Studying Land Use Travel Demand Interaction Using 3S Technology for Tiruchirappalli City

This paper gives an overview of a major application of modern geospatial tools such as remote sensing, GIS and GPS, i.e., 3S technology in estimating travel demand along Indian roads by considering the study area, Tiruchirappalli urban city in Tamil Nadu. In the study, an attempt was made to estimate travel demand based on the current land-use classification as the pattern of travel depends on the type of land use activity in a zone. IRS high resolution image Cartosat-1 of year 2009 was used to extract the land-use information required. The travel demand model developed was validated with the field obtained OD-matrix to understand the accuracy of the method considered.     

Evidence of paleoearthquakes from trench investigations across Pinjore Garden fault in Pinjore Dun, NW Himalaya

The Pinjore Garden Fault (PGF) striking NNW-SSE is now considered one of the active faults displacing the younger Quaternary surfaces in the piggyback basin of Pinjore Dun. This has displaced the older Kalka and Pinjore surfaces, along with the other younger surfaces giving rise to WSW and SW-facing fault scarps with heights ranging from 2 to 16 m. The PGF represents a younger branch of the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) system. An ~ 4m wide trench excavated across the PGF has revealed displacement of younger Quaternary deposits along a low angle thrust fault. Either side of the trench-walls reveals contrasting slip-related deformation of lithounits. The northern wall shows displacement of lithounits along a low-angle thrust fault, while the southern wall shows well-developed fault-related folding of thick sand unit. The sudden change in the deformational features on the southern wall is an evidence of the changing fault geometry within a short distance. Out of five prominent lithounits identified in the trench, the lower four units show displacement along a single fault. The basal unit ‘A’ shows maximum displacement of aboutT _o = 2.85 m, unit B = 1.8 m and unit C = 1.45 m. The displacement measured between the sedimentary units and retro-deformation of trench log suggests that at least two earthquake events have occurred along the PGF. The units A and D mark the event horizons. Considering the average amount of displacement during one single event (2 m) and the minimum length of the fault trace (~ 45 km), the behaviour of PGF seems similar to that of the Himalayan Frontal Fault (HFF) and appears capable of producing large magnitude earthquakes.     

Physical Properties of Umbral Dots Observed in Sunspots: A <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hinode</Emphasis> Observation

Umbral dots (UDs) are small-scale bright features observed in the umbral part of sunspots and pores. It is well established that they are manifestations of magnetoconvection phenomena inside umbrae. We study the physical properties of UDs in different sunspots and their dependence on decay rate and filling factor. We have selected high-resolution, G-band continuum filtergrams of seven sunspots from Hinode to study their physical properties. We have also used Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) continuum images to estimate the decay rate of selected sunspots. An identification and tracking algorithm was developed to identify the UDs in time sequences. The statistical analysis of UDs exhibits an averaged maximum intensity and effective diameter of 0.26 \(I_{\mathrm{QS}}\) and 270 km. Furthermore, the lifetime, horizontal speed, trajectory length, and displacement length (birth–death distance) of UDs are 8.19 minutes, 0.5 km?s^?1, 284 km, and 155 km, respectively. We also find a positive correlation between intensity–diameter, intensity–lifetime, and diameter–lifetime of UDs. However, UD properties do not show any significant relation with the decay rate or filling factor.     

Winter-spring precipitation reconstructions from tree rings for northeast Mexico

The understanding of historic hydroclimatic variability is basic for planning proper management of limited water resources in northeastern Mexico. The objective of this study was to develop a network of tree-ring chronologies to reconstruct hydroclimate variability in northeastern Mexico and to analyze the influence of large-scale circulation patterns, such as ENSO. Precipitation sensitive tree-ring chronologies of Douglas-fir were developed in mountain ranges of the Sierra Madre Oriental and used to produce winter-spring precipitation reconstructions for central and southern Nuevo Leon, and southeastern Coahuila. The seasonal winter-spring precipitation reconstructions are 342 years long (1659–2001) for Saltillo, Coahuila and 602 years long (1400–2002) for central and southern Nuevo Leon. Both reconstructions show droughts in the 1810s, 1870s, 1890s, 1910s, and 1970s, and wet periods in the 1770s, 1930s, 1960s, and 1980s. Prior to 1800s the reconstructions are less similar. The impact of ENSO in northeastern Mexico (as measured by the Tropical Rainfall Index) indicated long-term instability of the Pacific equatorial teleconnection. Atmospheric circulation systems coming from higher latitudes (cold fronts or `nortes’) and others developed in the Gulf of Mexico (tropical storms, hurricanes) also influence the climatic conditions characterizing this region. The recent development of new and longer tree-ring chronologies for the region will contribute to a better understanding of the interannual and multidecadal climatic variability of northeastern Mexico.     

Development of solar scintillometer

The index of scintillation measurement is a good parameter to compare different sites for image quality or ‘seeing’. We have developed a scintillometer, which is deployed on the high resolution SPAR telescope in the island site of Udaipur Solar Observatory, for the site characterization to specify the proposed MAST (Multi Application Solar Telescope). The scintillometer consists of a miniature telescope, termed as micro telescope (4 mm aperture, 15 mm focal length) mounted on a drive which tracks the Sun continuously, associated amplifiers and a data acquisition system. A photodiode is used as the detector. The telescope along with detector was obtained from National Solar Observatory (NSO), and is similar to the one used for Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) site survey. At USO we developed the amplifier and data acquisition system for the scintillometer. A 24-bit analog to digital converter based system was designed, assembled, tested and used as the data acquisition system (DAS). In this paper, we discuss the instrumentation and present the initial results.     

