华北和印度夏季风降水变化的对比分析

 利用华北和印度夏季降水资料,采用趋势分析、小波变换等方法,对两地区夏季风降水进行了对比分析。结果表明：1) 华北和印度夏季风降水量都存在线性减少倾向,但华北更为显著,减少达16 mm/10 a;2) 华北和印度夏季风降水变化都以18 a周期为主,近年都有逐渐缩短的趋势,而印度的这种周期缩短得比华北更快,近年降水变化周期接近15 a;3) 华北和印度夏季风降水变化在1956、1976、1992/1993年发生了趋势转折;4) 华北和印度降水量主要集中在6-9月,夏季风降水特征非常明显,但两地变化特征表现不尽相同。     

Modelling long-term HFC emissions from India's residential air-conditioning sector: exploring implications of alternative refrigerants,best practices,and a sustainable lifestyle within an integrated assessment modelling framework

India's growing role in the global climate debate makes it imperative to analyse emission reduction policies and strategies across a range of GHGs, especially for under-researched non-CO₂ gases. Hydrofluorocarbons' (HFCs) usage in cooling equipment and subsequent emissions are expected to increase dramatically in India with the phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) as coolants in air-conditioning equipment. We focus on the residential air-conditioning sector in India and analyse a suite of HFC and alternative coolant gas scenarios for understanding the implications for GHG emissions from this sector within an integrated assessment modelling framework. We find that, if unabated, HFC410A emissions will contribute to 36% of the total global warming impact from the residential air-conditioner sector in India in 2050, irrespective of the future economic growth trajectory, and the remaining 64% is from energy to power residential air-conditioners. A move towards more efficient, low global warming potential (GWP) alternative refrigerants will significantly reduce the cumulative global warming footprint of this sector by 37% during the period 2010–2050, due to gains both from energy efficiency as well as low GWP alternatives. Best practices for reducing direct emissions are important, but only of limited utility, and if a sustainable lifestyle is adopted by consumers with lower floorspace, low GWP refrigerants, and higher building envelope efficiencies, cumulative emissions during 2010–2050 can be reduced by 46% compared to the Reference scenario.

Policy relevance

Our analysis has important implications for Indian climate policy. We highlight that the Indian government's amendment proposal to the Montreal Protocol is a strong signal to the Indian market that the transition away from high GWP refrigerants towards low/zero GWP alternatives will happen sooner or later. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency should extend building energy conservation code policy to residential buildings immediately, and the government should mandate it. Government authorities should set guidelines and mandate reporting of data related to air-conditioner coolant recharge frequency and recovery of scrapped air-conditioner units. For contentious issues like flammability where there is no consensus within the industry, the government needs to undertake an independent technical assessment that can provide unbiased and reliable information to the market.     

Spatio-temporal dynamics of land cover and land surface temperature in Ganges-Brahmaputra delta: A comparative analysis between India and Bangladesh

Land use and land cover (LULC) change in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta (GBD) poses significant challenges towards future environmental sustainability of the region and requires regional scale monitoring of key bio-physical variables and changes in their inter-relationship over space and time. Focusing on the southern part of the lower GBD region along the international border of India and Bangladesh, this study examined the spatio-temporal variability of LULC change and its relationship with Land Surface Temperature (LST). Furthermore, LULC-LST relationships were compared between Indian and Bangladesh part and its trend in and around big cities (with more than 1 million population) and towns (with more than 100,000 population) was investigated. Results showed that LST changes were predominantly driven by LULC changes on both sides of the border. Urban growth is the dominant form of LULC change, and the rate of land change was faster in 2005–2010 time period than 1989–2005. Over the period of 21 years, mean January LST decreased by approximately 1.83 °C in Indian part and 1.85 °C in the Bangladesh part. Areas that changed from to rural from agricultural experienced decrease in mean LST, whereas those areas that changed to urban from either agriculture or rural, experienced increase in mean LST. The relationship between LULC and LST are same on both sides of the Indo-Bangladesh border. In bigger cities like Kolkata (in India) and Khulna (in Bangladesh), there is a high spatial variability in relationship between LULC and LST compared to large towns. The LULC-LST relationship in large towns in India was influenced by proximity to Kolkata and coastal areas, whereas in Bangladesh no such influence was evident. The results and the data produced in this study are crucial for monitoring LULC changes, for developing spatial decision support system, and thus will be helpful to address the current challenges of land management in the GBD region. Changes in the LULC and LST are important indicators of GBD's environmental health and access its vulnerability and thus the present findings serve as baseline information for future studies seeking to examine the impact of differential policies on the LULC change in the region.     

