Experimental study on the hydrological performance of green roofs in the application of novel biochar

Biochar has the potential to be a soil amendment in green roofs owing to its water retention, nutrient supply, and carbon sequestration application. The combined effects of biochar and vegetated soil on hydraulic performance (e.g., saturated hydraulic conductivity, retention and detention, and runoff delay) are the crucial factor for the application of the novel biochar in green roofs. Recent studies investigated soil water potential (i.e., suction) either on vegetated soil or on biochar-amended soil but rarely focused on their integrated application. With the purpose of investigating the hydraulic performance of green roofs in the application of biochar, the combined effect of biochar and vegetated soil on hydrological processes was explored. Artificial rainfall experiments were conducted on the four types of experimental soil columns, including natural soil, biochar-amended soil, vegetated natural soil, and vegetated biochar-amended soil. The surface ponding, bottom drainage and the volumetric water content were measured during the rainfall test. Simulation method by using HYDRUS-1D was adopted for estimating hydraulic parameters and developing modelling analysis. The results indicated that the saturated hydraulic conductivity of vegetated soil columns were higher than bare soil columns. The addition of biochar decreased the saturated hydraulic conductivity, and the magnitude of decrease was much significant in the case of vegetated soil. The influence of vegetation on permeability is more prominent than biochar. The vegetated biochar-amended soil has the highest retention and detention capacity, and shows a preferable runoff delay effect under heavy rain among the four soil columns. The results from the present study help to understand the hydrological processes in the green roof in the application of biochar, and imply that biochar can be an alternative soil amendment to improve the hydraulic performance.     

Earthquake triggered soft sediment deformational structures (seismites) in the Karewa formations of Kashmir valley–An indicator for palaeo-seismicity

The intermontane Karewa basin contains a wide variety of seismically induced soft sediment deformation structures, interpreted as seismites and occurs in 1300 m thick succession of upper and lower Karewas. The Karewa Formation of Kashmir valley are glacio- fluvial-lacustrine and aeolian loess of Plio-Pleistocene age. The soft sediment deformational structures occurs in various formations and members of Karewas and vary greatly in terms of morphology and pattern. The Karewa Formations were frequently confronted with recurrent seismic activities during differential upliftment of Pir Panjal and Zanaskar ranges which resulted in various deformation structures during their evolution and development. In the present study, an attempt has been made to relate the palaeo-seismicity events in Karewa formations with the deformed structures of various formations. The origin of these deformational structures have been interpreted and analyzed from the field evidences by applying paleo-seismological approach. During and after the deposition of Karewas different soft sediment deformation structures (seismites) like load cast, convolute lamination, pseudonodules, recumbent folds, sand dykes etc. were formed during liquefaction and triggered by tectonic impulsive events. The deformational structures are evidenced by their unique nature, distribution, association, behaviour and deformation, and can be used as vital indicators for palaeo-seismicity.     

Competing impact of anthropogenic emissions and meteorology on the distribution of trace gases over Indian region

The spatial distribution of trace gases exhibit large spatial heterogeneity over the Indian region with an elevated pollution loading over densely populated Gangetic Plains (IGP). The contending role and importance of anthropogenic emissions and meteorology in deciding the trace gases level and distribution over Indian region, however, is poorly investigated. In this paper, we use an online regional chemistry transport model (WRF/Chem) to simulate the spatial distribution of trace gases over Indian region during one representative month of only three meteorological seasons namely winter, spring/summer and monsoon. The base simulation, using anthropogenic emissions from SEAC⁴RS inventory, is used to simulate the general meteorological conditions and the realistic spatial distribution of trace gases. A sensitivity simulation is conducted after removing the spatial heterogeneity in the anthropogenic emissions, i.e., with spatially uniform emissions to decouple the role of anthropogenic emissions and meteorology and their role in controlling the distribution of trace gases over India. The concentration levels of Ozone, CO, SO₂ and NO₂ were found to be lower over IGP when the emissions are uniform over India. A comparison of the base run with the sensitivity run highlights that meteorology plays a dominant role in controlling the spatial distribution of relatively longer-lived species like CO and secondary species like Ozone while short-lived species like NO_X and SO₂ are predominantly controlled by the spatial variability in anthropogenic emissions over the Indian region.     

