Spectral Deconvolution and Non-Overlap Bands Sampling for IMS-1 Hyperspectral Imager Data

In this paper, we attempt to realize ‘near true’ spectral signatures of the ground features achievable from IMS-1 hyperspectral Imager (HySI) by employing spectral deconvolution method. From spectral response function of 64 spectral bands, it is first inferred that their spectral bandwidths are higher than the Nyquist sampling, suggesting that the spectral details of ground features are likely to be affected. The proposed approach tries artificially to reduce effective bandwidth of each band, thereby resolving individual band spectrum separable for further spectroscopic investigation. The spectral bands are further sampled to non-overlapping 17 spectral bands at a sampling interval of 25 nm to enable extraction of unique spectral signatures of the ground features.     

Observations of the atmospheric surface layer parameters over a semi arid region during the solar eclipse of August 11th, 1999

This paper discusses the observations of the Atmospheric Surface Layer (ASL) parameters during the solar eclipse of August 11th, 1999. Intensive surface layer experiments were conducted at Ahmedabad (23‡21′N, 72‡36′E), the western part of India, which was close to the totality path. This rare event provided by nature is utilised to document the surface layer effects during the eclipse period using measurements of high frequency fluctuations of temperature, tri-axial wind components as well as mean parameters such as temperature, humidity, wind speed and subsoil temperature. Analysis showed that during the eclipse period, the turbulence parameters were affected leading to the suppression of the turbulence process, the main dynamic process in the atmospheric boundary layer, while the mean parameters showed variations within the natural variability of the observational period. The spectra of the wind components and temperature indicated decrease in spectral power by one order in magnitude during the eclipse period. The rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy is found to decrease by more than one order during the eclipse period. The stability parameter showed a change from unstable to stable condition during the period of eclipse and back to unstable condition by the end of eclipse     

Content analysis of documents using neural networks： A study of Antarctic science research articles published in international journals

Content analysis of scientific papers emanating from Antarctic science research during the 25 years period （1980-- 2004） has been carried out using neural network based algorithm-CATPAC. A total of 10 942 research articles published in Science Citation Indexed （SCI） journals were used for the study. Normalized co-word matrix from 35 most-used significant words was used to study the semantic association between the words. Structural Equivalence blocks were constructed from these 35 most-used words. Four-block model solution was found to be optimum. The density table was dichotomized using the mean density of the table to derive the binary matrix, which was used to construct the network map. Network maps represent the thematic character of the blocks. The blocks showed preferred connection in establishing semantic relationship with the blocks, characterizing thematic composition of Antarctic science research. The analysis has provided an analytical framework for carrying out studies on the con- tent of scientific articles. The paper has shown the utility of co-word analysis in highlighting the important areas of research in Antarctic science.     

利用MaxEnt研究印度中部秃鹫栖息地适宜性及气候变化的影响

秃鹫提供了宝贵的生态系统服务,在生态系统平衡中发挥着重要作用,但印度本土秃鹫数量在过去几年有所下降。掌握秃鹫栖息地的分布现状对于管理和防止秃鹫数量继续下降至关重要。可以预见,目前的气候危机可能会进一步导致秃鹫生境适宜性的变化,并影响现存的秃鹫种群。因此,本研究利用物种分布模型,对印度中部一个秃鹫栖息地的短期和长期变化进行预测,并以统计和图形的方式呈现数据。选择MaxEnt软件进行预测,是因为它与其他模型相比具有一定的优势,如只使用现有数据,在数据不完整、样本量小、样本间隙小等情况下表现良好。采用全球气候模式集成学习算法(CCSM4、Had GEM2AO和MIROC5)以获得更好的预测结果。14个稳健模型(AUC 0.864–0.892)是利用7个秃鹫种群(长喙、白臀、红头、银灰色、埃及秃鹫、喜马拉雅和欧亚狮鹫)在两个季节共1000多个地点的数据建立的。选定的气候(温度和降水)和环境变量(NDVI、海拔和土地利用/土地覆盖)被用于预测当前栖息地,未来的预测只基于气候变量。影响秃鹫栖息地分布的最重要变量是降水量(bio 15,bio 18,bio19)和温度(bio 3,bio 5)。在目前的预测中,森林和水体是影响土地利用的主要因素。在较小尺度上,随着时间的推移,极端适宜的栖息地面积减少,高度适宜的栖息地面积增加,总适宜栖息地面积在2050年略有增加,但到2070年有所减少。在更大的尺度上考虑,2050年适宜栖息地的净损失为5%,2070年为7.17%(RCP4.5)。相似的,在RCP8.5下,2050年适宜栖息地的净损失为6%,2070年为7.3%。研究结果可用于制定秃鹫的保护规划和管理,从而保护其免受未来的气候变化等威胁。     

Accretion flow dynamics during 1999 outburst of XTE J1859+226—modeling of broadband spectra and constraining the source mass

