VHF radar observed characteristics of convectively generated gravity waves during wet and dry spells of Indian summer monsoon

A powerful VHF radar observed characteristics of Convectively generated Gravity Waves (CGW) excited during the wet and dry spells of Indian summer monsoon over a tropical station Gadanki (13.5°N, 79.2°E) are discussed. The characteristics of gravity waves in the lower stratosphere during these two spells are discussed in terms of their wavelet spectra along with height–time sections of vertical velocity. A total of 31 events are analyzed and in more than 50% of the events, the lower stratospheric gravity wave amplitudes were found to be relatively large in dry spell compared to that in the wet spell. The wavelet analysis of lower stratospheric vertical velocities showed a dominant periodicity of about ～20–40 min in wet spell and ～10–20 min in dry spell. The analysis also indicates that wet spell is found to be more conducive for the generation of gravity waves. However, the propagation of these waves into the stratosphere is found to be more efficient in dry spell of monsoon. The strengthening/weakening of the tropical easterly jet during wet/dry spell of monsoon is found to be the main reason for the inhibited/enhanced wave activity in the lower stratosphere during wet/dry spell. The present analysis also suggests that the static stability of the mid- and upper-troposphere during these two spells have implications in the observed frequency of the CGW. Thus, the present analyses brought out for the first time the features of CGW during two distinctive regimes of convective systems and emphasized the importance of prevailing background conditions in exciting/filtering them.     

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.     

The politics of defining and alleviating poverty: State strategies and their impacts in rural Kerala

This paper presents a relational approach to the study of poverty (Mosse, 2010), and uses this to critically evaluate state strategies for identifying and alleviating poverty in Kerala, India. It traces these from national planning documents through to their point of implementation, drawing on qualitative research in two of Kerala’s poorest Districts. Ideas of participatory poverty classification, economic self-reliance and political empowerment are laudable national policy goals, and Kerala has shown innovation in its adaptation of these within the State’s devolved structures of local governance. However, both the framing of policy and its implementation reproduce ideas of individual transitions out of poverty which indicate that the state pays insufficient attention to the highly unequal social and economic relationships reproducing poverty in contemporary Kerala – in short, to poverty’s inherently political nature.     

Power resource estimate of ocean surface waves

The distribution of wave energy and power as functions of longitude and latitude are presented for the Northern Hemisphere at 12Z, October 2, 1975. Both the large peak of the distribution in the Atlantic Ocean and the smaller peak in the Pacific Ocean are found to be at longitudes towards the eastern end of the ocean basins. This ‘eastern accumulation’ of wave energy and power offers interesting contrast to the western intensification of currents. Distribution of wave power with latitude shows peaks of wave power in the mid-latitudes. The total surface wave energy in the seas of thw world for the same time is estimated to be 1600 × 10¹⁵ J. The corresponding total wave power estimate is 90 × 10¹⁵ W. The rate of renewal of wave power is estimated to bs 10¹²–10¹³ W, about the present level of world power consumption.     

Prediction and measurement of the stability of a deep-sea trimooring

The three-dimensional array of current velocity and temperature sensors for the Internal Wave Experiment (IWEX) was supported on a tripod mooring rising from the sea floor to a height of 5 km in water km deep. The mooring was so designed that its current-induced motions would be small, as required by the experiment. Sensitivity of the mooring excursions to cable buoyancy, leg inclination, apex buoyancy and cable size was examined by computer simulation to optimize the design.When deployed the mooring carried nine precision pressure recorders to monitor its configuration and stability. After removal of the tidal pressure variations, the pressure records confirmed vertical excursions small enough to contribute only insignificant noise to the velocity measurements. Comparison of the measured excursions with those predicted by computer simulation using actual current measurements showed good agreement.     

An Ar–Ar laser-probe study of pseudotachylites in charnockite gneisses from the Cauvery Shear Zone system, South India

The age of pseudotachylite formation in the crustal-scale Cauvery Shear Zone system of the Precambrian Southern Granulite Terrain (South India) has been analyzed by laser-probe ⁴⁰Ar–³⁹Ar dating. Laser spot analyses from a pseudotachylite from the Salem–Attur shear zone have yielded ages ranging from 1214 to 904 Ma. Some evidence for the presence of excess Ar is indicated by the scatter of ages from this locality. The host gneiss preserves Palaeoproterozoic Rb–Sr whole rock–biotite ages (2350 ± 11 to 2241 ± 11 Ma). A mylonite in the Koorg shear, ca. 200 km to the north, yielded an age of 895 ± 17 Ma the consistency of the age distribution from spot analyses precludes the presence of significant excess Ar. Despite published evidence for the growth of high-grade minerals within some components of the Cauvery Shear Zone during the Pan-African event (700–550 Ma), the pseudotachylites in this study provide no evidence for Pan-African formation. Instead they document the first evidence for Mesoproterozoic tectonism in the Cauvery Shear Zone system, thus prompting a review of the correlation between the Cauvery Shear Zone system and the large-scale shear zones located elsewhere in eastern Gondwana.     

