Recent trends in pre-monsoon daily temperature extremes over India

Extreme climate and weather events are increasingly being recognized as key aspects of climate change. Pre-monsoon season (March–May) is the hottest part of the year over almost the entire South Asian region, in which hot weather extremes including heat waves are recurring natural hazards having serious societal impacts, particularly on human health. In the present paper, recent trends in extreme temperature events for the pre-monsoon season have been studied using daily data on maximum and minimum temperatures over a well-distributed network of 121 stations for the period 1970–2005. For this purpose, time series of extreme temperature events have been constructed for India as a whole and seven homogeneous regions, viz., Western Himalaya (WH), Northwest (NW), Northeast (NE), North Central (NC), East coast (EC), West coast (WC) and Interior Peninsula (IP).     

Assessment of nitrate contamination of Lidder catchment Kashmir, India

Nitrate contamination in the groundwater from various sources is one of the major problems of water resources in Liddercatchment, Kashmir. Systematic sampling was carried out during summer 2007, with a view to understand the source of nitrate ions in the groundwater of the Lidder catchment. Twelve sample sites were selected and samples were taken for a baseline study to understand the geochemistry of the groundwater and to assess the overall physico-chemical characteristics. Results showed that NO ₃ ^? concentration in ranged from 18.72?mg/L to 75.93?mg/L with an average of 47.03?mg/L. More than 80% (83.33%) of the samples collected from various sampling stations had nitrate concentrations exceeding the threshold value of 20?mg/L, and 58.33% of the samples collected had nitrate concentrations higher than 50?mg/L, the maximum acceptable nitrate concentration for drinking water. There is a wide spatial variation in the nitrate concentration in the groundwater. Monitoring the water quality of various sampling stations showed that the lowest concentrations of nitrate were found in the wet season (January, February, and December), while the highest concentrations were found in the dry season (August, September). Numerous human perturbations have been detected affecting the water quality of Lidder catchment. Disposal of sewage and animal wastes was found to contribute about 85% of total nitrate pollution in the study area. Based on the trend analysis (using previous data), future scenario of nitrate pollution has been predicted in the study area. The results of this study are useful to highlight one of the most important environmental problems, namely the degradation of the water quality, and may serve to alert and encourage local and national authorities to take substantial steps and actions to protect and manage water quality.     

Age and tectonomagmatic setting of the Eocene Çöpler–Kabataş magmatic complex and porphyry-epithermal Au deposit, East Central Anatolia, Turkey

The Çöpler epithermal Au deposit and related subeconomic porphyry Cu–Au deposit is hosted by the middle Eocene Çöpler–Kabata? magmatic complex in central eastern Anatolia. The intrusive rocks of the complex were emplaced into Late Paleozoic–Mesozoic metamorphosed sedimentary basement rocks near the northeastern margin of the Tauride-Anatolide Block. Igneous biotite from two samples of the magmatic complex yielded ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages of 43.75?±?0.26 Ma and 44.19?±?0.23, whereas igneous hornblende from a third sample yielded a plateau age of 44.13?±?0.38. These ages closely overlap with ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages of hydrothermal sericite (44.44?±?0.28 Ma) and biotite (43.84?±?0.26 Ma), and Re–Os ages from two molybdenite samples (44.6?±?0.2 and 43.9?±?0.2 Ma) suggesting a short-lived (<1 my) magmatic and hydrothermal history at Çöpler. No suitable minerals were found that could be used to date the epithermal system, but it is inferred to be close in age to the precursor porphyry system. The Çöpler–Kabata? intrusive rocks show I-type calc-alkaline affinities. Their normalized trace element patterns show enrichments in large ion lithophile and light rare earth elements and relative depletions in middle and heavy rare earth elements, resembling magmas generated in convergent margins. However, given its distance from the coeval Eocene Maden–Helete volcanic arc, the complex is interpreted to be formed in a back-arc setting, in response to Paleocene slab roll-back and upper-plate extension. The tectonomagmatic environment of porphyry-epithermal mineralization at Çöpler is comparable to some other isolated back-arc porphyry systems such as Bajo de la Alumbrera (Argentina) or Bingham Canyon (USA).     

Seismic model of the lithosphere of the East European Platform beneath the Baltic Sea-Black Sea profile

This paper presents the results of seismic measurements along the Baltic Sea-Black Sea profile. The basic wave groups recorded up to distances of 900 km are characterized. The main elements of a lithospheric model of the southwestern part of the Precambrian East European Platform are given. The thickness of the Earth's crust is about 45 km and the mean velocity of the crust is about 6.3 km/s. At a depth of 65 km, the velocity increases from 8.2 to 8.5 km/s. In the depth interval 110 to 135 km, there is a series of layers with low and high velocities. The lower boundary of the lithosphere is probably defined by the boundary at a depth of 110 km.     

