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 a...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.展开更多
The green energy transition relies heavily on critical metals,such as rare earth elements(REEs).However,their reserves are primarily focused in a few countries,such as China,which accounts for approximately 70%of glob...The green energy transition relies heavily on critical metals,such as rare earth elements(REEs).However,their reserves are primarily focused in a few countries,such as China,which accounts for approximately 70%of global production.Hence,several countries are currently looking for alternative resources for REEs.Alternative REE resources in the supply chain include recycling of e-waste,industrial waste like red mud and phosphogypsum,coal ash,mine tailings,ocean floor sediments,and even certain types of sedimentary deposits like phosphorites where REEs are present in lower concentrations but at larger volumes compared to primary ore deposits which are becoming targets by REEs industry.Currently,several studies are going on the development of eco-friendly REEs extraction technologies from phosphorite deposits.Consequently,advanced data analysis tools,such as Machine Learning(ML),are becoming increasingly important in mineral prospectivity and are rapidly gaining traction in the earth sciences.Phosphorite deposits are mainly used to manufacture fertilizers as these rocks are known for their significant phosphorus content.Moreover,these formations are considered a prospective resource of REEs.The different types of phosphorite deposits such as continental,seamount,and ore deposits worldwide reported concentrations of∑REE upto 18,000µg/g.Due to the augmented claim of REEs for various ultra-modern,and green technology applications that are required to switch over to a carbon-neutral environment,these phosphorite deposits have become an important target mostly because of their relatively higher content of REEs especially heavy rare earth elements(HREE).For example,Mississippian phosphorites reported ∑ HREE 7,000µg/g.To have a comprehensive understanding of the REEs potential of these phosphorite deposits which also include several Chinese phosphorite deposits,this study is undertaken to review the phosphorite deposits in the world and their REEs potential,in addition to some of the associated aspects such as applications and formation mechanisms for different types of phosphorite deposits such as igneous phosphate deposits,sedimentary phosphorite deposits,marine phosphorite deposits,cave phosphate deposits,and insular guano deposits.Other important aspects include their occurrences,types,geochemical characteristics,the REEs enrichment mechanisms,and various recovery methods adopted to recover REEs from different phosphorite deposits.The present review paper concludes that the recent studies highlight the global potential of phosphorite deposits to satisfy the increasing demand for REEs.Extracting REEs from phosphorite presents no significant technological or environmental difficulties,as long as radioactive elements are eliminated.In India,more comprehensive geological surveys,along with the advancement of new methods and evaluations,are required to locate phosphorite deposits with high concentrations of REEs.展开更多
Kongsfjorden is a fjord in Spitsbergen（Svalbard archipelago）that lies adjacent to both Arctic and Atlantic water masses and is therefore a suitable site to understand the effects of climate change on ecosystems.To d...Kongsfjorden is a fjord in Spitsbergen（Svalbard archipelago）that lies adjacent to both Arctic and Atlantic water masses and is therefore a suitable site to understand the effects of climate change on ecosystems.To decipher the effect of the lateral advection of transformed Atlantic water （TAW）within the fjord,spatial variations of foraminiferal tests,their test size variations and stable isotopic composition（δ^（13）C andδ^（18）O）in the surface sediments were studied.Total organic carbon and textural analyses were also carried out.The dominant benthic foraminifera included Nonionellina labradorica,Elphidium excavatum,Cassidulina reniforme,Quinqueloculina stalkeri and Islandiella islandica.Nonionellina labradorica was the predominant species in the outer fjord,whereas Elphidium excavatum and Cassidulina reniforme were dominant in the inner fjord.Total organic carbon and the test size of Nonionellina labradorica within the fjord were highly correlated（r=0.97）and both showed a decreasing trend towards the inner fjord.Based on the distribution and abundance of Nonionellina labradorica as well as temperature profiles,we suggest that there was little or no major change in the lateral advection of TAW within the fjord in the immediate past.展开更多
The cryosphere is the frozen part of the Earth’s system. Snow and ice are the main constituents of the cryosphere and may be found in different states, such as snow, freshwater ice, sea ice, perma-frost, and continen...The cryosphere is the frozen part of the Earth’s system. Snow and ice are the main constituents of the cryosphere and may be found in different states, such as snow, freshwater ice, sea ice, perma-frost, and continental ice masses in the form of glaciers and ice sheets. The present review mainly deals with state-of-the-art applications of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) with a special emphasize on cryospheric information extraction. SAR is the most important active microwave remote sensing (RS) instrument for ice monitoring, which provides high-resolution images of the Earth’s surface. SAR is an ideal sensor in RS technology, which works in all-weather and day and night conditions to provide useful unprecedented information, especially in the cryospheric regions which are almost inaccessible areas on Earth. This paper addresses the technological evolution of SAR and its applications in studying the various components of the cryosphere. The arrival of SAR radically changed the capabilities of information extraction related to ice type, new ice formation, and ice thickness. SAR applications can be divided into two broad classes-polarimetric applications and interferometric applications. Polarimetric SAR has been effectively used for mapping calving fronts, crevasses, surface structures, sea ice, detection of icebergs, etc. The paper also summarizes both the operational and climate change research by using SAR for sea ice parameter detection. Digital elevation model (DEM) generation and glacier velocity mapping are the two most important applications used in cryosphere using SAR interferometry or interferometric SAR (InSAR). Space-borne InSAR techniques for measuring ice flow velocity and topography have developed rapidly over the last decade. InSAR is capable of measuring ice motion that has radically changed the science of glaciers and ice sheets. Measurement of temperate glacier velocities and surface characteristics by using airborne and space-borne interferometric satellite images have been the significant application in glaciology and cryospheric studies. Space-borne InSAR has contributed to major evolution in many research areas of glaciological study by measuring ice-stream flow velocity, improving understanding of ice-shelf processes, yielding velocity for flux-gate based mass-balance assessment, and mapping flow of mountain glaciers. The present review summarizes the salient development of SAR applications in cryosphere and glaciology.展开更多
Water on the Earth’s surface is an essential part of the hydrological cycle. Water resources include surface waters, groundwater, lakes, inland waters, rivers, coastal waters, and aquifers. Monitoring lake dynamics i...Water on the Earth’s surface is an essential part of the hydrological cycle. Water resources include surface waters, groundwater, lakes, inland waters, rivers, coastal waters, and aquifers. Monitoring lake dynamics is critical to favor sustainable management of water resources on Earth. In cryosphere, lake ice cover is a robust indicator of local climate variability and change. Therefore, it is necessary to review recent methods, technologies, and satellite sensors employed for the extraction of lakes from satellite imagery. The present review focuses on the comprehensive evaluation of existing methods for extraction of lake or water body features from remotely sensed optical data. We summarize pixel-based, object-based, hybrid, spectral index based, target and spectral matching methods employed in extracting lake features in urban and cryospheric environments. To our knowledge, almost all of the published research studies on the extraction of surface lakes in cryospheric environments have essentially used satellite remote sensing data and geospatial methods. Satellite sensors of varying spatial, temporal and spectral resolutions have been used to extract and analyze the information regarding surface water. Multispectral remote sensing has been widely utilized in cryospheric studies and has employed a variety of electro-optical