SPIN: An Inversion Code for the Photospheric Spectral Line

Inversion codes are the most useful tools to infer the physical properties of the solar atmosphere from the interpretation of Stokes profiles. In this paper, we present the details of a new Stokes Profile INversion code (SPIN) developed specifically to invert the spectro-polarimetric data of the Multi-Application Solar Telescope (MAST) at Udaipur Solar Observatory. The SPIN code has adopted Milne–Eddington approximations to solve the polarized radiative transfer equation (RTE) and for the purpose of fitting a modified Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm has been employed. We describe the details and utilization of the SPIN code to invert the spectro-polarimetric data. We also present the details of tests performed to validate the inversion code by comparing the results from the other widely used inversion codes (VFISV and SIR). The inverted results of the SPIN code after its application to Hinode/SP data have been compared with the inverted results from other inversion codes.     

Solar wind and other gases in the regoliths of the Pesyanoe parent object and the moon

We report new data from Pesyanoe‐90,1 (dark lithology) on the isotopic signature of solar wind (SW) Xe as recorded in this enstatite achondrite which represents a soil‐breccia of an asteroidal regolith. The low temperature (≤800°C) steps define the Pesyanoe‐S xenon component, which is isotopically consistent with SW Xe reported for the lunar regolith. This implies that the SW Xe isotopic signature was the same at two distinct solar system locations and, importantly, also at different times of solar irradiation. Further, we compare the calculated average solar wind “SW‐Xe” signature to Chass‐S Xe, the indigenous Xe observed in SNC (Mars) meteorites. Again, a close agreement between these compositions is observed, which implies that a mass‐dependent differential fractionation of Xe between SW‐Xe and Chass‐S Xe is >1.5%_o per amu. We also observe fractionated (Pesyanoe‐F) Xe and Ar components in higher temperature steps and we document a fission component due to extinct ²⁴⁴Pu. Interestingly, the Pesyanoe‐F Xe component is revealed only at the highest temperatures (>1200°C). The Pesyanoe‐F gas reveals Xe isotopic signatures that are consistent with lunar solar energetic particles (SEP) data and may indicate a distinct solar energetic particle radiation as was inferred for the moon. However, we cannot rule out fractionation processes due to parent body processes. We note that ratios ³⁶Ar/³⁸Ar≤5 are also consistent with SEP data. Calculated abundances of the fission component correlate well with radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar concentrations, revealing rather constant ²⁴⁴Pu/K ratios in Pesyanoe, and separates thereof, and indicate that both components were retained. We identify a nitrogen component (δ¹⁵N = 44%_o) of non‐solar origin with an isotopic signature distinct from indigenous N (δ¹⁵N = ?33%^o). While large excesses at ¹²⁸Xe and ¹²⁹Xe are observed in the lunar regolith samples, these excesses in Pesyanoe are small. On the other hand, significant ¹²⁶Xe isotopic excesses, comparable to relative excesses observed in lunar soils and breccias, are prominent in the intermediate temperature steps of Pesyanoe‐90,1.     

Determination of directions of horizontal principal stress and identification of active faults in Kachchh (India) by electromagnetic radiation (EMR)

The Kachchh basin in the western India is known for its recent high seismicity. This study presents an application of the geogenic Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) technique for deciphering the directions of principal horizontal stress in the eastern Kachchh. The principal direction of horizontal stress obtained from EMR differs from those obtained from earthquake focal plane solutions. The major horizontal principal stress based on the EMR study shows an azimuth of N60°E ± 10°. The principal directions of EMR emissions are parallel to the acute bisector of conjugate microcracks. The azimuthal distribution of EMR signal and dimension of microcracks suggest that the EM emissions are transversely polarized.The study also deals with the first application of electromagnetic radiation emissions to identify active fracture planes in sandstones that could become potential active faults later, which might be seismogenic or nonseimogenic. This study is based on linear profiling at six different places across two major faults, the Kachchh Mainland Fault (KMF) and the South Wagad Fault (SWF) in the eastern Kachchh. Anomalously, high EMR emissions are observed in the eastern part of the KMF, indicating active surface deformation.     

Upper-Level Winds over Southern Ontario: O-QNet Wind Profiler and NARR Comparisons

Upper-level winds are primarily measured by tracking the position of radiosonde balloons as they rise through the atmosphere. Radiosondes are released from a global network at 0000 utc and 1200 utc each day, and data are quickly available to the world's weather services, as well as to the public. The network is relatively coarse spatially, and there are normally only two soundings per day. In an endeavour to provide better spatial and temporal upper-level regional wind measurements, the O-QNet (a demonstration very high frequency wind profiler network for Ontario and Quebec) was installed and has been operated by York, Western, and McGill Universities with support from Mardoc Inc., The Weather Network, and Environment and Climate Change Canada. Initial funding was provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Innovation Trust, and Mardoc Inc. The present paper reports primarily on comparisons between winds measured by the O-QNet profilers and the winds reported in the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR). There is good agreement between the two, which provides support for the use of NARR data to investigate longer term variations in upper-level winds associated with climate change for this region.