Sulfur isotope study of a modern intertidal environment,and the interpretation of ancient sulfides

Extensive sulfur isotope distribution data for sulfides precipitated in an intertidal environment show no distinctive features when compared with isotope values for other marine, sedimentary sulfides. The fractionation ranges from α = 1.030 to α = 1.048. The pattern is characteristic for a system essentially open to sulfate, and isotope analyses of interstitial sulfates are corroborative. A population of sulfate-reducing bacteria of the order of 10⁹ organisms per cc of interstitial water is indicated. Seasonal variation of the isotope distribution reflects a transient sulfide composition and a bacterial population in which the fractionation effect is indirectly controlled by temperature. The data presented for this modern shallow water environment are at variance with an earlier assessment of isotopic distributions in ancient sulfides which linked shallow water environments with limited fractionation (α ? 1.025) in a closed system.     

Heat island and oasis effects of vegetative canopies: Micro-meteorological field-measurements

Dry-bulb temperature, dew-point, wind speed, and wind direction were measured in and around an isolated vegetative canopy in Davis CA from 12 to 25 October 1986. These meteorological variables were measured 1.5 m above ground along a transect of 7 weather stations set up across the canopy and the upwind/downwind open fields. These variables were averaged every 15 minutes for a period of two weeks so we could analyze their diurnal cycles as well as their spatial variability. The results indicate significant nocturnal heat islands and daytime oases within the vegetation stand, especially in clear weather. Inside the canopy within 5 m of its upwind edge, daytime temperature fell by as much as 4.5 °C, whereas the nighttime temperature rose by 1 °C. Deeper into the canopy and downwind, the daytime drop in temperature reached 6 °C, and the nighttime increase reached 2 °C. Wind speed was reduced by ~ 2 ms^–1 in mild conditions and by as much as 6.7 ms^–1 during cyclonic weather when open-field wind speed was in the neighborhood of 8 ms^–1. Data from this project were used to construct correlations between temperature and wind speed within the canopy and their corresponding ambient, open-field values.With 10 Figures     

A double-differenced cycle slip detection and repair method for GNSS CORS network

The difficulty to detect and repair cycle slip of carrier phase measurements is a key limit for continuously high accuracy of GNSS positioning and navigation services. We propose an automated cycle slip detection and repair method for data preprocessing of a CORS network. The method jointly uses double-differenced (DD) geometry-free (GF) combination and ionospheric-free observation corrected for the computed geometrical distance (IF-OMC) to estimate the cycle slips in dual-frequency observations. The DD GF combination, which is only affected by the ionospheric residual, can be used to detect cycle slips with high reliability except for special pairs such as (77, 60) on GPS L1/L2 frequencies. The detection principle of the IF-OMC observable is such that there is a large discontinuity related to the previous epoch when cycle slips occur at the present epoch. The disadvantages of these two combinations can be overcome employing the proposed detection method. The cycle slip pair (77, 60) has no effect on the GF combination, while a change of 14.65 m is derived from GPS L1/L2 observations using the IF-OMC algorithm. Using pre-determined station coordinates as precise values, we found that the accuracy of the DD IF-OMC combination was 18 mm for a 200-km CORS baseline. Therefore, cycle slips in dual-frequency observations can be correctly and uniquely determined using DD GF and IF-OMC equations. The proposed method was verified by adding simulated cycle slips in observations collected from the CORS network under a quiet ionosphere and shown to be effective. Moreover, the method was assessed with observations made during intense ionospheric activity, which generated extensive cycle slips. The results show that the algorithm can detect and repair all cycle slips apart from two exceptions relating to long data gaps.     

Long term shoreline oscillation and changes of Cauvery delta coastline inferred from satellite imageries

Coastal zone is highly volatile ecosystem which is always in adjustments. Loss of shore line will cause severe impact on human life and as well as their properties. Remote sensing is a reliable technique to study the historical shoreline changes. Therefore in this paper long term shoreline oscillations of Cauvery delta shorelines at Poompuhar, Tharangambadi and Nagapattinam were studied using satellite imageries and the same was physically observed at the above three locations with the help of reference pillars and compared mutually. It was observed that the shoreline at Poompuhar is under accretion at the rate of 1.79m/ year and other shoreline stretches at Tharangambadi and Nagapattinam were under erosion at 0.4888m/ year and 0.4985m/ year respectively. It was also observed that the remote sensing study qualitatively matches with the physical observation for all the three coastal stretches of the study area.