satellite sensor systems for characterization and extraction of various cryospheric features, such as glaciers, sea ice, lakes and rivers, the extent of snow and ice, and icebergs. It is apparent that the most common methods for extracting water bodies use single band-based threshold methods, spectral index ratio (SIR)-based multiband methods, image segmentation methods, spectral-matching methods, and target detection methods (unsupervised, supervised and hybrid). A Synergetic fusion of various remote sensing methods is also proposed to improve water information extraction accuracies. The methods developed so far are not generic rather they are specific to either the location or satellite imagery or to the type of the feature to be extracted. Lots of factors are responsible for leading to inaccurate results of lake-feature extraction in cryospheric regions, e.g. the mountain shadow which also appears as a dark pixel is often misclassified as an open lake. The methods which are working well in the cryospheric environment for feature extraction or landcover classification does not really guarantee that they will be working in the same manner for the urban environment. Thus, in coming years, it is expected that much of the work will be done on object-based approach or hybrid approach involving both pixel as well as object-based technology. A more accurate, versatile and robust method is necessary to be developed that would work independent of geographical location (for both urban and cryosphere) and type of optical sensor.展开更多
The merging of a panchromatic (PAN) image with a multispectral satellite image (MSI) to increase the spatial resolution of the MSI, while simultaneously preserving its spectral information is classically referred as P...The merging of a panchromatic (PAN) image with a multispectral satellite image (MSI) to increase the spatial resolution of the MSI, while simultaneously preserving its spectral information is classically referred as PAN-sharpening. We employed a recent dataset derived from very high resolution of WorldView-2 satellite (PAN and MSI) for two test sites (one over an urban area and the other over Antarctica), to comprehensively evaluate the performance of six existing PAN-sharpening algorithms. The algorithms under consideration were the Gram-Schmidt (GS), Ehlers fusion (EF), modified hue-intensity-saturation (Mod-HIS), high pass filtering (HPF), the Brovey transform (BT), and wavelet-based principal component analysis (W-PC). Quality assessment of the sharpened images was carried out by using 20 quality indices. We also analyzed the performance of nearest neighbour (NN), bilinear interpolation (BI), and cubic convolution (CC) resampling methods to test their practicability in the PAN-sharpening process. Our results indicate that the comprehensive performance of PAN-sharpening methods decreased in the following order: GS > W-PC > EF > HPF > Mod-HIS > BT, while resampling methods followed the order: NN > BI > CC.展开更多
Fifty-seven bacteria were isolated from Southern Ocean （Indian sector） water samples which were collected from different latitude and longitude of the ocean. All the isolates were able to grow at 4℃, 20℃, 37℃ and...Fifty-seven bacteria were isolated from Southern Ocean （Indian sector） water samples which were collected from different latitude and longitude of the ocean. All the isolates were able to grow at 4℃, 20℃, 37℃ and tolerable NaCI concentration up to 13.5% （w/v）. 29 out of 57 isolates were identified using 16S rDNA amplification and the sequences were submitted to National Center for Biotechnology Information （NCBI）. All the isolates were classified by using Ribosomal Database Project （RDP） and found that isolates belongs to Proteobacteria and Bacteriodes. The average G＋C content was 56.4%. The isolates were screened for the presence of extracellular enzymes, viz. amylase, catalase, urease, esterase, lipase and protease. The disc diffusion method is used to screen antibiotic production by the isolates against four pathogenic bacteria, viz. Salmonella typhimurium （NCIM 2501）, Staphylococcus aureus （NCIM 2122）, Bacillus subtilis （NCIM 2193）, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa （NCIM 2036）. Nine out of 29 were found to be antibiotic producer.展开更多
This paper presents results from a statistical validation of the hindcasts of surface wind by a high-reso-ution-mesoscale atmospheric numerical model Advanced Research WRF （ARW3.3）, which is set up to force the oper...This paper presents results from a statistical validation of the hindcasts of surface wind by a high-reso-ution-mesoscale atmospheric numerical model Advanced Research WRF （ARW3.3）, which is set up to force the operational coastal ocean forecast system at Indian Na- tional Centre for Ocean Information Services （INCOIS）. Evaluation is carried out based on comparisons of day-3 forecasts of surface wind with in situ and remote-sensing data. The results show that the model predicts the surface wind fields fairly accurately over the west coast of India, with high skill in predicting the surface wind during the pre-monsoon season. The model predicts the diurnal variability of the surface wind with reasonable accuracy. The model simulates the land-sea breeze cycle in the coastal region realistically, which is very clearly observed during the northeast monsoon and pre-monsoon season and is less prominent during the southwest monsoon season.展开更多
Cryoconite samples were collected from two different climatic domains i.e.,the Sutri Dhaka glacier,western Himalaya India and Svalbard glaciers,the Spitsbergen,Arctic,to understand the elemental source and elemental d...Cryoconite samples were collected from two different climatic domains i.e.,the Sutri Dhaka glacier,western Himalaya India and Svalbard glaciers,the Spitsbergen,Arctic,to understand the elemental source and elemental deposition patterns.The data of geochemical analysis suggest that the Himalayan cryoconite samples accumulate higher concentrations as compared to the cryoconite samples of the Arctic glaciers.The concentration of lithophile elements(Cs,Li,Rb and U)was recorded higher in the cryoconite holes of the Himalayas,especially,in the lower to the higher parts of the glacier,whereas,lower concentrations were recorded in the Arctic samples.Chalcophile elements in the Himalayan cryoconites are enriched in As and Bi while the Arctic cryoconite samples show a higher concentration of Bi,Pb and As.The higher concentrations are responsible for influencing the ecosystem and in human health related issues.Siderophile elements(Co,Fe,Mn and Ni)show high concentrations in the Himalayan samples,whereas,the Arctic samples show minor variations and low elemental concentration in these elements,respectively.In addition,a few elements,such as Ag,Mg,and Ca show higher concentration in the Himalayan glacier samples.Ca also occurs in high concentrations in Arctic glacier samples.R-mode factor analysis of the Himalayas(Arctic)samples indicate that the elements are distributed in four(three)factors,explaining 89%(90%)of the variance in their elemental distribution.The Factor 1 suggests statistically significant positive loadings for most of the lithophile,chalcophile and siderophile elements of the "Himalayan" and the Arctic cryoconite samples.The sample-wise factor score distribution shows a considerable variation in the sampling locations along the glaciers of both the regions.Factors 2 and 3,demonstrate insignificant loading for most of the elements,except statistically significant positive loading in some of the elements of the both,Himalayan and Arctic "cryoconites".The higher elemental concentration in the cryoconites of the Himalayan region may be an indicator of the natural processes and/or attributed to the rapid industrialization in the Asian countries.展开更多
