Dust drift shock waves with non-Maxwellian ion population in nonuniform collisional dusty plasmas in planetary environments

Linear and nonlinear propagation of dust drift waves are investigated in the presence of Cairns and Kappa distributed ion population and Boltzmannian electrons. It is found the frequency of the dust drift wave is greatest for the Cairns, intermediate for Kappa and the least for the Maxwellian distributed ions. Using the drift approximation, a nonlinear equation is derived for the dust drift shock waves which reduces to a Korteweg-de Vries-Burgers (KdVB)-like equation in the comoving frame of reference. The solution of the KdVB-like equation is obtained using the tanh method. It is found that the non-Maxwellian ion population, dust neutral collision frequency as well as the inverse dust density scale length inhomogeneity alter the propagation characteristics of the nonlinear dust drift shock waves. Interestingly, it is found that the non-Maxwellian ion population modifies the scale lengths over which the nonlinear structures are formed. The work presented here may be useful to understand the low frequency electrostatic shock waves in inhomogeneous dusty plasmas such as those found in planetary environments.     

Shear flow driven counter rotating vortices in an inhomogeneous dusty magnetoplasma

The coupling of Shukla-Varma (SV) and convective cell modes is discussed in the presence of non-Boltzmannian electron response and parallel equilibrium shear flow. In the linear case, a new dispersion relation is derived and analyzed. It is found that the coupled SV and convective cell modes destabilize in the presence of electron shear flow. On the other hand, in the nonlinear regime, it is shown that Shukla-Varma mode driven counter rotating vortices can be formed for the system under consideration. It is found that these vortices move slowly by comparison with the ion acoustic or electron drift-wave driven counter rotating vortices. The relevance of the present investigation with regard to space plasmas is also pointed out.     

Recent Sea Level and Sea Surface Temperature Changes Along the Maldives Coast

Maldives, a South Asian small island nation in the northern part of the Indian Ocean is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of Sea Level Rise (SLR) due to its low altitude from the mean sea level. This artricle attempts to estimate the recent rates of SLR in Maldives during different seasons of the year with the help of existing tidal data recorded in the Maldives coast. Corresponding Sea Surface Temperature (SST) trends, utilizing reliable satellite climatology, have also been obtained. The relationships between the SST and mean sea level have been comprehensively investigated. Results show that recent sea level trends in the Maldives coast are very high. At Male, the capital of the Republic of Maldives, the rising rates of Mean Tidal Level (MTL) are: 8.5, 7.6, and 5.8 mm/year during the postmonsoon (October-December), Premonsoon (March-May) and southwest monsoon (June-September) seasons respectively. At Gan, a station very close to the equator, the increasing rate of MTL is maximum during the period from June to September (which is 6.2 mm/year). These rising trends in MTL along the Maldives coast are certainly alarming for this small developing island nation, which is hardly one meter above the mean sea level. Thus there is a need for careful monitoring of future sea level changes in the Maldives coast. The trends presented are based on the available time-series of MTL for the Maldives coast, which are rather short. These trends need not necessarily reflect the long-term scenario. SST in the Maldives coast has also registered significant increasing trend during the period from June to September. There are large seasonal variations in the SST trends at Gan but SST and MTL trends at Male are consistently increasing during all the seasons and the rising rates are very high. The interannual mode of variation is prominent both in SST as well as MTL. Annual profile of MTL along the Maldives coast is bimodal, having two maxima during April and July. The April Mode is by far the dominant one. The SST appears to be the main factor governing the sea level variations along the Maldives coast. The influence of SST and sea level is more near the equatorial region (i.e., at Gan). There is lag of about two months for the maximum influence of SST on the sea level. The correlation coefficient between the smoothed SST and mean tidal level at Gan with lag of two months is as high as ~ +0.8, which is highly significant. The corresponding correlation coefficients at Male with the lags of one and two months are +0.5 and +0.3, respectively. Thus, the important finding of the present work for the Maldives coast is the dominance of SST factor in sea level variation, especially near the region close to the equator.     

Multi-temporal annual soil loss risk mapping employing Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model in Nun Nadi Watershed, Uttrakhand (India)

The present comparative study is multi-temporal in nature. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), remote sensing, and GIS were used to model the soil loss estimation for soil conservation and vegetation rehabilitation in Nun Nadi watershed for the years 2000 and 2009. The estimated mean soil loss for the year 2000 and 2009 is 3,283.11 and 1,419.39 Mg?ha^?1 year^?1, respectively. The study finds that about 80 % area has low or least risk of erosion and about 7 % is exposed to high or very high risk which indicates the improvement in terms of soil loss if we compare the data of both the time periods. The findings show that the rainfall, LULC change, and elevation are the main responsible factors for the soil loss in Nun Nadi watershed. Conservation measures have been adopted; however, the problem still remains serious and demands urgent attention.     