Early In-orbit Performance of Scanning Sky Monitor Onboard AstroSat

We report the in-orbit performance of Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) onboard AstroSat. The SSM operates in the energy range 2.5 to 10 keV and scans the sky to detect and locate transient X-ray sources. This information of any interesting phenomenon in the X-ray sky as observed by SSM is provided to the astronomical community for follow-up observations. Following the launch of AstroSat on 28th September, 2015, SSM was commissioned on October 12th, 2015. The first power ON of the instrument was with the standard X-ray source, Crab in the field-of-view. The first orbit data revealed the basic expected performance of one of the detectors of SSM, SSM1. Following this in the subsequent orbits, the other detectors were also powered ON to find them perform in good health. Quick checks of the data from the first few orbits revealed that the instrument performed with the expected angular resolution of 12’ \(\times \) 2.5\(^\circ \) and effective area in the energy range of interest. This paper discusses the instrument aspects along with few on-board results immediately after power ON.     

Petrology and geochemistry of greywackes from Goa-Dharwar sector,western Dharwar Craton: Implications for volcanoclastic origin

Late Archaean Supracrustals of the Goa-Dharwar sector (GDS) are composed of a thick sequence of greywacke sequence with narrow intercalations of quartzite, BIF and carbonates. Mafic volcanics occupy the base of the sequence. The greywackes are predominantly tuffacious containing chlorite-sericite and hornblende. Arkosic variations containing biotite dominate the western part of the sector. Fine-grained variations occur as isolated narrow lenses within other types of greywackes. The conglomeratic greywackes are localized along the western and the eastern margins of the sector. All of the greywackes are all typically immature containing coarser clasts of mostly plagioclase (18–23%) and quartz (32–34%). Lithic fragments of felsic volcanic rocks are common. The matrix is dominated by mafic material. Biotite and amphibole are related to metamorphic recrystallization. Chlorite, sericite, epidote, carbonate and chert are products of the interplay of diagenesis and low-grade metamorphism. Fe-Ti oxide, sphene, apatite and zircon are usual accessories. But for slight enrichment in K₂O, the major element chemistry of the GDS greywackes is similar to the chemistry of Late Archaean greywackes. They also compare in respect of V, Co, Hf contents, K₂O/Na₂O, SiO₂/Al₂O₃, Na₂O/Al₂O₃, Ba/Rb, Th/U, La/Th, Sm/Nd ratios, steep REE patterns with distinct LREE enrichment and HREE depletion. The GDS greywackes however are distinctly enriched in Rb, Ba, Sr, Th, U, Cu, Zr, Ce/Ce* and depleted in Cr, Ni, and Zn. The conglomeritic and biotite bearing verities contain considerable proportions of clasts derived from the basement tonalitic/granitic terrain. The common tuffacious greywackes containing hornblende and biotite-sericite however include only volcanic clasts and bear evidence of derivation from submarine weathering of predominantly felsic volcanics erupted on a large scale to form a magmatic arc in the later stages of geosynclinal deposition. Geochemical data suggest that the GDS greywackes were laid down in progressively changing basin geometry from a passive to active continental margin and island arc setting.     

Paragenesis and chemical characteristics of the celsian−hyalophane−K-feldspar series and associated Ba-Cr micas in barite-bearing strata of the Mesoarchaean Ghattihosahalli Belt,Western Dharwar Craton,South India

The upper greenschist - lower amphibolite facies, argillaceous to chemical-exhalative metasedimentary sequence of the Mesoarchaean Ghattihosahalli Schist Belt (GHSB), southern India, has been examined with a special focus on the paragenesis and solid solution characteristics of barian feldspars and associated dioctahedral Ba-Cr-bearing micas. Barian feldspars occur as untwinned porphyroblasts in a recrystallized finely banded matrix of barite, quartz and minor white mica. Idioblastic celsian (Cls_98-76Or_2-20Ab_1-8) and hyalophane (Cls_55-39Or_35-51Ab₁₀) predate the greenschist-facies foliation, whereas xenoblastic hyalophane (Cls_44-35Or_45-59Ab_8–17) and mantles on celsian (Cls_45-35Or_42-60Ab_13-5) as well as xenoblastic barian K-feldspar (Cls₆Or₉₀Ab₂) postdate the last fabric-defining event. The preservation of extremely complex zoning patterns down to the micron-scale shows that diffusional homogenization did not operate at fluid-present low to medium-grade conditions (350–550 °C, 3–5 kb). Microstructures indicate that at these conditions barian feldspars deform exclusively by brittle fracturing and do not undergo recrystallization. Barian feldspar compositions confirm the positive correlation of Na-content with temperature and the existence of a narrow asymmetric compositional gap (Cls_90-85?Cls₅₅, ~350 °C) which probably closes at lower amphibolite facies conditions (X_c ~Cls_75; T_c ~550 °C). White micas are solid solutions of the end-members muscovite, ganterite (Ba_0.5?K_0.5)Al₂(Al_1.5Si_2.5)O₁₀(OH)₂, paragonite, celadonite with a significant substitution of ^[VI]Al by Cr. Zoning is a common feature with cores being enriched in Ba. The data document extensive Ba substitution for K from muscovite to ganterite, exclusively controlled by the coupled substitution ^[XII]K + ^[IV]Si ? ^[XII]Ba + ^[IV]Al and strongly dependent on bulk composition. The extent of solid solution from (Ms+Gnt) towards paragonite and celadonite end-members is controlled by the miscibility gap in the (Ms+Gnt)–Pg–Cel pseudoternary, with the Pg-substitution depending on temperature and the Cel-substitution on pressure. ^[IV]Si values between 3.1 and 3.3 in Ba-poor micas indicate minimum pressures of chemical equilibration in the order of 3–5 kbar, while the most sodian compositions of low-celadonite micas provide an upper temperature estimate of ~550 °C, consistent with P-T estimates for assemblages of metapelites (500–550 °C, 4–5 kb).     