Evolution of remote sensing sensors technologies is presented, with emphasis on its suitability in observing the polar regions. The extent of influence of polar regions on the global climate and vice versa is the spea...Evolution of remote sensing sensors technologies is presented, with emphasis on its suitability in observing the polar regions. The extent of influence of polar regions on the global climate and vice versa is the spearhead of climate change research. The extensive cover of sea ice has major impacts on the atmosphere, oceans, and terrestrial and marine ecosystems of the polar regions in particular and teleconnection on other processes elsewhere. Sea ice covers vast areas of the polar oceans, ranging from ~18 × 106 km2 to ~23 × 106 km2, combined for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. However, both polar regions are witnessing contrasting rather contradicting effects of climate change. The Arctic sea ice extent is declining at a rate of 0.53 × 106 km2·decade–1, whereasAntarcticaexhibits a positive trend at the rate of 0.167 × 106 km2·decade–1. This work reviews literature published in the field of sea ice remote sensing, to evaluate and access success and failures of different sensors to observe physical features of sea ice. The chronological development series of different sensors on different satellite systems, sensor specifications and datasets are examined and how they have evolved to meet the growing needs of users is outlined. Different remote sensing technology and observational methods and their suitability to observe specific sea ice property are also discussed. A pattern has emerged, which shows that microwave sensors are inherently superior to visible and infrared in monitoring seasonal and annual changes in sea ice. Degree of successes achieved through remote sensing techniques by various investigators has been compared. Some technologies appear to work better under certain conditions than others, and it is now well accepted that there is no algorithm that is ideal globally. Contribution of Indian remote sensing satellites is also reviewed in the context of polar research. This review suggests different primary datasets for further research on sea ice features (sea ice extent, ice type, sea ice thickness, etc.). This work also examines past achievements and how far these capabilities have evolved and tap into current state of art/direction of sensor technologies. Effective monitoring and syntheses of past few decades of research pinpoint useful datasets for sea ice monitoring, thereby avoiding wastage of resources to find practical datasets to monitor these physically inaccessible regions.展开更多
Schirmacher Oasis and Larsemann Hills areas represent two different periglacial environments of East Antarctica. Schirmacher Oasis is characterized by a vast stretch of ice-shelf in the north and East Antarctic Ice Sh...Schirmacher Oasis and Larsemann Hills areas represent two different periglacial environments of East Antarctica. Schirmacher Oasis is characterized by a vast stretch of ice-shelf in the north and East Antarctic Ice Sheet(EAIS) to its south. Whereas, in Larsemann Hills area the northern and north-western boundary is coastal area and EAIS in the southern part,exhibiting polar lowland between the marine and continental glacial ecosystems. Physico-chemical parameters of water samples from different lakes of both of these two distinct locations are quite contrasting and have indicated influence of lithology, weathering, evaporation and precipitation. The lake water chemistry in Larsemann Hills area is mainly governed by the lithology of the area while Schirmacher lakes exhibit influence of precipitation and rock composition. All major ions of lake waters indicate balanced ionic concentrations. The atmospheric precipitation has significantly modified the ionic distributions in the lakes and channels. Carbonation is the main proton supplying geochemical reactions involved in the rock weathering and this is an important mechanism which controls the hydrochemistry. The lake water hydrochemistry differs widely not only between two distant periglacial zones but also within a short distance of a single periglacial entity, indicating influence of territorial climate over hydrochemistry.展开更多
This work uses the canopy height model (CHM) based workflow for individual tree crown delineation from LiDAR point cloud data in an urban environment and evaluates its accuracy by using very high-resolution PAN (spati...This work uses the canopy height model (CHM) based workflow for individual tree crown delineation from LiDAR point cloud data in an urban environment and evaluates its accuracy by using very high-resolution PAN (spatial) and 8-band WorldView-2 imagery. LiDAR point cloud data were used to detect tree features by classifying point elevation values. The workflow includes resampling of LiDAR point cloud to generate a raster surface or digital terrain model, generation of hill-shade image and intensity image, extraction of digital surface model, generation of bare earth digital elevation model and extraction of tree features. Scene dependent extraction criteria were employed to improve the tree feature extraction. LiDAR-based refining/filtering techniques used for bare earth layer extraction were crucial for improving the subsequent tree feature extraction. The PAN-sharpened WV-2 image (with 0.5 m spatial resolution) used to assess the accuracy of LiDAR-based tree features provided an accuracy of 98%. Based on these inferences, we conclude that the LiDAR-based tree feature extraction is a potential application which can be used for understanding vegetation characterization in urban setup.展开更多
The western continental margin of India is one of the highly productive regions in the global ocean.Primary productivity is induced by upwelling and convective mixing during the southwest and northeast monsoons respec...The western continental margin of India is one of the highly productive regions in the global ocean.Primary productivity is induced by upwelling and convective mixing during the southwest and northeast monsoons respectively.Realizing the importance of high primary productivity,a sediment core was collected below the current oxygen minimum zone（OMZ） from the southwestern continental margin of India.This was dated by AMS radiocarbon and as many as 60 paleoclimate/paceoceanographic proxies,such as particle size,biogenic components,major,trace and rare earth elements（REEs） which were measured for the first time to determine sources of sediment,biogeochemical processes operating in the water column and their variations since the last glacial cycle.R-mode factor analysis of comprehensive data indicates that the dominant regulator of paleoproductivity is the southwest monsoon wind induced upwelling.Other paleoproductivity related factors identified are the marine biogenic component and biogenic detritus（as an exported component from the water column added to the bottom sediment）.All paleoproductivity components increased significantly during the marine isotope stage-1（MIS-1）compared to those accumulated from MIS-4 to MIS-2.The second group of factors identified are the terrigenous sediments with heavy minerals like zircon and ilmenite.The terrigenous sediment,in particular,increased during MIS-2 when the sea-level was lower;however,the heavy mineral component fluctuated over time implying pulsed inputs of sediment.The diagenetic fraction and reducing component are the third group of factors identified which varied with time with increased accumulation during the MIS transitions.The primary productivity along the southwestern continental margin of India seems to have been controlled principally by the upwelling during the southwest monsoon season that was weaker from MIS-4 to MIS-2,as relative to that during the MIS-1.In contrast,increased glacial productivity noticed in sediments deposited below the current oxygen minimum zone（OMZ） along the north of the study area that can be linked to entrainment of nutrients through the intensified convective mixing of surface water during the northeast monsoon.The sequestration of greenhouse gases by the western continental margin of India was higher during glacial than interglacial cycles.展开更多
Anthropogenic warming of near-surface atmosphere in the last 50 years is dominant over the west Antarctic Peninsula. Ozone depletion has led to partly cooling of the stratosphere. The positive polarity of the Southern...Anthropogenic warming of near-surface atmosphere in the last 50 years is dominant over the west Antarctic Peninsula. Ozone depletion has led to partly cooling of the stratosphere. The positive polarity of the Southern Hemisphere Annular Mode (SAM) index and its enhancement over the past 50 years have intensified the westerlies over the Southern Ocean, and induced warming of Antarctic Peninsula. Dictated by local ocean-atmosphere processes and remote forcing, the Antarctic sea ice extent is increasing, contrary to climate model predictions for the 21st century, and this increase has strong regional and seasonal signatures. Models incorporating doubling of present day CO2 predict warming of the Antarctic sea ice zone, a reduction in sea ice cover, and warming of the Antarctic Plateau, accompanied by increased snowfall.展开更多
