A new approach to the determination of methane content of coal seams

Summary An approach to the determination of methane content of coal seams is proposed. The method utilizes the transformed Airey's empirical equation on desorption of methane from coals. The methane content values estimated by this method correspond well with actual values from laboratory experiments. In the case of Indian coals, the applicability of the relationship for the calculation of the gas lost from coal lumps during long periods of time loss appears to be limited due to poor agreement with the experimental values.     

Effects of disturbance intensities on vegetation patterns in oak forests of Kumaun, west Himalaya

In order to realize the significance of oak forests for ecology and economy of the Himalayan region,the present study attempts to objectively characterize disturbance intensities and their impacts on compositional features of identified Oak forests, i.e.Banj-oak(Quercus leucotrichophora A.Camus), Tilonj-oak(Q.floribunda Lindley)and Kharsu-oak(Q. semecarpifolia J.E.Smith)in west Himalaya. Amongst studied forests,Q.leucotrichophora and Q. semecarpifolia forests exhibited high sensitivity towards disturbance intensities.In both forests, increasing level of disturbance significantly lowered tree density,dominance and natural recruitment (seedling and sapling density).Q.floribunda forests, however,appeared relatively more resilient to anthropogenic disturbances.Amongst studied oak forests,Q.semecarpifolia forests with overall poor natural regeneration are in a most critically endangered demographic state.However,a slightly improved regeneration(i.e.,seedling density)in moderately disturbed plots is indicative that such plots may be utilized most suitably for in situ revival of these forests.Effect of disturbance intensities on tree population is an important subject for forest ecology and management and the present study highlights a need for adopting different management strategies across disturbance intensities in diverse oak forests of west Himalaya.     

IMF BY dependence of the extent of substorm westward electrojet

In this paper the duskward extension of the westward auroral electrojet is investigated for substorm intervals on the basis of magnetograms recorded at the Indian Antarctic station, Maitri. The database comprises three years from 1998–2000. Based on an initial study of the magnetograms, an arbitrary local time of 2030 MLT is fixed to define the early manifestation of the substorm westward electrojet. Using this criterion 12 substorms are identified and the possible causes examined. Many of these events are observed to be associated with a moderate to intense ring current. The hourly average of the GSM B_Y-component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) for the hour preceding the substorm onset at Maitri is negative for most of the events. It is suggested that the azimuthal shift of the auroral electrojets in the southern hemisphere resulting from a negative B_Y-component of the IMF influences the extent of the substorm westward electrojet. This finding implies that the IMF may have a role in controlling the longitudinal extent of substorm occurrence.     

Hydrometeorological Aspects of Floods in India

The Indian sub-continent being located in the heart of the summermonsoon belt, receives in most parts more than 75% of its annual rainfall during the fourmonsoon months of June to September. As the bulk of summer monsoon rainfall occurs withina period of four months, naturally majority of floods occur in Indian rivers during thisseason only. The ground conditions also help in generating high percentage of run-offbecause of the antecedent wet conditions caused by rainy spells occurring within the monsoonperiod itself. Besides mentioning different weather systems, which cause heavy rainfall and consequentfloods, a detailed discussion of 15 years' floods in different river systems has alsobeen given in the article. This study has shown that the flood problem in India is mostly confinedto the states located in the Indo-Gangetic plains, northeast India and occasionally in therivers of Central India.     

Future Scenarios of Environmental Vulnerability Mapping Using Grey Analytic Hierarchy Process

Any sustainable resource utilization plan requires evaluation of the present and future environmental impact. The present research focuses on future scenario generation of environmental vulnerability zones based on grey analytic hierarchy process (grey-AHP). Grey-AHP combines the advantages of grey clustering method and the classical analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Environmental vulnerability index (EVI) considers twenty-five natural, environmental and anthropogenic parameters, e.g. soil, geology, aspect, elevation, slope, rainfall, maximum and minimum temperature, normalized difference vegetation index, drainage density, groundwater recharge, groundwater level, groundwater potential, water yield, evapotranspiration, land use/land cover, soil moisture, sediment yield, water stress, water quality, storage capacity, land suitability, population density, road density and normalized difference built-up index. Nine futuristic parameters were used for EVI calculation from the Dynamic Conversion of Land-Use and its Effects, Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate 5 and Soil and Water Assessment Tool. The resulting maps were classified into three classes: “high”, “moderate” and “low”. The result shows that the upstream portion of the river basin comes under the high vulnerability zone for the years 2010 and 2030, 2050. The effectiveness of zonation approach was between “better” and “common” classes. Sensitivity analysis was performed for EVI. Field-based soil moisture point data were utilized for validation purpose. The resulting maps provide a guideline for planning of detailed hydrogeological studies.

     

Velocity of small-scale auroral ionospheric current systems over Indian Antarctic station Maitri

The Indian Antarctic station Maitri (geog. 70‡45’S, 11‡45’E, geom. 66‡.03S, 53‡.21E) occupies a sub-auroral location during magnetically quiet conditions(Σκρ < 10), but attains an auroral position when the auroral oval shifts equatorwards with increasing strength of magnetic disturbance. At the latter times, triangulation with 3 fluxgate magnetometers located at the vertices of a suitable triangle provides a means of monitoring mobile auroral ionospheric current systems over Maitri. The spacing between the magnetometers is typically kept at 75–200 km, keeping in mind the scale-sizes of ∼ 100 km for these mobile current systems. This work reports the results of two triangulation experiments carried out around Maitri in January 1992 and January 1995, both during Antarctic summer. The velocities estimated for pulsations of the Pc4 and Pc5 type were about 0.59 km/sec in the direction 102‡.7 east of due north, in the first case, and about 1–3 km/sec in the second case in the east-west direction. While several magnetometer arrays exist in the northern auroral regions (e.g., the Alberta array in Canada, the Alaskan array in the U.S. and the IMS Scandinavian array), there is no report in literature of triangulation through arrays in Antarctica, except for a one-day study by Neudegget al 1995 for ULF pulsations of the Pc1 and Pc2 type. The velocities obtained for the Pi3 type of irregular pulsations over Antarctica in the present study tally well with those obtained for northern auroral locations.