We examine the dynamical behavior of accretion flow around XTE J1859+226 during the 1999 outburst by analyzing the entire outburst data (～166 days) from RXTE Satellite. Towards this, we study the hysteresis behavior in the hardness intensity diagram (HID) based on the broadband (3–150 keV) spectral modeling, spectral signature of jet ejection and the evolution of Quasi-periodic Oscillation (QPO) frequencies using the two-component advective flow model around a black hole. We compute the flow parameters, namely Keplerian accretion rate (\({\dot{m}}_{d}\)), sub-Keplerian accretion rate (\({\dot{m}}_{h}\)), shock location (\(r_{s}\)) and black hole mass (\(M_{\mathit{bh}}\)) from the spectral modeling and study their evolution along the q-diagram. Subsequently, the kinetic jet power is computed as \(L^{\mathrm{obs}}_{\mathrm{jet}} \sim3\mbox{--}6 \times10^{37}~\mbox{erg}\,\mbox{s}^{-1}\) during one of the observed radio flares which indicates that jet power corresponds to 8–16% mass outflow rate from the disc. This estimate of mass outflow rate is in close agreement with the change in total accretion rate (～14%) required for spectral modeling before and during the flare. Finally, we provide a mass estimate of the source XTE J1859+226 based on the spectral modeling that lies in the range of 5.2–7.9 \(M_{\odot}\) with 90% confidence.     

Climate change and finger millet: Perception,trend and impact on yield in different ecological regions in Central Nepal

The views of local people on climate change along different ecological regions are relatively unexplored in Nepal. This study was conducted in 13 villages in central Nepal at different altitudes to document the views of small holder farmers and compare their perception with trends of climatic variables, finger millet yield, natural disasters, plant phenology(flowering and fruiting), status of forest and wild life, as well as the spread of diseases and pests. Analysis on the climatic data of stations for 36-41 years between 1975 and 2016 showed significant increases in the minimum temperature in lower tropical climatic region(500 m), upper tropical to subtropical climatic region(500-2000 m) and temperate climatic region(2000-3000 m) by 0.01, 0.026 and 0.054℃/year, respectively, and an increase of maximum temperature by 0.008, 0.018, and 0.019℃/year, respectively. Rainfall showed a strongly significant decreasing trend in all elevation regions. This result matches with the views of respondents except 38% respondent from temperate climatic region. People from the temperate climatic region also mentioned that current onset of snowfall is delayed but amount of snowfall remained the same. From the documented records, except events of wild fire, frequency of natural disasters events have increased in the recent years, which was in harmony with the views of local people. Multi-linear regression analysis showed that contribution of climatic variables on finger millet yield in lower tropical climatic region and upper tropical to subtropical regions was 23% and 57.3%, respectively, which was supported by increasing trend on average growing degree day(GDD) temperature at the rate of 0.01℃ in upper tropical to subtropical region and 0.007℃ in lower tropical climatic region yearly. Finger millet yield has been increasing at the rate of 7.39 and 36.9 kg/ha yearly in lower tropical climatic region and upper tropical to subtropical climatic region, respectively. This result provides deeper understanding of people's perception of causes and effects of climate change on diverse variables along different elevation and related magnitude which can contribute to policy making in Nepal.     

Predicting suitable habitat of an invasive weed Parthenium hysterophorus under future climate scenarios in Chitwan Annapurna Landscape,Nepal

Chitwan-Annapuma Landscape(CHAL)in central Nepal is known for its rich biodiversity and the landscape is expected to provide corridors for species range shift in response to climate change.Environmental assessments have identified biological invasions and other anthropogenic activities as major threats to the biodiversity in the CHAL.One of the rapidly spreading Invasive Alien Plant species(IAPs)in the CHAL is Parthenium hysterophorus L.,a neotropical invasive weed of global significance.This study aimed to investigate the current and future projected suitable habitat of P.hysterophorus in the CHAL using MaxEnt modelling in three"Representative Concentration Pathways"(RCPs 2.6,4.5 and 8.5)corresponding to different greenhouse gases emissiontrajectories for the year 2050 and 2070.A total of 288species occurrence points,six bioclimatic variablesmean diurnal range,isothermality,annual precipitation,precipitation of driest month,precipitation seasonality,precipitation of driest quarter and two topographic variables(aspect and slope)were selected for MaxEnt modelling.Potential range shift in terms of increase or decline in the suitable habitat areas under the projected scenarios were calculated.Slope and annual precipitation were the most important variables that explained the current distribution of P.hysterophorus.Twenty percent of the total area of CHAL was predicted to be suitable habitat for the growth of P.hysterophorus in the current climatic condition.Highest gain in the suitable habitat of this noxious weed was found under RCP 4.5 scenario in 2050 and 2070.whereas there will be a loss in thesuitable habitat under RCP 8.5 scenario in 2050 and2070.Out of four physiographic regions present in CHAL,three regions-Siwalik,Middle Mountain and High Mountain have suitable habitat for P.hysterophorus under current climatic condition.The mountainous region is likely to be affected more than the Siwalik region by further spread of P.fhysteropfhorus in the future under low(RCP 2.6)to medium(RCP 4.5)emission scenarios.The suitable habitat for this weed is likely to increase in the protected areas of mountain regions(Langtang National Park,Annapurna Conservation Area and Manaslu Conservation Area)in the future.The results have revealed a risk of spreading P.hysterophorus from present localities to non-invaded areas in the current and future climatic condition.Such risk needs to be considered by decision makers and resource managers while planning for effective management of this weed to reduce its ecological and economic impacts in the CHAL.