Continental rifting and magmatism has been extensively studied worldwide as it is believed that continental rifting, break up of continents and associated magmatism lead to genesis of new oceanic crust. However, vario...Continental rifting and magmatism has been extensively studied worldwide as it is believed that continental rifting, break up of continents and associated magmatism lead to genesis of new oceanic crust. However, various regions of the world show that these processes may lead to genesis of other types of crust than the oceanic crust. Laxmi Basin in the western continental margin of the India is one such region with an enigmatic crust.Due to its extreme strategic significance for the palaeogeographic reconstruction of continents during Cretaceous continental breakup of India, this basin has attracted various workers for more than two decades. However, still the issue of nature of crust in the basin remains controversial. In this contribution, in order to identify nature of crust, mechanism of continental extension in the Laxmi Basin has been studied for the first time through newly acquired seismic data from the basin. Here, we propose a plausible mechanism of crustal extension in the Laxmi Basin which eventually constrains the nature of crust of the Laxmi Basin. We have demonstrated that the crust in the Laxmi Basin can be categorised in two zones of stretched and transitional crust. In the stretched zone several fault bounded horst and graben structures are identified which preserve syn- and post-rift sediments along with different periods of hiatus in sedimentations as unconformities. These faults are identified as listric faults in the upper crust which sole out in the detachment faults.Detachment faults decouples the upper brittle and lower ductile crust. The transitional crust is identified as heavily intruded by sills and basaltic volcanic which were emplaced due to melting of subcontinental mantle（SCM） after hyper-stretching of crust and serpentinisation of the SCM. Panikkar Ridge is proposed to be one such basaltic volcanic body derived from melting of lower part of the SCM.展开更多
The cryosphere constitutes an important subset of the hydrosphere. The Himalayan cryosphere is a significant contributor to the hydrological budget of a large river system such as the Ganges. Basic data on the cryosph...The cryosphere constitutes an important subset of the hydrosphere. The Himalayan cryosphere is a significant contributor to the hydrological budget of a large river system such as the Ganges. Basic data on the cryosphere in the Himalaya is inadequate and also has large uncertainties. The data on glacial melt component in the Himalayan rivers of India also shows high variability. The Gangotri glacier which constitutes nearly a fifth of the glacierized area of the Bhagirathi basin represents one of the fastest receding, large valley glaciers in the region which has been surveyed and monitored for over sixty years. The availability of measurement over a long period and relatively small glacier-fed basin for the Bha- girathi river provides suitable constraints for the measurement of the glacial melt fraction in a Himalayan river. Pre- and post-monsoon samples reveal a decreasing trend of depletion of 0180 in the river water from glacier snout （Gaumukh） to the confluence of the Bhagiratbi river with the Alaknanda river near Devprayag. Calculations of existing glacial melt fraction （-30% at Rishikesh） are not consistent with the reported glacial thinning rates. It is contended that the choice of unsuitable end-members in the three component mixing model causes the overestimation of glacial melt component in the river discharge. Careful selection of end members provides results （-11% at Devprayag） that are consistent with the expected thinning rates.展开更多
The world’s top ranked mega city Delhi is known for deteriorated air quality.However,the analysis of air pollution data of 5 years(2014–2018)reveals that years 2016 and 2017,which were marked by an unusual delayed w...The world’s top ranked mega city Delhi is known for deteriorated air quality.However,the analysis of air pollution data of 5 years(2014–2018)reveals that years 2016 and 2017,which were marked by an unusual delayed withdrawal of monsoon,witnessed an unprecedented extreme levels of toxic PM2.5 particles(≤2.5μm in diameter)touching a peak level of~760μg/m3(24 hr average),immediately after the monsoon retreat,surpassing WHO standards by~30 time and Indian national standards by~12 times,jeopardising lives of its citizens.However,the normal monsoon withdrawal years do not show such extreme levels of pollution.The high resolution WRF-Chem model along with meteorological data are used in this work to understand that how the delayed monsoon withdrawal and associated vagarious anticyclonic circulation resulted in trapping externally generated pollutants ceaselessly under colder conditions,leading to historic air quality crisis in landlocked mega city in these selected years.The sensitivity analysis confirmed that when WRF-chem model forced the climatology of normal monsoon year(2015)to simulate the pollution scenario of 2016 and 2017 for the above time period,the crisis subsided.Present findings suggest that such unusual monsoon patterns are on the hook to spur extreme pollution events in recent time.展开更多
Understanding the past and present changes is critical for evaluating the future climatic changes. In order to understand the paleoproductivity and depositional environments of Northern In- dian Ocean, two sediment co...Understanding the past and present changes is critical for evaluating the future climatic changes. In order to understand the paleoproductivity and depositional environments of Northern In- dian Ocean, two sediment cores were collected, one each from the Arabian Sea （lat. 16°51.40′N and long. 71°54.37′E, water depth 803 m） and the Bay of Bengal （lat. 13°05.35′N and long. 91°28.21′E, wa- ter depth 3 054 m）. The surface seawater samples indicate higherpCO2 values in Arabian Sea as com- pared to the Bay of Bengal. The sediment organic carbon variations along with sedimentological and other geochemical parameters were studied. Sediment organic carbon varied from 0.5%--4.7% and 0.3%-1.22% in Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, respectively. In Arabian Sea, low productivity, oxic conditions and less intense southwest monsoon prevailed during the deglacial period, whereas productivity has increased from last 16 kyr to the modern age. In the Bay of Bengal, organic carbon decreased from the Last Glacial Maxima （LGM） to the modern age, indicating higher productivity in the past as compared to modern age. Fe was associated with organic carbon in the Bay of Bengal and increased during LGM, showing similar trend to that of organic carbon, indicating that Fe may be the limiting factor for the growth of phytoplankton in the Bay of Bengal in the modern age. In the Bay of Bengal, Mn is enriched during modern age and is depleted during LGM, whereas chromium showed the opposite trend indicating anoxic conditions during the LGM, whereas in Arabian Sea the trends are opposite to the Bay of Bengal.展开更多
The Koyna region of Maharashtra located in the western part of the~65 Myr old Deccan traps province,overlying the Neoarchean cratonic granitoid basement of peninsular India,has been experiencing recurring seismicity s...The Koyna region of Maharashtra located in the western part of the~65 Myr old Deccan traps province,overlying the Neoarchean cratonic granitoid basement of peninsular India,has been experiencing recurring seismicity since 1962 after the impoundment of the Shivajisagar Reservoir behind the Koyna Dam.展开更多
Detailed interpretation of seismic stratigraphic sequences in the Laxmi Basin of the eastern Arabian Sea are presented in this study using closely spaced high resolution multi-channel seismic(MCS)data.Our stratigraphi...Detailed interpretation of seismic stratigraphic sequences in the Laxmi Basin of the eastern Arabian Sea are presented in this study using closely spaced high resolution multi-channel seismic(MCS)data.Our stratigraphic interpretation is further corroborated using recent drilling results in the Laxmi Basin,derived from the long sediment cores collected during International Ocean Discovery Program(IODP)Expedition 355.Integrated core-log interpretation discussed in the present study,offer important insights about the lithostratigraphic variations in this region.Analyses of multi-channel seismic reflection data reveal five depositional sequences(ranging from Paleocene to Recent)that led to the development of this marginal basin since the Cenozoic period.Regional igneous basement is successfully imaged,which was also validated by deep sea coring during the IODP Expedition 355.In the present study,we primarily focus on the post-rift sedimentation in the Laxmi Basin and its possible mechanisms.Our detailed interpretation in the prevailing tectonic framework of the basin suggests that near-shelf oldest volcaniclastic sedimentation immediately overlying the acoustic basement is linked to the onset of India-Madagascar and India-Seychelles rifting activities during the Late Cretaceous period.Eventually,during the Early-Mid to Late Miocene,the basin received maximum sedimentation dominantly through an extensive mass transport mechanism implying possible large-scale deformation on the Indian shelf.Subsequent sediment input to the basin appears to have been fed variably via the Indus Fan as well as coastal discharge from the Indian mainland.The total sediment thickness in the Laxmi Basin ranges from 1.1 to 3.5 km.New stratigraphic information and sediment isopach maps presented here provide vital information about syn-and post-rift sedimentation pattern in the region and their long term tectonic implications.展开更多
文摘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.
