Resampling routine on heterogeneous networked-based environment

In this paper, we have described a model to parallelize the resampling routine, which is used in the geometric correction of data provided by remote sensing satellites. Our model is a typical master-slave model consisting of N machines termed as hosts out of which one is designated as the master. The input image data resides on the master. Processing of the input image data is done in parallel on the N machines. Issues related to load-balancing and various error conditions that may occur during execution like one of the machines going down have been studied and are incorporated in the model. It also provides the flexibility to add or delete the hosts during the execution of the resampling routine. The serial version of this routine involves huge amount of computations and takes substantial amount of time even for an image of 473 MB. We have implemented our model with the help of PVM which is most often used in distributed computing environment. Our approach has been tested for geometric correction on LISS-III 4 band data of size 473 MB. It is found that if one uses 2, 3 or 4 hosts the overall execution time is reduced by 33%, 42% and 49%, respectively.     

GIS-based Assessment and Management of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in R?nne? River Catchment, Sweden

Eutrophication in lakes, estuaries and rivers occur due to over-enrichment with nutrients. Amongst the various nutrients Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorous (P) are the elements which are considered as the major pollutants. The present study looks into the problem of managing nutrient losses both from point sources and diffuse sources. The study was carried out in the River R?nne? catchment in South of Sweden where N and P have been assessed by creation of a pollution inventory based on GIS technology. The nutrient loads from different land use types were estimated using export coefficients and evaluated using monitoring data. A comparative analysis is done on the measured and estimated N and P leaching from diffused sources and point sources. Protective zones were suggested to decrease the P export from agricultural land, and the distribution of construction cost was analyzed among administrative regions according to the proportion of catchments, cultivated land, nutrient leaching, protective zone and length of river section within each municipality. The estimated error of the nutrient amount from landuse using GIS is 9.75% and 12.71% for N and P, respectively. The diffused sources contribute 91.53% and 94.74% of the total N and total P respectively, so the creation of a protective zone could be an effective way to decrease the nutrient export. The study demonstrates the power of GIS as a tool to analyze problems related to environmental monitoring and planning at administrative level, which could help in decision making and support for better management of the water resources.     

Utilisation of integrated remote sensing technique for coastal geomorphic and geologic data extraction—A case study for Coondapur,south Kanara district (Karnataka)

Coastal zone is associated with several geomorphic features of erosional and depositional nature, be sides the broad geologic information. The area around Coondapur of south Kanara district, Karnataka, possesses all the major characteristics of coastal zone and these are extractable through intergated remotely sensed data namely Landsat-1 MSS imagery, Salyut-7 KATE space photograph and aerial photographs. The visual interpretation is carried out with developing remote sensing keys to decipher major geomorphic-geologic information like: spit, double spit, beach deposit, alluvium, levee deposit, la|terite and other rock types. It is concluded that the major geomorphic-geologic characteristics as well as subdeltaic drainage, soil erosoin are obtained through space borne data. The aerial photographs provide the detailed geomorphic and geologic information.     

The timing and magnitude of changes to Hortonian overland flow at the watershed scale during the post-fire recovery process

Extreme hydrologic responses following wildfires can lead to floods and debris flows with costly economic and societal impacts. Process-based hydrologic and geomorphic models used to predict the downstream impacts of wildfire must account for temporal changes in hydrologic parameters related to the generation and subsequent routing of infiltration-excess overland flow across the landscape. However, we lack quantitative relationships showing how parameters change with time-since-burning, particularly at the watershed scale. To assess variations in best-fit hydrologic parameters with time, we used the KINEROS2 hydrological model to explore temporal changes in hillslope saturated hydraulic conductivity (K_sh) and channel hydraulic roughness (n_c) following a wildfire in the upper Arroyo Seco watershed (41.5 km²), which burned during the 2009 Station fire in the San Gabriel Mountains, California, USA. This study explored runoff-producing storms between 2008 and 2014 to infer watershed hydraulic properties by calibrating the model to observations at the watershed outlet. Modelling indicates K_sh is lowest in the first year following the fire and then increases at an average rate of approximately 4.2 mm/h/year during the first 5 years of recovery. The estimated values for K_sh in the first year following the fire are similar to those obtained in previous studies on smaller watersheds (<1.5 km²) following the Station fire, suggesting hydrologic changes detected here can be applied to lower-order watersheds. Hydraulic roughness, n_c, was lowest in the first year following the fire, but increased by a factor of 2 after 1 year of recovery. Post-fire observations suggest changes in n_c are due to changes in grain roughness and vegetation in channels. These results provide quantitative constraints on the magnitude of fire-induced hydrologic changes following severe wildfires in chaparral-dominated ecosystems as well as the timing of hydrologic recovery.     

Evaluation of reservoir temperatures and local utilization of geothermal waters of the Konkan Coast, India

Geochemical studies on fifteen geothermal manifestations (38–70°C) from the Konkan coast geothermal province of India have been used to evaluate the reservoir temperatures. Activity studies of the minerals and the waters present in the reservoirs suggest that the thermal waters are in equilibrium with montmorillonite, kaolinite and quartz at about 100°C. Reservoir temperatures of these geothermal systems as estimated by geochemical thermometers, are 88 to 128°C, and thus too low for economic electricity production.     

Diagnostic evaluation of conceptual rainfall–runoff models using temporal clustering

Given the structural shortcomings of conceptual rainfall–runoff models and the common use of time‐invariant model parameters, these parameters can be expected to represent broader aspects of the rainfall–runoff relationship than merely the static catchment characteristics that they are commonly supposed to quantify. In this article, we relax the common assumption of time‐invariance of parameters, and instead seek signature information about the dynamics of model behaviour and performance. We do this by using a temporal clustering approach to identify periods of hydrological similarity, allowing the model parameters to vary over the clusters found in this manner, and calibrating these parameters simultaneously. The diagnostic information inferred from these calibration results, based on the patterns in the parameter sets of the various clusters, is used to enhance the model structure. This approach shows how diagnostic model evaluation can be used to combine information from the data and the functioning of the hydrological model in a useful manner. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.