Multi-criteria Decision-Making Approaches to Agricultural Land Suitability Classification of Malda District,Eastern India

Land suitability classification (LSC) is an approach of land evaluation, which measures the degree of appropriateness of land for a specific land use. LSC is governed by a myriad of factors at the local and regional level including physiographic, pedologic and a host of socioeconomic and infrastructural determinants. This has called for the application of different multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques in agricultural LSC. The present study has attempted and compared various MCDM-based agricultural LSCs for Malda District in Eastern India. The study is based on multiple parameters governing agriculture, considering not only the physiographic and pedological attributes (e.g., relief, slope, soil fertility, soil organic carbon, etc.) but also the socioeconomic ones (e.g., the percentage of people engaged in agriculture, cultivator–labor ratio, degree of electrification, etc.). Four major MCDM algorithms have been applied, i.e., composite ranks, composite Z-scores, analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and weighted principal component analysis (WPCA). The results were also compared with the crop productivity-based agricultural efficiency. It was observed that about 15.44% of the area of Malda District is highly suitable for agriculture, whereas limited suitability is displayed by about 12.68% of area. The remaining part falls under moderate and marginal suitability classes. Furthermore, WPCA and AHP are superior to the nonparametric techniques of MCDM, namely composite ranks and composite Z-score. Moreover, the results of WPCA are superior to those of AHP. Due to the inherent limitations of the AHP approach, this study proposes the use of WPCA in the domain of agricultural LSC.

     

Planning and Scheduling of Payloads of AstroSat During Initial and Normal Phase Observations

On 28th September 2015, India launched its first astronomical space observatory AstroSat, successfully. AstroSat carried five astronomy payloads, namely, (i) Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI), (ii) Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC), (iii) Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT), (iv) Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) and (v) Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) and therefore, has the capability to observe celestial objects in multi-wavelength. Four of the payloads are co-aligned along the positive roll axis of the spacecraft and the remaining one is placed along the positive yaw axis direction. All the payloads are sensitive to bright objects and specifically, require avoiding bright Sun within a safe zone of their bore axes in orbit. Further, there are other operational constraints both from spacecraft side and payloads side which are to be strictly enforced during operations. Even on-orbit spacecraft manoeuvres are constrained to about two of the axes in order to avoid bright Sun within this safe zone and a special constrained manoeuvre is exercised during manoeuvres. The planning and scheduling of the payloads during the Performance Verification (PV) phase was carried out in semi-autonomous/manual mode and a complete automation is exercised for normal phase/Guaranteed Time Observation (GuTO) operations. The process is found to be labour intensive and several operational software tools, encompassing spacecraft sub-systems, on-orbit, domain and environmental constraints, were built-in and interacted with the scheduling tool for appropriate decision-making and science scheduling. The procedural details of the complex scheduling of a multi-wavelength astronomy space observatory and their working in PV phase and in normal/GuTO phases are presented in this paper.     

Occurrence of thorite and radioactive zircon in syenite pegmatite,North of Ashwaraopet,Khammam district,Andhra Pradesh,India

This paper reports the occurrence of thorite and confirms the earlier find of radioactive zircon by Subbarao, Murali and others from syenite pegmatite in the Vinayakapuram-Kunavaram alkaline belt in the Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Thorite has also been found as residual concentrations in soil overlying the pegmatite.     

Zonal circulation indices, 500 hPa April ridge position along 75° E and Indian summer monsoon rainfall: Statistical relationships

Summary This paper presents an examination of the statistical relationship between summer monsoon rainfall over all India, and two sub-regions (north west India and peninsular India) and the indices of mid-latitude (35° to 70° N) zonal circulation at 500 hPa level, over different sectors of the hemisphere, based on 19 years (1971–1989) data. The results indicate that summer monsoon rainfall (June–September) over India shows; (i) a significant and direct relationship with the strength of the zonal circulation index during concurrent July over the sector 90° E to 160° E. (ii) a significant inverse relationship with the strength of the zonal index during the previous April over the sector 160° E to 45° W and a similar relationship with the whole northern hemisphere and (iii) a significant and direct relationship with the frequency of the zonal index during the previous January over the sector 45° W to 90° E.Significant relationships are also observed between the zonal circulation indices of the above mentioned months and sectors with the 500 hPa ridge location in April at 75° E over India.With 4 Figures     