基金the Anusandhan National Research Foundation(ANRF),Science and Engineering Research Board(SERB),Department of Science&Technology,Government of India for a start-up research grant(M-14/0599,Sanction order no.SRG/2022/001478)Seed Grant under Institutions of Eminence(IoE),Banaras Hindu University(BHU)(Dev.Scheme No.6031)for financial assistance.
文摘The green energy transition relies heavily on critical metals,such as rare earth elements(REEs).However,their reserves are primarily focused in a few countries,such as China,which accounts for approximately 70%of global production.Hence,several countries are currently looking for alternative resources for REEs.Alternative REE resources in the supply chain include recycling of e-waste,industrial waste like red mud and phosphogypsum,coal ash,mine tailings,ocean floor sediments,and even certain types of sedimentary deposits like phosphorites where REEs are present in lower concentrations but at larger volumes compared to primary ore deposits which are becoming targets by REEs industry.Currently,several studies are going on the development of eco-friendly REEs extraction technologies from phosphorite deposits.Consequently,advanced data analysis tools,such as Machine Learning(ML),are becoming increasingly important in mineral prospectivity and are rapidly gaining traction in the earth sciences.Phosphorite deposits are mainly used to manufacture fertilizers as these rocks are known for their significant phosphorus content.Moreover,these formations are considered a prospective resource of REEs.The different types of phosphorite deposits such as continental,seamount,and ore deposits worldwide reported concentrations of∑REE upto 18,000µg/g.Due to the augmented claim of REEs for various ultra-modern,and green technology applications that are required to switch over to a carbon-neutral environment,these phosphorite deposits have become an important target mostly because of their relatively higher content of REEs especially heavy rare earth elements(HREE).For example,Mississippian phosphorites reported ∑ HREE 7,000µg/g.To have a comprehensive understanding of the REEs potential of these phosphorite deposits which also include several Chinese phosphorite deposits,this study is undertaken to review the phosphorite deposits in the world and their REEs potential,in addition to some of the associated aspects such as applications and formation mechanisms for different types of phosphorite deposits such as igneous phosphate deposits,sedimentary phosphorite deposits,marine phosphorite deposits,cave phosphate deposits,and insular guano deposits.Other important aspects include their occurrences,types,geochemical characteristics,the REEs enrichment mechanisms,and various recovery methods adopted to recover REEs from different phosphorite deposits.The present review paper concludes that the recent studies highlight the global potential of phosphorite deposits to satisfy the increasing demand for REEs.Extracting REEs from phosphorite presents no significant technological or environmental difficulties,as long as radioactive elements are eliminated.In India,more comprehensive geological surveys,along with the advancement of new methods and evaluations,are required to locate phosphorite deposits with high concentrations of REEs.
文摘Kongsfjorden is a fjord in Spitsbergen（Svalbard archipelago）that lies adjacent to both Arctic and Atlantic water masses and is therefore a suitable site to understand the effects of climate change on ecosystems.To decipher the effect of the lateral advection of transformed Atlantic water （TAW）within the fjord,spatial variations of foraminiferal tests,their test size variations and stable isotopic composition（δ^（13）C andδ^（18）O）in the surface sediments were studied.Total organic carbon and textural analyses were also carried out.The dominant benthic foraminifera included Nonionellina labradorica,Elphidium excavatum,Cassidulina reniforme,Quinqueloculina stalkeri and Islandiella islandica.Nonionellina labradorica was the predominant species in the outer fjord,whereas Elphidium excavatum and Cassidulina reniforme were dominant in the inner fjord.Total organic carbon and the test size of Nonionellina labradorica within the fjord were highly correlated（r=0.97）and both showed a decreasing trend towards the inner fjord.Based on the distribution and abundance of Nonionellina labradorica as well as temperature profiles,we suggest that there was little or no major change in the lateral advection of TAW within the fjord in the immediate past.
文摘The cryosphere is the frozen part of the Earth’s system. Snow and ice are the main constituents of the cryosphere and may be found in different states, such as snow, freshwater ice, sea ice, perma-frost, and continental ice masses in the form of glaciers and ice sheets. The present review mainly deals with state-of-the-art applications of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) with a special emphasize on cryospheric information extraction. SAR is the most important active microwave remote sensing (RS) instrument for ice monitoring, which provides high-resolution images of the Earth’s surface. SAR is an ideal sensor in RS technology, which works in all-weather and day and night conditions to provide useful unprecedented information, especially in the cryospheric regions which are almost inaccessible areas on Earth. This paper addresses the technological evolution of SAR and its applications in studying the various components of the cryosphere. The arrival of SAR radically changed the capabilities of information extraction related to ice type, new ice formation, and ice thickness. SAR applications can be divided into two broad classes-polarimetric applications and interferometric applications. Polarimetric SAR has been effectively used for mapping calving fronts, crevasses, surface structures, sea ice, detection of icebergs, etc. The paper also summarizes both the operational and climate change research by using SAR for sea ice parameter detection. Digital elevation model (DEM) generation and glacier velocity mapping are the two most important applications used in cryosphere using SAR interferometry or interferometric SAR (InSAR). Space-borne InSAR techniques for measuring ice flow velocity and topography have developed rapidly over the last decade. InSAR is capable of measuring ice motion that has radically changed the science of glaciers and ice sheets. Measurement of temperate glacier velocities and surface characteristics by using airborne and space-borne interferometric satellite images have been the significant application in glaciology and cryospheric studies. Space-borne InSAR has contributed to major evolution in many research areas of glaciological study by measuring ice-stream flow velocity, improving understanding of ice-shelf processes, yielding velocity for flux-gate based mass-balance assessment, and mapping flow of mountain glaciers. The present review summarizes the salient development of SAR applications in cryosphere and glaciology.
