Flood risk mapping for the lower Narmada basin in India: a machine learning and IoT-based framework

Natural Hazards - Floods have a significant economic, social, and environmental impact in developing countries like India. Settlements in flood hazard zones increase flood risk due to a lack of...     

Impact of dust storm on the atmospheric boundary layer: a case study from western India

Natural Hazards - The present study focuses on investigating the impacts of a sudden dust storm on the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over Ahmedabad (23.02°N, 72.57°E), an urban site...     

Estimation of site response functions for the central seismic gap of Himalaya,India

Natural Hazards - In the analysis of seismic hazards of a particular region, the site response functions play a significant role. Site response functions for the central seismic gap become more...     

Impact of SARAL/AltiKa-Derived Sea Level Anomaly in a Data Assimilative Ocean Prediction System for the Indian Ocean

The impact of SARAL/AltiKa derived sea level anomaly (SLA) has been studied by assimilating it along with Jason-2 and Cryosat-2 SLA in the Princeton Ocean model (POM) using ensemble optimal interpolation (EnOI) technique. For isolating the extra benefit brought by SARAKL/Altika, a parallel run with assimilation of only Jason-2 and Cryosat-2 SLA has also been conducted. The importance of SARAL SLA in a data assimilative ocean prediction system has been evaluated with special emphasis on the improvement in thermocline depth, depth of the 20° isotherm, subsurface temperature and currents. Comparison with RAMA buoy has shown a positive impact of up to 13% for 20°C isotherm and up to 17% for thermocline depth after assimilating SARAL SLA. An overall improvement in temperature profile is also observed when compared with analogous profiles from RAMA buoys and Argo floats. Improvement in zonal currents away from the equator has also been noticed.     

Validation of SWH and SSHA from SARAL/AltiKa Using Jason-2 and In-Situ Observations

The focus of this study is the validation of significant wave height (SWH) and sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) obtained from the first Ka-band altimeter AltiKa onboard SARAL (Satellite for ARGOS and Altimeters). It is a collaborative mission of the Indian Space Research Organization and Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). This is done using in-situ observations from buoy and Jason-2 measurements. Validation using buoy observations are at particular locations while that using Jason-2 altimeter is an attempt towards global validation of Altika products. The results clearly indicate that the SARAL/AltiKa provide high-quality data and the errors are within a predefined range of accuracy. A parallel validation of SWH from other altimeters, which monitored ocean since last decade, like EnviSAT and Jason-2 was also performed with buoy observations. The results clearly show that the accuracy of AltiKa SWH is much better than EnviSAT and comparable to reference mission Jason-2. The accuracy is quite good for the calm sea while in the rough seas the accuracy degrades some. The inter-comparison of SARAL/AltiKa SSHA with Jason-2 indicates a fair match between them. These validation exercises demonstrate the high quality of AltiKa products, usable for practical applications.     

Dissociation constants of protonated methionine species in seawater media

The dissociation constants (pK₁ and pK₂) for methionine have been measured in artificial seawater as a function of salinity (S = 5 to 35) and temperature (5 to 45 °C). The seawater pK₂ values were lower than the values in NaCl at the same ionic strength while the pK₁ values in seawater were lower only at S = 35. In an attempt to understand these differences, we have made measurements of the constants in Na–Mg–Cl solutions at 25 °C. The measured values have been used to determine the formation of Mg²⁺ complexes and Pitzer interaction parameters for Mg²⁺ with methionine. The seawater model with the interaction parameters accounts for the differences between the value of pK₁ and pK₂ between NaCl and seawater. This study demonstrates that it is important to consider all of the ionic interactions in natural waters when examining the dissociation of organic acids.     

Influence of natural and anthropogenic activities on UV Index variations – a study over tropical urban region using ground based observations and satellite data

Measurements of total ozone column and solar UV radiation under different atmospheric conditions are needed to define variations of both UV and ozone and to study the impact of ozone depletion at the Earth’s surface. In this study, spectral and broadband measurements of UV-B irradiance were obtained along with total ozone observations and aerosol optical depth measurements in the tropical urban region of Hyderabad, south India. We specifically used an Ultra-Violet Multifilter Rotating Shadow band Radiometer (UVMFR-SR), to measure UV irradiance in time and space. To assess the aerosol and O₃ effects on ground-reaching UV irradiance, we used measurements from a Microtops II sun photometer in addition to the Tropospheric Ultraviolet Visible radiation (TUV) model. We also assessed the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program – Operational Line Scanner (DMSP-OLS) night time satellite data for inferring biomass burning fires during the study period. Results clearly suggested a negative correlation between the DMSP-OLS satellite derived fire count data and UVMFR-SR data suggesting that aerosols from biomass burning are directly attenuating UV irradiance in the study region. Also, correlation analysis between UV index and ozone measurements from sun photometer and TOMS-Ozone Mapping Instrument (OMI) indicated a clear decrease in ground reaching UV-B irradiance during higher ozone conditions. The higher levels are attributed to photochemical production of O₃ during the oxidation of trace gases emitted from biomass burning. Results also suggested a relatively high attenuation in UV irradiance (~6% higher) from smoke particles than dust. We also found a relatively good agreement between the modeled (TUV) and measured UV irradiance spectra for different atmospheric conditions. Our results highlight the factors affecting UV irradiance in a tropical urban environment, south India.     

Variations in CO,O<Subscript>3</Subscript> and black carbon aerosol mass concentrations associated with planetary boundary layer (PBL) over tropical urban environment in India

Carbon monoxide (CO), Ozone (O₃) and Black Carbon (BC) aerosol mass concentrations in relation to planetary boundary layer (PBL) height measurements were analyzed from January–December, 2008 over tropical urban environment of Hyderabad, India. DMSP-OLS night-time satellite data were analyzed for fire occurrence over the region and its correlation with pollution concentrations over the urban region. Results of the study suggested considerable increase in CO and BC concentrations during early morning hours. Higher concentration of BC, CO and ozone was observed during pre-monsoon, post-monsoon and winter and lowest concentrations exhibited during monsoon season. NCEP/NCAR reanalysis winds suggested long range transport of aerosols and trace gases from forest fires are enhancing the pollutant concentrations over the study area.     

The Kinetics of the Interaction Between Iron(III)-Ethylenediaminetetraacetate and Peroxynitrite

The kinetics of the formation of the purple-colored species between Fe^III-EDTA and peroxynitrite were studied as a function of pH (10.4–12.3) at 22°C in aqueous solutions using a stopped-flow technique. A purple-colored species was immediately formed upon mixing, which had an absorbance maximum at 520 nm. The increase in absorbance with time could be fit empirically by a power function with two parameters a and b. The power equation determined was absorbance = a*t ^b , where a increased linearly with pH and the concentration of peroxynitrite, while b almost remained constant with a value of ~0.25. The molar extinction coefficient ε_520 nm for the colored species was determined as 13 M⁻¹cm⁻¹, which is much lower than ε_520 nm = 520 M⁻¹ cm⁻¹ for the [Fe^III(EDTA)O₂]³⁻, a purple species observed in the Fe^III–EDTA–H₂O₂ system. The results of kinetics and spectral measurements of the present study are briefly discussed and compared with those of the reaction between Fe(III)-EDTA and hydrogen peroxide.