Predation Efficacy of Larvivorus Fishes on Cyclops,Transmitting Dracunculiasis

The predatory potentiality of G. affinis and P. reticulata fishes on cyclops was tested by ‘no-choice’ and ‘choice’ experiments. In ‘no-choice’ experiments predation increased significantly with the number of cyclops exposed (1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 preys) and decreased with the increase in the water volume (1, 2 and 3 litres) in case of both the fishes. A similar trend for cyclops predation was observed in ‘choice’ experiments. The relative rate of predation of G. affinis and P. reticulata was more in ‘no-choice’ as compared to in ‘choice’ experiments. However, the predatory efficacy of G. affinis was relatively higher than that of P. reticulata in all the experiments. The comparative rate of predation on three zooplanktons by G. affinis and P. reticulata showed that Daphnia spec. was most susceptible to predation by both the fishes. It was followed by calanoids and the least preferred prey being cyclops.     

Remote sensing for optimal cropping pattern in piedmont zone

Piedmont zone is made up of unconsolidated material. They act as a recharge area for Tarai. Population density in this zone is comparatively less, Economical and social conditions of people in this region is very poor. Agriculture is only source of livehood and economy, Modern Agricultural activities are only successfull if assured water supply is available. Remote Sensing Techniques provide data source which can be utilised for evaluating water resources. It has been assumed that the ground water regime of the zone wil not be disturbed and only the amount recharged will be utilised. Rainfall recharge to ground water has been evaluated using Remotely Sensed Data. A major part of the recharged volume is not being utilised. Systems approach has been used to evolve an optimal cropping pattern.     

REFLECTION-WINDOW MAPPING OF SHALLOW BEDROCK*

A field study was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of the high frequency seismic reflection technique for mapping of shallow and irregular bedrock. Bedrock reflections were obtained using a hammer source with both in-line and common offset field layouts. The recording equipment included 12-channel enhancement seismographs, 28 Hz vertical geo-phones and a microcomputer. The latter increased the overall versatility of the seismic system. Field sites for this study are typical of the geological settings of the tin mining areas of Malaysia. The topographical ‘lows’ of the irregular bedrock control the localization of tin ore. The subsurface geology consists of a thin low velocity layer (± 300 m/s) overlying the compact overburden (± 1700 m/s) which in turn lies on bedrock. This paper discusses various criteria for designing an optimum window for obtaining usable reflections between the first arrival and the leading edge of the ground roll cone. Detailed mapping of the overburden and the bedrock interface by the reflection method can be useful in delineating areas for exploratory drilling and for optimum planning of mining operations.     

Remote sensing for landscape parameters and scale effect

Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing - Development activities must be compatible for possibilities and limitation of natural environment and resources. Predevelopmental analysis must...     

Chlorophyll — A Concentration Along West Coast of India Using IRS-P3 MOS-B Data

Remote sensing of ocean colour yields information on the constituents of sea water, such as the concentration of phytoplankton pigments, suspended sediments and yellow substances. It is well understood that the study of ocean colour is significantly related with the primary production and zonation of potential fishing sites in coastal and oceanic waters. The major pigment constituent is predominated by chlorophyll-a (ocean colour pigment of phytoplankton). The chlorophyll mapping on regular basis plays a major role in assessing water quality and classifying different water types. IRS P-3 MOS-B satellite data for three consecutive passes of path 94, during the period of January-February 1997 have been used to derive chlorophyll-a concentration. The present study emphasizes on the chlorophyll mapping using IRS-P3 MOS-B data for the coastal and offshore water of Maharashtra coast, India.