文摘Water on the Earth’s surface is an essential part of the hydrological cycle. Water resources include surface waters, groundwater, lakes, inland waters, rivers, coastal waters, and aquifers. Monitoring lake dynamics is critical to favor sustainable management of water resources on Earth. In cryosphere, lake ice cover is a robust indicator of local climate variability and change. Therefore, it is necessary to review recent methods, technologies, and satellite sensors employed for the extraction of lakes from satellite imagery. The present review focuses on the comprehensive evaluation of existing methods for extraction of lake or water body features from remotely sensed optical data. We summarize pixel-based, object-based, hybrid, spectral index based, target and spectral matching methods employed in extracting lake features in urban and cryospheric environments. To our knowledge, almost all of the published research studies on the extraction of surface lakes in cryospheric environments have essentially used satellite remote sensing data and geospatial methods. Satellite sensors of varying spatial, temporal and spectral resolutions have been used to extract and analyze the information regarding surface water. Multispectral remote sensing has been widely utilized in cryospheric studies and has employed a variety of electro-optical satellite sensor systems for characterization and extraction of various cryospheric features, such as glaciers, sea ice, lakes and rivers, the extent of snow and ice, and icebergs. It is apparent that the most common methods for extracting water bodies use single band-based threshold methods, spectral index ratio (SIR)-based multiband methods, image segmentation methods, spectral-matching methods, and target detection methods (unsupervised, supervised and hybrid). A Synergetic fusion of various remote sensing methods is also proposed to improve water information extraction accuracies. The methods developed so far are not generic rather they are specific to either the location or satellite imagery or to the type of the feature to be extracted. Lots of factors are responsible for leading to inaccurate results of lake-feature extraction in cryospheric regions, e.g. the mountain shadow which also appears as a dark pixel is often misclassified as an open lake. The methods which are working well in the cryospheric environment for feature extraction or landcover classification does not really guarantee that they will be working in the same manner for the urban environment. Thus, in coming years, it is expected that much of the work will be done on object-based approach or hybrid approach involving both pixel as well as object-based technology. A more accurate, versatile and robust method is necessary to be developed that would work independent of geographical location (for both urban and cryosphere) and type of optical sensor.
文摘The merging of a panchromatic (PAN) image with a multispectral satellite image (MSI) to increase the spatial resolution of the MSI, while simultaneously preserving its spectral information is classically referred as PAN-sharpening. We employed a recent dataset derived from very high resolution of WorldView-2 satellite (PAN and MSI) for two test sites (one over an urban area and the other over Antarctica), to comprehensively evaluate the performance of six existing PAN-sharpening algorithms. The algorithms under consideration were the Gram-Schmidt (GS), Ehlers fusion (EF), modified hue-intensity-saturation (Mod-HIS), high pass filtering (HPF), the Brovey transform (BT), and wavelet-based principal component analysis (W-PC). Quality assessment of the sharpened images was carried out by using 20 quality indices. We also analyzed the performance of nearest neighbour (NN), bilinear interpolation (BI), and cubic convolution (CC) resampling methods to test their practicability in the PAN-sharpening process. Our results indicate that the comprehensive performance of PAN-sharpening methods decreased in the following order: GS > W-PC > EF > HPF > Mod-HIS > BT, while resampling methods followed the order: NN > BI > CC.
基金the Expedition support to MoES, New Delhi and NCAOR, Goa (No. Mo ES/NCAOR/SOS/1/2007-PC-I dated January 4, 2011)+5 种基金the Cumulative Professional Development Grant (CPDG Ref No. GO/PD/2011-12/269/3523 dated, August 04, 2011) from BIT, MesraBTISNet Sub DIC (BT/BI/065/2004) for providing internet facilities and the Government of JharkhandDepartment of Agriculture for providing infrastructure development fund (5/B.K.V/Misc/12/2001)the financial support as research fellowship to Centre of Excellence (COE) (Ref No. NPIU/TEQIP II/FIN/31/158, dated April 16, 2013) at the Department of BioEngineering
文摘Fifty-seven bacteria were isolated from Southern Ocean （Indian sector） water samples which were collected from different latitude and longitude of the ocean. All the isolates were able to grow at 4℃, 20℃, 37℃ and tolerable NaCI concentration up to 13.5% （w/v）. 29 out of 57 isolates were identified using 16S rDNA amplification and the sequences were submitted to National Center for Biotechnology Information （NCBI）. All the isolates were classified by using Ribosomal Database Project （RDP） and found that isolates belongs to Proteobacteria and Bacteriodes. The average G＋C content was 56.4%. The isolates were screened for the presence of extracellular enzymes, viz. amylase, catalase, urease, esterase, lipase and protease. The disc diffusion method is used to screen antibiotic production by the isolates against four pathogenic bacteria, viz. Salmonella typhimurium （NCIM 2501）, Staphylococcus aureus （NCIM 2122）, Bacillus subtilis （NCIM 2193）, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa （NCIM 2036）. Nine out of 29 were found to be antibiotic producer.
基金University Grants Commission (UGC) for funding to pursue this work
文摘This paper presents results from a statistical validation of the hindcasts of surface wind by a high-reso-ution-mesoscale atmospheric numerical model Advanced Research WRF （ARW3.3）, which is set up to force the operational coastal ocean forecast system at Indian Na- tional Centre for Ocean Information Services （INCOIS）. Evaluation is carried out based on comparisons of day-3 forecasts of surface wind with in situ and remote-sensing data. The results show that the model predicts the surface wind fields fairly accurately over the west coast of India, with high skill in predicting the surface wind during the pre-monsoon season. The model predicts the diurnal variability of the surface wind with reasonable accuracy. The model simulates the land-sea breeze cycle in the coastal region realistically, which is very clearly observed during the northeast monsoon and pre-monsoon season and is less prominent during the southwest monsoon season.
基金Ministry of Earth Science,New Delhi and Indian Council of Agriculture Research for their financial support
文摘Cryoconite samples were collected from two different climatic domains i.e.,the Sutri Dhaka glacier,western Himalaya India and Svalbard glaciers,the Spitsbergen,Arctic,to understand the elemental source and elemental deposition patterns.The data of geochemical analysis suggest that the Himalayan cryoconite samples accumulate higher concentrations as compared to the cryoconite samples of the Arctic glaciers.The concentration of lithophile elements(Cs,Li,Rb and U)was recorded higher in the cryoconite holes of the Himalayas,especially,in the lower to the higher parts of the glacier,whereas,lower concentrations were recorded in the Arctic samples.Chalcophile elements in the Himalayan cryoconites are enriched in As and Bi while the Arctic cryoconite samples show a higher concentration of Bi,Pb and As.The higher concentrations are responsible for influencing the ecosystem and in human health related issues.Siderophile elements(Co,Fe,Mn and Ni)show high concentrations in the Himalayan samples,whereas,the Arctic samples show minor variations and low elemental concentration in these elements,respectively.In addition,a few elements,such as Ag,Mg,and Ca show higher concentration in the Himalayan glacier samples.Ca also occurs in high concentrations in Arctic glacier samples.R-mode factor analysis of the Himalayas(Arctic)samples indicate that the elements are distributed in four(three)factors,explaining 89%(90%)of the variance in their elemental distribution.The Factor 1 suggests statistically significant positive loadings for most of the lithophile,chalcophile and siderophile elements of the "Himalayan" and the Arctic cryoconite samples.The sample-wise factor score distribution shows a considerable variation in the sampling locations along the glaciers of both the regions.Factors 2 and 3,demonstrate insignificant loading for most of the elements,except statistically significant positive loading in some of the elements of the both,Himalayan and Arctic "cryoconites".The higher elemental concentration in the cryoconites of the Himalayan region may be an indicator of the natural processes and/or attributed to the rapid industrialization in the Asian countries.