New Reference Material of Dunite Rock, NGRI-UMR: Preparation and Evaluation

A dunite reference material has been prepared as part of the reference materials programme at the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, India. The scarcity of reference materials for undertaking the chemical analysis of ultramafic rocks for major and trace elements justified the preparation of such a rock reference material. A 300 kg sample of starting material was collected from an active quarry near the town of Salem in Tamil Nadu, southern India. The sample was homogenized and an invitation for round robin participation was published in Geostandards Newsletter (October 1995). A total of twenty seven international laboratories participated in the study, providing information on the total element concentration of major, minor, trace and rare earth elements. Following data compilation, outlier rejection, and statistical analysis, proposed and indicative total element concentrations are reported for twenty four elements.     

Soret and Dufour effects on thermohaline convection in rotating fluids

Using linear and weakly nonlinear stability theory, the effects of Soret and Dufour parameters are investigated on thermohaline convection in a horizontal layer of rotating fluid, specifically the ocean. Thermohaline circulation is important in mixing processes and contributes to heat and mass transports and hence the earth’s climate. A general conception is that due to the smallness of the Soret and Dufour parameters their effect is negligible. However, it is shown here that the Soret parameter, salinity and rotation stabilise the system, whereas temperature destabilises it and the Dufour parameter has minimal effect on stationary convection. For oscillatory convection, the analysis is difficult as it shows that the Rayleigh number depends on six parameters, the Soret and Dufour parameters, the salinity Rayleigh number, the Lewis number, the Prandtl number, and the Taylor number. We demonstrate the interplay between these parameters and their effects on oscillatory convection in a graphical manner. Furthermore, we find that the Soret parameter enhances oscillatory convection whereas the Dufour parameter, salinity Rayleigh number, the Lewis number, and rotation delay instability. We believe that these results have not been elucidated in this way before for large-scale fluids. Furthermore, we investigate weakly nonlinear stability and the effect of cross diffusive terms on heat and mass transports. We show the existence of new solution bifurcations not previously identified in literature.     

Nearshore sediment characteristics and formation of mudbanks along the Kerala coast,southwest India

In order to gain insight into the formation dynamics of mudbanks off the Kerala coast of India, extensive surveying of the nearshore bathymetry along with sediment characterization was undertaken. The textural and geotechnical properties of the surficial sediments of a mudbank were determined during pre-monsoon, monsoon, and post-monsoon periods. The mudbank sediments were clayey silts with high water and organic carbon contents, high Atterberg limits, and low bulk density, and therefore very susceptible to entrainment. During the monsoon, the mudbank regime was characterised by enhanced turbidity and a benthic fluff layer, triggered by the increasing swell of the early monsoon period. Re-suspension exposed a more consolidated, previously sub-bottom, layer which exhibited lower water content and greater shear strength than the pre-monsoon seabed. Texturally, the monsoon seabed was similar to the pre-monsoon seabed, with the same modal grain size, but the proportions of sand and coarse silt increased nearshore, while the proportions of fine and very fine silt increased offshore. There was a seaward-fining textural gradient at all times, but this became pronounced during the monsoon period. Paradoxically, the monsoonal seabed displayed greatly reduced wet bulk density. It is hypothesized that this was due to the presence of gas, probably methane, in the sediments (while the pre-monsoon sediments were fully saturated, the monsoon sediments were only 83% saturated). We speculate that the gas was forced into the surficial sediments either by wave pumping (at the onset of the monsoon) or by seaward-flowing subbottom freshwater (derived from monsoonal rains). With the waning of the monsoon, the benthic fluid mud layer rapidly disappeared and the seabed returned to its pre-monsoon state as suspended sediments were redeposited. The mudbank regime is therefore essentially an in situ phenomenon. It is suggested that the mudbanks are palimpsest, marshy, lagoonal deposits, rich in organic matter and derived gas, that were submerged after a marine transgression. The surficial sediment is annually entrained during the monsoon, but erosion is limited by the formation of the benthic fluid mud layer, which attenuates wave generated turbulence. Although some fine sediment disperses alongshore and offshore, most is returned to the seabed as the monsoon declines.