List of forthcoming papers

List of forthcoming papers     

Thermal instability and transport effects in comets

The localized ion density depletion region observed at comet Halley can be understood in terms of a thermal instability of the cometary plasma due to the excitation of rotational and vibrational levels of water molecules. The electron energy losses due to these processes peak near 4000 K and at higher temperatures a localized cooling leads to the thermal instability due to the increased radiation loss. The resulting increase in recombination leads to the ion density depletion and the estimates for this depletion at comet Halley agree with the observations. The transport effects at the density depletion region due to the diffusion and thermal conductivity are found have time scales larger than the instability time scale and does not affect the formation of the depletion region.     

Seasonal and annual trends of carbonaceous species of PM<Subscript>10</Subscript> over a megacity Delhi,India during 2010–2017

PM₁₀ samples were collected to characterize the seasonal and annual trends of carbonaceous content in PM₁₀ at an urban site of megacity Delhi, India from January 2010 to December 2017. Organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) concentrations were quantified by thermal-optical transmission (TOT) method of PM₁₀ samples collected at Delhi. The average concentrations of PM₁₀, OC, EC and TCA (total carbonaceous aerosol) were 222?±?87 (range: 48.2–583.8 μg m^?3), 25.6?±?14.0 (range: 4.2–82.5 μg m^?3), 8.7?±?5.8 (range: 0.8–35.6 μg m^?3) and 54.7?±?30.6 μg m^?3 (range: 8.4–175.2 μg m^?3), respectively during entire sampling period. The average secondary organic carbon (SOC) concentration ranged from 2.5–9.1 μg m^?3 in PM₁₀, accounting from 14 to 28% of total OC mass concentration of PM₁₀. Significant seasonal variations were recorded in concentrations of PM₁₀, OC, EC and TCA with maxima during winter and minima during monsoon seasons. In the present study, the positive linear trend between OC and EC were recorded during winter (R²?=?0.53), summer (R²?=?0.59) and monsoon (R²?=?0.78) seasons. This behaviour suggests the contribution of similar sources and common atmospheric processes in both the fractions. OC/EC weight ratio suggested that vehicular emissions, fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning could be the major sources of carbonaceous aerosols of PM₁₀ at the megacity Delhi, India. Trajectory analysis indicates that the air mass approches to the sampling site is mainly from Indo Gangetic plain (IGP) region (Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab etc.), Thar desert, Afghanistan, Pakistan and surrounding areas.     

Fog forecasting using rule-based fuzzy inference system

Operational meteorology is perceived as a fuzzy environment in which information is vaguely defined. The mesoscale processes such as fog, stratus and convection are generally dependent on the topography of the place and has always been difficult to forecast for the meteorologists. The main objective of the present study is to introduce the concept of fuzzy inference system (FIS) in the prediction of fog. This approach uses the concept of a pure fuzzy logic system where the fuzzy rule base consists of a collection of fuzzy IF-THEN rules. The fuzzy inference engine uses these fuzzy IF-THEN rules to determine a mapping from fuzzy sets in the input universe of discourse to fuzzy sets in the output universe of discourse based on fuzzy logic principles. Basic weather elements, which affect weather characteristics of fog, are fuzzified. These are then used in fuzzy weather prediction models based on fuzzy inferences. These models are simulated and the crisp results obtained using developed defuzzification strategies are compared with the actual weather data. The basis of methodology is to construct the fuzzy rule base domain from the available daily current weather observations in winter season over New Delhi. The results reveal that dew point spread and rate of change of dew point spread are the most important parameters for the formation of fog. The results further indicate that fog formation over New Delhi are dominant when (i) dew point is greater then 7°C along with dew point spread between 1 and 3°C. (ii) rate of change of dew point spread must be negative and wind speed should be less than 4 knots. This study presents a technique for predicting the probability of fog over New Delhi for 5–6 hours in advance. The skill score indicates that the performance of FIS is appreciably good. The method is found to be promising for operational application.     