印度海上战略通道的新动向、动因及影响

作为印度洋沿岸的国家,随着2015年《确保海洋安全：海洋安全战略》的出台,印度进一步拓展了海上战略通道,主要体现在三个方面：重视南太平洋海上战略通道、拓展大西洋地区海上战略通道、重视北极地区这一新航道的价值。究其原因,印度追求大国地位、参与全球海洋治理的需要以及保障能源进口多元化是其拓展海上战略通道的主要动因。印度对于海上战略通道的拓展一方面将加剧大国对于海上战略通道的争夺态势,另一方面,将有助于国际社会共同建设维护海上战略通道安全的机制。     

印度暴力袭击事件的时空演变及其驱动机制

基于全球恐怖主义数据库（GTD）和南亚恐怖主义门户网站（SATP）所收录的印度暴力袭击事件数据,借助统计分析和核密度分析法,对1980—2017年印度暴力袭击事件时空演变及其驱动机制进行分析。结果表明：印度国内的暴力袭击事件频发,1980年以来呈现出波动上升态势。从空间上看,印度国内的暴力袭击事件具有自西到东、从北到南以及由边境地区向内地发展的扩散特点,展现出局部集中、面上扩散的发展趋势;呈现出以西北部的查馍-克什米尔地区和旁遮普邦、东北部的阿萨姆邦和曼尼普尔邦、中部的恰蒂斯格尔邦和东部的贾坎德邦、比哈尔邦和西孟加拉邦为主的四大集聚中心;形成以印度河上游—恒河—布拉马普特拉河一线为横轴,东高止山脉及其北部山区为纵轴的“T”字形空间格局。印度暴力袭击事件的时空演变受到身份认同、经济问题、历史问题和利益诉求等多方面因素的影响,通过宗教极端主义组织、民族分离主义组织、武装革命主义组织推动以及行动主体之间的互相作用,推动了暴力袭击事件的时空演变。要从根本上解决印度国内暴力袭击事件频发的态势,需要从政治、经济、宗教、社会等多方面进行综合施策。     

A multi‐dimensional analysis of the impacts of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: A tale from Tamil Nadu

This paper provides a multi‐dimensional analysis of the impacts of the Indian Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme using a case study from rural Tamil Nadu. Drawing on structured interviews in households and semi‐structured interviews with local employers and officials, we analyse the effects of the workfare scheme when it is widely and properly implemented. We distinguish between different conceptualizations of the work scheme as a means of welfare provision, labour market policy and intervention directed towards other objectives. We found that the goals of the scheme were fulfilled unevenly in the given context. Among other findings, we show that positive effects on the welfare of participating and non‐participating households were accompanied by adverse effects on the local economy and negligible impact on out‐migration for work.     

Commentary: Neoliberal Landscapes of Deception: Detroit,Ford Field,and the Ford Motor Company

Microfinance is often presented as a solution to rural poverty. However, increasingly, many countries across the world are turning to it as a mechanism for dealing with the contingencies arising from the marketization of basic services and shrinking welfare provisions. Using examples of urban microfinance from India, this essay shows how, through microfinance, market rationalities are increasingly finding their way into food and housing provision for the urban poor and are displacing social relations that have traditionally sustained them.     