Incorporation of directivity effect in probabilistic seismic hazard analysis and disaggregation of Tabriz city

Near-field ground-motion records affected by directivity may show unusual features in the signal resulting in low-frequency cycle pulses in the velocity time history. Current probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) is not able to predict such effects well; recent studies thus have proposed modified frameworks to incorporate pulse effect in modified PSHA. This paper attempts to carry out the seismic hazard mapping of Tabriz city according to modified and ordinary PSHA for different return periods. Tabriz, located in northwest of Iran, is situated in the vicinity of the North Tabriz Fault, which is one of the major seismogenic faults. Disaggregation results indicate that including pulse-like effects in PSHA, increases the relative contribution of close distances and small epsilons (?). Another major probable result is the high contribution of pulse periods close to spectral period. The contributions to each earthquake scenario at long-period spectral acceleration shift to larger magnitudes with including the pulse effects.     

An approach to digitize analog form of accelerograms recorded at Tarbela—Pakistan

Pakistan has a long history of seismological activity. The devastation caused by Kashmir earthquake has been administered all over the world. In Pakistan first seismological network, consisting of analog accelerograms and seismographs, was setup in early 1969 at Tarbela, where the largest water reservoir of the country is located. An approach to convert analog ground motion records into digital form is explained using a simple technique. The digitized data was compared with the original analog record and found in good agreement. The data has been used to plot response spectra. The digitized data will be available for seismic response analysis of structures and seismic risk analysis of the region.     

Sea Level Changes Along Bangladesh Coast in Relation to the Southern Oscillation Phenomenon

Interannual variations of sea level along the Bangladesh coast are quite pronounced and often dominate the long-term sea level trends that are taking place. The El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) induced variation is an important component of interannual mode of variations. The present article deals with the relationship between the sea level variations along the Bangladesh coast and the Southern Oscillation phenomenon. The mean tide level data of monsoon season (June to September) pertaining to Hiron Point (in Sundarbans) and Char Changa (on the mouth of Meghna River) have been analyzed and correlated to the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). The annual variation of mean tide level in the coastal areas of Bangladesh reveals that the tide level reaches its peak during the monsoon season. The maximum tide level during the calendar year is recorded in August. Thus, it is not surprising that the inundation of the coastal belt of Bangladesh due to the floods is most common during the summer monsoon season, especially from July to September. Therefore, the sea level variations during the monsoon are of paramount importance to Bangladesh. The results of the present study show that both at Hiron Point and Char Changa there is a substantial difference between the mean tide level during the El Niño and La Niña monsoons. The mean tide level at Hiron Point is higher by about 5 cm during August of La Niña years as compared to that during the El Niño years. The difference at Char Changa, which is located at the mouth of Meghna River, is much higher. This is probably due to the increased fresh water discharge into the Meghna River during La Niña years. Thus at the time of crossing of a monsoon depression, the chances of widespread inundation are higher during a La Nin~a year as compared to that during an El Niño year. The Correlation Coefficients (CCs) between Mean Tide Levels (MTLs) at Hiron Point and Char Changa and the SOI during September (at the end of monsoon) are +0.33 and +0.39 respectively. These CCs are statistically significant at 90% and 95% levels, respectively. These results may find applications in the preparedness programs for combating sea level associated disasters in Bangladesh.     

Assessment of Land use/land cover Change in the North-West District of Delhi Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

Land is one of the prime natural resources. A city grows not only by population but also by changes in spatial dimensions. Urban population growth and urban sprawl induced land use changes and land transformation. The land transformation is a natural process and cannot be stopped but it can be regulated. Many geographical changes at the urban periphery are associated with the transfer of land from rural to urban purpose. There is an urgent need for fast growing areas like Delhi, which can be easily done by high-resolution remote sensing data. Land use/land cover of North West of Delhi has been analyzed for the time period of 1972?C2003. The remote sensing data used in study is Aster image of 2003 with a spatial resolution of 15?m and other data of 1972 Survey of India (SOI) toposheet at the scale of 1:50,000. Supervised digital classification using maximum likelihood classifier was applied for preparing land use/land cover. A change detection model was applied in ERDAS Imagine to find out the land use/land cover during 1972 to 2003. Eight land use classes was identified but main dominated classes were built up and agricultural land. A drastic change has been recorded during 30 years of time i. e. (1972-2003). In 1972, 92.06% of the land was under agricultural practice, which reduced to 64.71% in 2003. This shows 27.35% decrease in agricultural land in three decades. On the other hand built up area was 6.31% in 1972, which increased to 34% in 2003. One of the main cause of this land use change is the population growth due to the migration in the district from small cities and rural areas of Delhi.     

Shear flow driven tripolar vortices in a nonuniform electron-ion magnetoplasma with non-Maxwellian electrons

A set of nonlinear equations governing the dynamics of finite amplitude drift-ion acoustic-waves is derived for sheared ion flows parallel and perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field in the presence of Cairns and Kappa distributed electrons. It is shown that stationary solution of the nonlinear equations can be represented in the form of a tripolar vortex for specific profiles of the equilibrium sheared flows. The tripolar vortices are, however, observed to form on a scale of the order of ion Larmor radius ρ _i which is calculated to be around a Kilometer for the plasma parameters found in the Saturn’s E-ring. The relevance of the present investigation in planetary environments is also pointed out.