Oxygen and hydrogen isotopic ratios in groundwaters and river waters from India

A comprehensive set of measurements of oxygen and hydrogen isotopic ratios in groundwaters as well as waters from rivers, lakes, hot springs etc. taken from a variety of locations in India has been carried out for the first time. Isotopically the most depleted samples occur in the high altitude precipitations in the Himalayas e.g. in the lakes of Bhutan and the source water of the Ganga. The shallow groundwater data display a continental effect where the heavy isotope content decreases with distance from the coast (about 4 to 6 per mil decrease in δ¹⁸O per 1000 km). The δ D and δ¹⁸O of these fresh waters are linearly related and an analysis of this relation vis-a-vis the meteoric water line shows the unambiguous effect of enrichment due to evaporation from soils.     

Grenvillian thermal event and remnant charnockite: Isotopic evidence from the Chilka Lake granulite-migmatite suite in the Eastern Ghats belt, India

Spectacular exposures of granulite-migmatite occur in the Chilka Lake area of the Eastern Ghats belt. The garnetiferous granite gneiss of peraluminous granitic composition, often contains restitic metapelite inclusions and is demonstrably a product of biotite-dehydration melting in pelitic rocks. On the other hand, older layers and bands of charnockitic rocks frequently occur as dismembered patches within the peraluminous granite, thus imparting a measled appearance of the granite exposures. The partial melting and emplacement of the peraluminous granite represent the Grenvillian thermal event, as evidenced by Rb-Sr whole rock and Pb-Pb zircon dating. On the other hand, minor patches of charnockite represent migmatized relict, as evidenced by some older zircons, in addition to those of Grenvillian age.     

The Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager on AstroSat

The Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI) is a high energy, wide-field imaging instrument on AstroSat. CZTI’s namesake Cadmium Zinc Telluride detectors cover an energy range from 20 keV to \(>200\) keV, with 11% energy resolution at 60 keV. The coded aperture mask attains an angular resolution of 17\(^\prime \) over a 4.6\(^\circ \) \(\times \) 4.6\(^\circ \)  (FWHM) field-of-view. CZTI functions as an open detector above 100 keV, continuously sensitive to GRBs and other transients in about 30% of the sky. The pixellated detectors are sensitive to polarization above \(\sim \)100 keV, with exciting possibilities for polarization studies of transients and bright persistent sources. In this paper, we provide details of the complete CZTI instrument, detectors, coded aperture mask, mechanical and electronic configuration, as well as data and products.     

Scanning sky monitor (SSM) onboard AstroSat

Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) onboard AstroSat is an Xray sky monitor in the soft X-ray band designed with a large field of view to detect and locate transient X-ray sources and alert the astronomical community about interesting phenomena in the X-ray sky. SSM comprises position sensitive proportional counters with 1D coded mask for imaging. There are three detector units mounted on a platform capable of rotation which helps covering about 50% of the sky in one full rotation. This paper discusses the elaborate details of the instrument and few immediate results from the instrument after launch.     

Study of high energy phenomena from near space using low-cost meteorological balloons

Indian Centre for Space Physics has taken a novel strategy to study low energy cosmic rays and astrophysical X-ray sources which involve very light weight payloads up to about five kilograms on board a single or multiple balloons which are used for meteorological purposes. The mission duration could be anywhere from 3-12 hours. Our strategy provides extreme flexibility in mission preparation and its operation using a very economical budget. There are several limitations but our innovative approach has been able to extract significant amount of scientific data out of these missions. So far, over one hundred missions have been completed by us to near space and a wealth of data has been collected. The payloads are recovered and are used again. Scientific data is stored on board computer and the atmospheric data or payload location is sent to ground in real time. Since each mission is different, we present here the general strategy for a typical payload and provide some results we obtained in some of these missions.     

Comparison of three remote sensing based models for the estimation of latent heat flux over India

The aim of this work is to compare three remote sensing based models: two contextual and one physically-based single-pixel model for the estimation of daytime integrated latent heat flux without the use of any ground measurements over Indian ecosystems. Satellite datasets from the MODIS sensors aboard the Terra and the Aqua satellites were used. The latent heat flux estimated from the remote sensing models was compared with that estimated from Bowen ratio energy balance towers at five sites in India. The root mean square error (RMSE) of the latent heat flux estimated from the contextual and the physically-based models was found to be in the order of 40 and 70 W m^?2, respectively. The relatively inferior performance of the more complex physically-based model in comparison with the contextual models was found to be largely due to inaccurate parameterizations estimated only from remote sensing datasets without any ground data.     