文摘Evolution of remote sensing sensors technologies is presented, with emphasis on its suitability in observing the polar regions. The extent of influence of polar regions on the global climate and vice versa is the spearhead of climate change research. The extensive cover of sea ice has major impacts on the atmosphere, oceans, and terrestrial and marine ecosystems of the polar regions in particular and teleconnection on other processes elsewhere. Sea ice covers vast areas of the polar oceans, ranging from ~18 × 106 km2 to ~23 × 106 km2, combined for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. However, both polar regions are witnessing contrasting rather contradicting effects of climate change. The Arctic sea ice extent is declining at a rate of 0.53 × 106 km2·decade–1, whereasAntarcticaexhibits a positive trend at the rate of 0.167 × 106 km2·decade–1. This work reviews literature published in the field of sea ice remote sensing, to evaluate and access success and failures of different sensors to observe physical features of sea ice. The chronological development series of different sensors on different satellite systems, sensor specifications and datasets are examined and how they have evolved to meet the growing needs of users is outlined. Different remote sensing technology and observational methods and their suitability to observe specific sea ice property are also discussed. A pattern has emerged, which shows that microwave sensors are inherently superior to visible and infrared in monitoring seasonal and annual changes in sea ice. Degree of successes achieved through remote sensing techniques by various investigators has been compared. Some technologies appear to work better under certain conditions than others, and it is now well accepted that there is no algorithm that is ideal globally. Contribution of Indian remote sensing satellites is also reviewed in the context of polar research. This review suggests different primary datasets for further research on sea ice features (sea ice extent, ice type, sea ice thickness, etc.). This work also examines past achievements and how far these capabilities have evolved and tap into current state of art/direction of sensor technologies. Effective monitoring and syntheses of past few decades of research pinpoint useful datasets for sea ice monitoring, thereby avoiding wastage of resources to find practical datasets to monitor these physically inaccessible regions.
文摘Schirmacher Oasis and Larsemann Hills areas represent two different periglacial environments of East Antarctica. Schirmacher Oasis is characterized by a vast stretch of ice-shelf in the north and East Antarctic Ice Sheet(EAIS) to its south. Whereas, in Larsemann Hills area the northern and north-western boundary is coastal area and EAIS in the southern part,exhibiting polar lowland between the marine and continental glacial ecosystems. Physico-chemical parameters of water samples from different lakes of both of these two distinct locations are quite contrasting and have indicated influence of lithology, weathering, evaporation and precipitation. The lake water chemistry in Larsemann Hills area is mainly governed by the lithology of the area while Schirmacher lakes exhibit influence of precipitation and rock composition. All major ions of lake waters indicate balanced ionic concentrations. The atmospheric precipitation has significantly modified the ionic distributions in the lakes and channels. Carbonation is the main proton supplying geochemical reactions involved in the rock weathering and this is an important mechanism which controls the hydrochemistry. The lake water hydrochemistry differs widely not only between two distant periglacial zones but also within a short distance of a single periglacial entity, indicating influence of territorial climate over hydrochemistry.
文摘This work uses the canopy height model (CHM) based workflow for individual tree crown delineation from LiDAR point cloud data in an urban environment and evaluates its accuracy by using very high-resolution PAN (spatial) and 8-band WorldView-2 imagery. LiDAR point cloud data were used to detect tree features by classifying point elevation values. The workflow includes resampling of LiDAR point cloud to generate a raster surface or digital terrain model, generation of hill-shade image and intensity image, extraction of digital surface model, generation of bare earth digital elevation model and extraction of tree features. Scene dependent extraction criteria were employed to improve the tree feature extraction. LiDAR-based refining/filtering techniques used for bare earth layer extraction were crucial for improving the subsequent tree feature extraction. The PAN-sharpened WV-2 image (with 0.5 m spatial resolution) used to assess the accuracy of LiDAR-based tree features provided an accuracy of 98%. Based on these inferences, we conclude that the LiDAR-based tree feature extraction is a potential application which can be used for understanding vegetation characterization in urban setup.
基金National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research(NCAOR) for continuous support and encouragementthe MoES(MoES/36/OOIS/Siber/07) for funding a GEOTRACES project
文摘The western continental margin of India is one of the highly productive regions in the global ocean.Primary productivity is induced by upwelling and convective mixing during the southwest and northeast monsoons respectively.Realizing the importance of high primary productivity,a sediment core was collected below the current oxygen minimum zone（OMZ） from the southwestern continental margin of India.This was dated by AMS radiocarbon and as many as 60 paleoclimate/paceoceanographic proxies,such as particle size,biogenic components,major,trace and rare earth elements（REEs） which were measured for the first time to determine sources of sediment,biogeochemical processes operating in the water column and their variations since the last glacial cycle.R-mode factor analysis of comprehensive data indicates that the dominant regulator of paleoproductivity is the southwest monsoon wind induced upwelling.Other paleoproductivity related factors identified are the marine biogenic component and biogenic detritus（as an exported component from the water column added to the bottom sediment）.All paleoproductivity components increased significantly during the marine isotope stage-1（MIS-1）compared to those accumulated from MIS-4 to MIS-2.The second group of factors identified are the terrigenous sediments with heavy minerals like zircon and ilmenite.The terrigenous sediment,in particular,increased during MIS-2 when the sea-level was lower;however,the heavy mineral component fluctuated over time implying pulsed inputs of sediment.The diagenetic fraction and reducing component are the third group of factors identified which varied with time with increased accumulation during the MIS transitions.The primary productivity along the southwestern continental margin of India seems to have been controlled principally by the upwelling during the southwest monsoon season that was weaker from MIS-4 to MIS-2,as relative to that during the MIS-1.In contrast,increased glacial productivity noticed in sediments deposited below the current oxygen minimum zone（OMZ） along the north of the study area that can be linked to entrainment of nutrients through the intensified convective mixing of surface water during the northeast monsoon.The sequestration of greenhouse gases by the western continental margin of India was higher during glacial than interglacial cycles.
文摘Anthropogenic warming of near-surface atmosphere in the last 50 years is dominant over the west Antarctic Peninsula. Ozone depletion has led to partly cooling of the stratosphere. The positive polarity of the Southern Hemisphere Annular Mode (SAM) index and its enhancement over the past 50 years have intensified the westerlies over the Southern Ocean, and induced warming of Antarctic Peninsula. Dictated by local ocean-atmosphere processes and remote forcing, the Antarctic sea ice extent is increasing, contrary to climate model predictions for the 21st century, and this increase has strong regional and seasonal signatures. Models incorporating doubling of present day CO2 predict warming of the Antarctic sea ice zone, a reduction in sea ice cover, and warming of the Antarctic Plateau, accompanied by increased snowfall.
文摘Continental rifting and magmatism has been extensively studied worldwide as it is believed that continental rifting, break up of continents and associated magmatism lead to genesis of new oceanic crust. However, various regions of the world show that these processes may lead to genesis of other types of crust than the oceanic crust. Laxmi Basin in the western continental margin of the India is one such region with an enigmatic crust.Due to its extreme strategic significance for the palaeogeographic reconstruction of continents during Cretaceous continental breakup of India, this basin has attracted various workers for more than two decades. However, still the issue of nature of crust in the basin remains controversial. In this contribution, in order to identify nature of crust, mechanism of continental extension in the Laxmi Basin has been studied for the first time through newly acquired seismic data from the basin. Here, we propose a plausible mechanism of crustal extension in the Laxmi Basin which eventually constrains the nature of crust of the Laxmi Basin. We have demonstrated that the crust in the Laxmi Basin can be categorised in two zones of stretched and transitional crust. In the stretched zone several fault bounded horst and graben structures are identified which preserve syn- and post-rift sediments along with different periods of hiatus in sedimentations as unconformities. These faults are identified as listric faults in the upper crust which sole out in the detachment faults.Detachment faults decouples the upper brittle and lower ductile crust. The transitional crust is identified as heavily intruded by sills and basaltic volcanic which were emplaced due to melting of subcontinental mantle（SCM） after hyper-stretching of crust and serpentinisation of the SCM. Panikkar Ridge is proposed to be one such basaltic volcanic body derived from melting of lower part of the SCM.
