective of installing the imaging riometer at Maitri is to study magneotspheric–ionospheric coupling during substorm processes. In the current study, we present two typical examples of disturbed time CNA associated with storm-time and non-storm time substorm. Results reveal that CNA is more pronounced during storm-time substorm as compared to non-storm time substorm. The level of CNA strongly depends upon the strengthening of convectional electric field and the duration of southward turning of interplanetary magnetic field before the substorm onset.     

Impact of additional surface observation network on short range weather forecast during summer monsoon 2008 over Indian subcontinent

The three dimensional variational data assimilation scheme (3D-Var) is employed in the recently developed Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Assimilation experiments have been conducted to assess the impact of Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) surface observations (temperature and moisture) on the short range forecast over the Indian region. In this study, two experiments, CNT (without AWS observations) and EXP (with AWS observations) were made for 24-h forecast starting daily at 0000 UTC during July 2008. The impact of assimilation of AWS surface observations were assessed in comparison to the CNT experiment. The spatial distribution of the improvement parameter for temperature, relative humidity and wind speed from one month assimilation experiments demonstrated that for 24-h forecast, AWS observations provide valuable information. Assimilation of AWS observed temperature and relative humidity improved the analysis as well as 24-h forecast. The rainfall prediction has been improved due to the assimilation of AWS data, with the largest improvement seen over the Western Ghat and eastern India.     

Palaeosols in early Himalayan foreland basin sequences demonstrate latitudinal shift-related long-term climatic change

The Palaeogene sedimentary record in the Himalayan foreland basin contains palaeosols that are interpreted as reflecting changes in climate through time with the passage of the Indian Plate from the equator to 30° N latitude. To understand spatial and temporal variation in the occurrence of diagnostic palaeosol types, 12 exposed stratigraphic sections were investigated and studied in detail using petrographic and geochemical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy and X‐ray mineralogy. Oxisol (bauxite) is a karst bauxite that occurs in crudely bedded and laminated forms. It contains gibbsite, goethite and kaolinite and shows chemical index of alteration values close to 100, demonstrating intense weathering. No gradual change in the concentrations of trace and rare earth elements is recorded. However, their behaviour suggests that the Oxisol was produced by weathering of basalt under a warm and humid climate. Histosol (coal), found stratigraphically higher than Oxisols, contains woody structures dominated by vitrinite maceral. The Histosol is interpreted as having originated from an undisturbed peat developed in a swamp of high tree density under wet tropical climatic conditions. Up‐section, calcrete profiles of stages 3 and 4, containing rhizoliths, pellets, filamentous calcite and Microcodium, have developed by pedogenic processes. Large negative stable carbon (?8·5‰ to ?11·2‰) and oxygen isotope values (?8·5‰ to ?12·6‰) suggest that the studied calcretes formed under the influence of meteoric water and soil organic matter in dry sub‐tropical climatic conditions. The formation of Oxisol in a warm and humid climate was possible in the equatorial region when part of the Indian subcontinent was close to the equator. The coal developed under a humid climate when the northern tip of the Indian subcontinent reached the intertropical convergence zone, while the pedogenic calcrete formed once the sub‐tropical climatic zone was reached. Hence, it is suggested that these palaeosols formed in different climatic zones during northward drift of the Indian plate and that the drift brought them to their present positions between 30° N and 35° N within the sub‐tropical climatic zone.     

Assessment of the role of slit as a safety valve in failure of levees

The development of a narrow channel or slit due to piping just underneath the base of levees channel has been reported to be useful to withstand the increase in the head beyond critical head conditions. Also, the maximum slit length has been emphasized to be up to half of the base width. By developing a model of critical head considering slit, it is found that the critical head can increase with the development of slit length only under certain conditions. Analysis of piping failure data indicates that the critical head expressions considering slit length constitute a potentially useful model for critical head.     

Overland flow on a diverging surface / Ecoulement superficiel sur une surface divergente

ABSTRACT

Many basins in nature diverge or possess diverging elements. This study formulates a diverging flow model utilizing kinematic wave theory. The kinematic equations are solved using a first order explicit finite difference scheme. The model is tested using data on a number of laboratory basins reported in the literature. A comparison of this model with the plane model shows that they yield different concentration times and hydrographs that differ in shape, depending upon the degree of divergence.     

Atmospheric aerosol characteristics retrieved using ground based solar extinction studies at Mohal in the Kullu valley of northwestern Himalayan region,India

Aerosol parameters are measured using a ground-based Multi-wavelength Radiometer (MWR) at Mohal (31.90°N, 77.11°E, 1154 m amsl) in the Kullu valley during clear sky days of a seasonal year. The study shows that the values of spectral aerosol optical depths (AODs) at 500 nm and the Ångstrom turbidity coefficient ‘β’ (a measure of columnar loading in atmosphere) are high (0.41 ± 0.03, 0.27 ± 0.01) in summer, moderate (0.30 ± 0.03, 0.15 ± 0.03) in monsoon, low (0.19 ± 0.02, 0.08 ± 0.01) in winter and lowest (0.18 ± 0.01, 0.07 ± 0.01) in autumn, respectively. The Ångstrom wavelength exponent ‘α’ (indicator of the fraction of accumulation-mode particles to coarse-mode particles) has an opposite trend having lowest value (0.64 ± 0.06) in summer, low (0.99 ± 0.10) in monsoon, moderate (1.20 ± 0.15) in winter and highest value (1.52 ± 0.03) in autumn. The annual mean value of AOD at 500 nm, ‘α’ and ‘β’ are 0.24 ± 0.01, 1.06 ± 0.09 and 0.14 ± 0.01, respectively. The fractional asymmetry factor is more negative in summer due to enhanced tourists’ arrival and also in autumn months due to the month-long International Kullu Dussehra fair. The AOD values given by MWR and satellite-based moderate resolution imaging spectro-radiometer have good correlation of 0.76, 0.92 and 0.97 on diurnal, monthly and seasonal basis, respectively. The AODs at 500 nm as well as ‘β’ are found to be highly correlated, while ‘α’ is found to be strongly anti-correlated with temperature and wind speed suggesting high AODs and turbidity but low concentration of fine particles during hot and windy days. With wind direction, the AOD and ‘β’ are found to be strongly anti-correlated, while ‘α’ is strongly correlated.