Perturbations to the Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of the Diurnally-Varying Atmospheric Boundary Layer Due to an Extensive Wind Farm

The effect of extensive terrestrial wind farms on the spatio-temporal structure of the diurnally-evolving atmospheric boundary layer is explored. High-resolution large-eddy simulations of a realistic diurnal cycle with an embedded wind farm are performed. Simulations are forced by a constant geostrophic velocity with time-varying surface boundary conditions derived from a selected period of the CASES-99 field campaign. Through analysis of the bulk statistics of the flow as a function of height and time, it is shown that extensive wind farms shift the inertial oscillations and the associated nocturnal low-level jet vertically upwards by approximately 200 m; cause a three times stronger stratification between the surface and the rotor-disk region, and as a consequence, delay the formation and growth of the convective boundary layer (CBL) by approximately 2 h. These perturbations are shown to have a direct impact on the potential power output of an extensive wind farm with the displacement of the low-level jet causing lower power output during the night as compared to the day. The low-power regime at night is shown to persist for almost 2 h beyond the morning transition due to the reduced growth of the CBL. It is shown that the wind farm induces a deeper entrainment region with greater entrainment fluxes. Finally, it is found that the diurnally-averaged effective roughness length for wind farms is much lower than the reference value computed theoretically for neutral conditions.     

Relationships of surface ozone with its precursors,particulate matter and meteorology over Delhi

Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry - The paper presents the temporal variations of surface ozone (O3) and its precursors (oxides of nitrogen (NOX), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4) and non-methane...     

Force-directed layout of origin-destination flow maps

This paper introduces a force-directed layout method for creating origin-destination flow maps. Design principles derived from manual cartography and automated graph drawing to increase readability of flow maps and graph layouts are taken into account. The origin-destination flow maps produced with our algorithm show flows with quadratic Bézier curves that reduce flow-on-flow and flow-on-node overlaps, and avoid sharp or irregular bends in flow lines. A survey of expert cartographers found that flow maps created with our automated method are similar in quality to manually produced flow maps.     

Cosmogenic chlorine-36 production rates in terrestrial rocks

Chlorine-36 is produced in rocks exposed to cosmic rays at the earth surface through thermal neutron activation of ³⁵Cl, spallation of ³⁹K and ⁴⁰Ca, and slow negative moun capture by ⁴⁰Ca. We have measured the ³⁶Cl content of ¹⁴C-dated glacial boulders from the White Mountains in eastern California and in a ¹⁴C-dated basalt flow from Utah. Effective, time-intergrated production parameters were calculated by simultaneous solution of the ³⁶Cl production equations. The production rates due to spallation are 4160 ± 310 and 3050 ± 210 atoms ³⁶Cl yr⁻¹ mol⁻¹³⁹K and ⁴⁰Ca, respectively. The thermal neutron capture rate was calculated to be (3.07 ± 0.24) × 10⁵ neutrons (kg of rock)⁻¹ yr⁻¹. The reported values are normalized to sea level and high geomagnetic latitudes. Production of ³⁶Cl at different altitudes and latitudes can be estimated by appropriate scaling of the sea level rates. Chlorine-36 dating was performed on carbonate ejecta from Meteor Crater, Arizona, and late Pleistocene morainal boulders from the Sierra Nevada, California. Calculated ³⁶Cl ages are in good agreement with previously reported ages obtained using independent methods.     

Accumulation of DDT Residues in the Testes of Channa punctatus (Bloch): A Gas Liquid Chromatographic Analysis

Residues of DDT isomers accumulated in the testes of Channa punctatus (BLOCH) were quantitatively estimated by exposing the fish to 2.5 ppm sublethal concentration for 32 days. The study revealed a high accumulation of DDT residues in the testes. The maximum concentration of residues was noted on the 32nd day of the experiment. The DDT isomer accumulated in maximum concentrations was followed by DDE and DDD isomers. The maximum residue concentrations were 0.3221 ppm (DDT), 0.1119 ppm (DDE) and 0.0695 ppm (DDD) on the 32nd day of the experiment. The total DDT residue concentration at the final interval was 0.563 ppm.