基金Science and Engineering Research Board,Department of Science and Technology,Government of India is acknowledged for funds for the project entitled"Finger printing of glacial melt water in the Ganga basin-implications for modeling of hydrological cycle in a Himalayan river system"grant number NO.SR/DGH-46/2012 which supported work for this paper
文摘The cryosphere constitutes an important subset of the hydrosphere. The Himalayan cryosphere is a significant contributor to the hydrological budget of a large river system such as the Ganges. Basic data on the cryosphere in the Himalaya is inadequate and also has large uncertainties. The data on glacial melt component in the Himalayan rivers of India also shows high variability. The Gangotri glacier which constitutes nearly a fifth of the glacierized area of the Bhagirathi basin represents one of the fastest receding, large valley glaciers in the region which has been surveyed and monitored for over sixty years. The availability of measurement over a long period and relatively small glacier-fed basin for the Bha- girathi river provides suitable constraints for the measurement of the glacial melt fraction in a Himalayan river. Pre- and post-monsoon samples reveal a decreasing trend of depletion of 0180 in the river water from glacier snout （Gaumukh） to the confluence of the Bhagiratbi river with the Alaknanda river near Devprayag. Calculations of existing glacial melt fraction （-30% at Rishikesh） are not consistent with the reported glacial thinning rates. It is contended that the choice of unsuitable end-members in the three component mixing model causes the overestimation of glacial melt component in the river discharge. Careful selection of end members provides results （-11% at Devprayag） that are consistent with the expected thinning rates.
基金the core project grant of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology which also include the resources for project"Process analysisobservations and modelling(PROMOTE)as part of APHH。
文摘The world’s top ranked mega city Delhi is known for deteriorated air quality.However,the analysis of air pollution data of 5 years(2014–2018)reveals that years 2016 and 2017,which were marked by an unusual delayed withdrawal of monsoon,witnessed an unprecedented extreme levels of toxic PM2.5 particles(≤2.5μm in diameter)touching a peak level of~760μg/m3(24 hr average),immediately after the monsoon retreat,surpassing WHO standards by~30 time and Indian national standards by~12 times,jeopardising lives of its citizens.However,the normal monsoon withdrawal years do not show such extreme levels of pollution.The high resolution WRF-Chem model along with meteorological data are used in this work to understand that how the delayed monsoon withdrawal and associated vagarious anticyclonic circulation resulted in trapping externally generated pollutants ceaselessly under colder conditions,leading to historic air quality crisis in landlocked mega city in these selected years.The sensitivity analysis confirmed that when WRF-chem model forced the climatology of normal monsoon year(2015)to simulate the pollution scenario of 2016 and 2017 for the above time period,the crisis subsided.Present findings suggest that such unusual monsoon patterns are on the hook to spur extreme pollution events in recent time.
基金the Ministry of Earth Sciences of India for funding the study
文摘Understanding the past and present changes is critical for evaluating the future climatic changes. In order to understand the paleoproductivity and depositional environments of Northern In- dian Ocean, two sediment cores were collected, one each from the Arabian Sea （lat. 16°51.40′N and long. 71°54.37′E, water depth 803 m） and the Bay of Bengal （lat. 13°05.35′N and long. 91°28.21′E, wa- ter depth 3 054 m）. The surface seawater samples indicate higherpCO2 values in Arabian Sea as com- pared to the Bay of Bengal. The sediment organic carbon variations along with sedimentological and other geochemical parameters were studied. Sediment organic carbon varied from 0.5%--4.7% and 0.3%-1.22% in Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, respectively. In Arabian Sea, low productivity, oxic conditions and less intense southwest monsoon prevailed during the deglacial period, whereas productivity has increased from last 16 kyr to the modern age. In the Bay of Bengal, organic carbon decreased from the Last Glacial Maxima （LGM） to the modern age, indicating higher productivity in the past as compared to modern age. Fe was associated with organic carbon in the Bay of Bengal and increased during LGM, showing similar trend to that of organic carbon, indicating that Fe may be the limiting factor for the growth of phytoplankton in the Bay of Bengal in the modern age. In the Bay of Bengal, Mn is enriched during modern age and is depleted during LGM, whereas chromium showed the opposite trend indicating anoxic conditions during the LGM, whereas in Arabian Sea the trends are opposite to the Bay of Bengal.
基金conducted under the project sponsored by the Ministry of Earth Sciences,Govt.of India[Project Code-Mo ES/P.O.(Seismo)/1(374)/2019]
文摘The Koyna region of Maharashtra located in the western part of the~65 Myr old Deccan traps province,overlying the Neoarchean cratonic granitoid basement of peninsular India,has been experiencing recurring seismicity since 1962 after the impoundment of the Shivajisagar Reservoir behind the Koyna Dam.
基金funded by IODP-India at National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research(NCPOR),Goa(Ministry of Earth Sciences,India)through Grant no:MoES/PO(Seismo)/3(45)2012。
文摘Detailed interpretation of seismic stratigraphic sequences in the Laxmi Basin of the eastern Arabian Sea are presented in this study using closely spaced high resolution multi-channel seismic(MCS)data.Our stratigraphic interpretation is further corroborated using recent drilling results in the Laxmi Basin,derived from the long sediment cores collected during International Ocean Discovery Program(IODP)Expedition 355.Integrated core-log interpretation discussed in the present study,offer important insights about the lithostratigraphic variations in this region.Analyses of multi-channel seismic reflection data reveal five depositional sequences(ranging from Paleocene to Recent)that led to the development of this marginal basin since the Cenozoic period.Regional igneous basement is successfully imaged,which was also validated by deep sea coring during the IODP Expedition 355.In the present study,we primarily focus on the post-rift sedimentation in the Laxmi Basin and its possible mechanisms.Our detailed interpretation in the prevailing tectonic framework of the basin suggests that near-shelf oldest volcaniclastic sedimentation immediately overlying the acoustic basement is linked to the onset of India-Madagascar and India-Seychelles rifting activities during the Late Cretaceous period.Eventually,during the Early-Mid to Late Miocene,the basin received maximum sedimentation dominantly through an extensive mass transport mechanism implying possible large-scale deformation on the Indian shelf.Subsequent sediment input to the basin appears to have been fed variably via the Indus Fan as well as coastal discharge from the Indian mainland.The total sediment thickness in the Laxmi Basin ranges from 1.1 to 3.5 km.New stratigraphic information and sediment isopach maps presented here provide vital information about syn-and post-rift sedimentation pattern in the region and their long term tectonic implications.