亚致死剂量铜对文昌鱼和玫瑰无须的组织病理学影响

采用半静水实验法测试研究了重金属Cu2 对文昌鱼(Branchiostoma belcheri)和玫瑰无须(Puntius conchonius)的急性致死毒性和亚急性毒性.实验结果表明,Cu2 对文昌鱼和玫瑰无须 24,48,72,96 h的半致死浓度分别为0.561,0.373,0.261,0.211 mg/L及0.976,0.783,0.562,0.473 mg/L,其安全质量浓度分别为0.021和0.047 mg/L.亚急性毒性实验中,文昌鱼和玫瑰无须 分别用浓度为20%和30%的 96 h LC50的Cu2 处理.不同器官的组织病理学观察结果表明,过量Cu2 对玫瑰无须 的鳃、肝脏、肾脏等器官产生毒害,对文昌鱼鳃和肝盲囊细胞也产生了严重的毒害,表现为细胞空泡化等明显的结构破坏.实验结果显示文昌鱼的肝盲囊和脊椎动物的肝脏一样,也是受过量铜显著毒害的主要靶器官器官.因此,文昌鱼的肝盲囊至少在经受过量Cu2 毒害方面与脊椎动物肝脏具有相似性,从生理功能方面为类文昌鱼祖先的盲囊(digestive caecum)是脊椎动物肝脏的前体这一假说提供了资料.     

A review of human and natural changes in Maya Lowland wetlands over the Holocene

In the Maya Lowlands of Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala two main types of wetlands have played important roles in human history: bajos or intermittently wet environments of the upland, interior Yucatán and perennial wetlands of the coastal plains. Many of the most important Maya sites encircle the bajos, though our growing evidence for human–wetland interactions is still sparse. The deposits of these wetlands record two main eras of slope instability and wetland aggradation: the Pleistocene–Holocene transition as rainfall increased and forests eclipsed savannas and the Maya Preclassic to Classic as deforestation, land-use intensity, and drying increased. The ancient Maya adapted with terraces around these bajo margins but retracted in the Late Preclassic in some areas. The perennial wetlands of the coastal plains have different histories, and the first conceptual model of human–wetland interaction described intensive wetland agriculture in the Preclassic through Classic based on raised fields and canals. But a second model arose that interpreted the wetland stratigraphy and canals as more indicative of natural aggradation by accelerated erosion and gypsum precipitation that buried Archaic and Preclassic fields and there was little Classic era use. We present new data on a third and fourth model in this study. The third is a hybrid of the models one and two, including the Archaic to Preclassic aggradation of the second model, and the first model's Classic period fields and canals as piecemeal attempts by the Maya to adapt to these and other environmental changes. The fourth conceptual model describes a very Late/Terminal Classic, preplanned project on a floodplain. These wetland fields were short-lived, aggraded rapidly but with some reoccupation in the Postclassic. All of these new models display the burgeoning evidence for intricate Maya interactions with wetlands, and the diversity of evidence from the relatively few studies underscores the infancy of our understanding of Maya interaction with tropical wetlands.     

Diffuse auroral precipitation in the jovian upper atmosphere and magnetospheric electron flux variability

The deposition of energetic electrons in Jupiter's upper atmosphere provides a means, via auroral observations, of monitoring electron and plasma wave activity within the magnetosphere. Not only does particle precipitation indicate a potential change in atmospheric chemistry, it allows for the study of episodic, pronounced flux enhancements in the energetic electron population. A study has been made of the effects of such electron injections into the jovian magnetosphere and of their ability to provide the source population for variations in diffuse auroral emissions. To identify the source region of precipitating auroral electrons, we have investigated the pitch-angle distributions of high-resolution Galileo Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) data that indicate strong flux levels near the loss cone. The equatorial source region of precipitating electrons has been determined from the locations of Galileo's in situ measurements by tracing magnetic field lines using the KK97 model. The primary source region for Jupiter's diffuse aurora appears to lie in the magnetic equator at 15-40 RJ, with the predominant contribution to precipitation flux (tens of ergs cm⁻² s⁻¹ sr⁻¹) stemming from <30 RJ. Variability of flux for energetic electrons in this region is also important to the irradiation of surfaces and atmospheres for the Galilean moons: Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. The average diffuse auroral precipitation flux has been shown to vary by as much as a factor of six at a given radial location. This variability appears to be associated with electron injection events that have been identified in high-resolution Galileo EPD data. These electron flux enhancements are also associated with increased whistler-mode wave activity and magnetic field perturbations, as detected by the Galileo Plasma Wave Subsystem (PWS) and Magnetometer (MAG), respectively. Resonant interactions with the whistler-mode waves cause electron pitch-angle scattering and lead to pitch-angle isotropization and precipitation.