Simple Approaches to Oil Spill Detection Using Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP)-Ocean Application Tools and Texture Analysis: A Comparative Study

Effective and efficient monitoring of oil spills that originate from ships, offshore platforms and any accidents are of immense importance from the viewpoint of public safety and environmental protection. Detection of spilled oil is also essential to estimate the potential spread and drift from the source to the nearby coastal areas. In this regard, utilization of SAR data for the detection and monitoring of oil spills has received considerable attention in recent times, due to their wide area coverage, day-night and all-weather capabilities. In this paper, two oil spills incidents along the coast of Mumbai, India are investigated; (1) The 2010 oil spill that occurred after the MV MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia-3 collided and (2) the oil spill caused due to sinking of MV RAK carrier in 2011. Two simple and relatively quick approaches for oil spill detection have been applied to VV polarized Radarsat-2 imagery of the incidents and a comparison is made of the results obtained. The first approach utilizes the oil spill detection tool of Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) and the second explores texture analysis using Grey Level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM). The results of the study show that texture analysis proves to be an efficient method for oil spill detection as compared to the SNAP oil spill detection tool. Nevertheless, both the proposed methodologies are useful for detection of oil spills and for subsequent utilization of the results, timely and cost effectively, for the calibration and validation of numerical models that predict oil spill dispersion trajectories.     

The polar form of the spherical harmonic spectrum: implications for filtering <Emphasis Type="BoldSmallCaps">grace</Emphasis> data

Representing the spherical harmonic spectrum of a field on the sphere in terms of its amplitude and phase is termed as its polar form. In this study, we look at how the amplitude and phase are affected by linear low-pass filtering. The impact of filtering on amplitude is well understood, but that on phase has not been studied previously. Here, we demonstrate that a certain class of filters only affect the amplitude of the spherical harmonic spectrum and not the phase, but the others affect both the amplitude and phase. Further, we also demonstrate that the filtered phase helps in ascertaining the efficacy of decorrelation filters used in the grace community.     

Precipitable water as a predictor of LCL height

Based on the precipitable water observations easily available from in situ and remote sensing sensors, a simple approach to define the lifting condensation level (LCL) is proposed in this study. High-resolution radiosonde and microwave radiometer observations over peninsular Indian region during the Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment Integrated Ground Observational Campaign (CAIPEEX-IGOC) during the monsoon season of 2011 are used to illustrate the unique relationship. The inferences illustrate a linear relationship between the precipitable water (PW) and the LCL temperature. This relationship is especially valuable because PW is easily available as a derived parameter from various remote sensing and ground-based observations. Thus, it could be used to estimate the LCL height and perhaps also the boundary layer height. LCL height and PW correlations are established from historical radiosonde data (1984–2012). This finding could be used to illustrate the boundary layer-cloud interactions during the monsoon and is important for parameterization of boundary layer clouds in numerical models. The relationships are illustrated to be robust and seem promising to get reasonable estimates of the LCL height over other locations as well using satellite observations of PW.

     

Tectonic evolution of early precambrian south indian shield (rocks) using remotely sensed data

The interpretation of satellite imagery of part of South India falling South of 15 degree North latitude shows that the regional anticlines, synclines, domes and basins of the Precambrian group of metamorphites are aligned in three major hill ranges/domains such as Chitra-durga domain in the north, the Mangalore-Ootacamund-Bangalore domain in the centre and the Cochin-Cape Comorin-Madurai-Chittoor domain in the south. These hills are crescent shaped with their axes of elongation oriented in NNW-SSE direction. The lineaments with ENE-WSW, NE-SW/WNW-ESE and NNW-SSE azimuthal frequencies respectively exhibit extensional, shear and release geometries. Such deformational fabric shows that the tectonic evolution of South India was controlled by two major compressive forces, the first one aligned in N-S direction and the second in ENE-WSW direction.