Dimorphism in Placenticeras mintoi from the Upper Cretaceous Bagh Beds, central India

The Upper Cretaceous Bagh Beds yield many biota of which ammonoids are particularly well known. Previously Bagh ammonoids were grouped into many genera and species within several families. The present study, however, shows that failure to recognize dimorphism and a wide range of interspecific variation within the single genus Placenticeras perhaps results in taxonomic oversplitting. Specific dimorphism in P. mintoi has been established.     

Geochemical characterization of the Paleoproterozoic (ca. 1.98-1.97) Darguwan-Surajpura mafic sills within the Bijawar basin,North-Central India: Genetic aspects and geodynamic implications

The widespread records of mafic intrusives (both sills and dykes) are reported from the Proterozoic sedimentary basins of the Indian Shield. Amongst them, the Bijawar basin is also intruded by Paleoproterozoic (ca. 1.98−1.97 Ga) mafic sills. We provide first hand information on petrological and geochemical characteristics of these mafic sills together with a few NW-trending mafic dykes belong to the Jhansi swarm emplaced within the Bundelkhand craton, adjacent to the Bijawar basin. These Paleoproterzoic mafic intrusive rocks, i.e. sills and dykes, are believed to be integral parts of the Jhansi LIP, identified in the Bundelkhand craton. The studied mafic magmatic samples are medium- to coarse-grained and contain doleritic mineral compositions and textures. Geochemically, the mafic sill samples of the Bijawar basin, which belong to the Darguwan-Surjapura mafic sills (DSMS), are sub-alkaline basaltic-andesite to andesite in character. They are co-genetic in nature and show close geochemical similarities with a set of NW-trending mafic dykes (low-Ti) emplaced in the Bundelkhand craton. On the other hand, another set of NW-trending mafic dykes (high-Ti) of the Bundelkhand craton have distinct geochemical nature; likely to have different genetic history. The rare-earth element contents and trace-element modeling suggest that the DSMS and low-Ti dyke samples are likely to be derived from a melt generated ≥20 % melting of a shallower mantle source (spinel stability field), whereas the high-Ti dyke samples show their derivation from a melt generated through ≤15 % melting of the similar mantle source but at deeper level (garnet or garnet-spinel transition stability field); with a substantiate percentage of olivine fractionation of melts before crystallization. Their emplacement in an intracratonic tectonic regime and role of plume in the genesis of these rocks are suggested. The geochemical signature also indicates the role of an ancient (Archean) subduction event that has metasomatized the mantle before the cratonization. Their spatiotemporal correlation with other similar magmatic events of the globe indicate that the Bundelkhand craton was closer to the Karelia-Kola craton (Baltica Shield), North China craton and northern Superior craton, which could be part of the Columbia supercontinent, during its assembly.     

Nutrient chemistry of groundwater in an intensively irrigated region of southern India

The concentration of nutrients in groundwater acts as an indicator to identify the influence of agricultural activities on the shallow subsurface environment. Hence, the present study was carried out to assess nutrient concentration (nitrate, phosphate and potassium) and understand its spatial and seasonal variations in the groundwater of Palar and Cheyyar River basin, Tamil Nadu, India. The groundwater samples collected from 43 wells were analyzed for nutrients once a month from January 1998 to June 1999. Results of the study suggested that agricultural activities, including application of fertilizers, soil mineralization processes and irrigation return flow, are major processes regulating the nutrients chemistry in the groundwater of this region. Groundwater in the sedimentary formation has comparatively higher concentration of nutrients than the groundwater in hard rock formations, which seems to be due to the adsorption of nutrients by the weathered rock materials. The seasonal water level fluctuation shows that rising water level increases nutrients concentration in groundwater due to the agriculture related activities. The results also indicate that nitrate and potassium concentrations are within the recommended drinking water limits, whereas phosphate concentration exceeds its drinking water limit and 35% of the samples are unsuitable for drinking purposes.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available for this article at