Distribution of arsenic and mercury in subtropical coastal beachrock, Gulf of Mannar, India
J Dajkumar Sahayam1,∗, N Chandrasekar1, S Krishna Kumar1 and
G Victor Rajamanickam2
1Centre for GeoTechnology, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu 627 012, India.
2Centre for Advance Research in Indian System of Medicine, Sastra University, Thanjavur,
Tamil Nadu 613 402, India.
∗e-mail: dajkumar−j@yahoo.com

Abstract: An assessment of coastal pollution was made on the basis of trace element concentrations (arsenic –As, mercury – Hg) in the Gulf of Mannar. The beachrock samples were collected along the coastal tracts between Rameswaram and Kanyakumari. The samples were dried and digested to determine the As and Hg using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS-air-acetylene and nitrous oxide method). The As and Hg accumulation status of the beachrock was assessed using geo-accumulation index values (Igeo). The accumulation of As and Hg in the beachrock ranges from 2.75 to 20.72 μg g−1 and from 0.06 to 0.31 μg g−1, respectively. The As and Hg concentrations in the beachrocks are compared with crustal average values and average of other region sediments. The possible source of the contamination is from atmospheric deposition and anthropogenic activities.




Study of land surface temperature and spectral emissivity using multi-sensor satellite data
P K Srivastava1, T J Majumdar2,∗ and Amit K Bhattacharya1
1Department of Geology & Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721 302, India.
2Earth Sciences and Hydrology Division, Marine and Earth Sciences Group, Remote Sensing Applications Area,
Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad 380 015, India.
∗e-mail: tjmajumdar@rediffmail.com

Abstract: In this study, an attempt has been made to estimate land surface temperatures (LST) and spectral emissivities over a hard rock terrain using multi-sensor satellite data. The study area, of about 6000 km2, is a part of Singhbhum–Orissa craton situated in the eastern part of India. TIR data from ASTER, MODIS and Landsat ETM+ have been used in the present study. Telatemp Model AG-42D Portable Infrared Thermometer was used for ground measurements to validate the results derived from satellite (MODIS/ASTER) data. LSTs derived using Landsat ETM+ data of two different dates have been compared with the satellite data (ASTER and MODIS) of those two dates. Various techniques, viz., temperature and emissivity separation (TES) algorithm, gray body adjustment approach in TES algorithm, Split-Window algorithms and Single Channel algorithm along with NDVI based emissivity approach have been used. LSTs derived from bands 31 and 32 of MODIS data using Split-Window algorithms with higher viewing angle (50◦) (LST1 and LST2) are found to have closer agreement with ground temperature measurements (ground LST) over waterbody, Dalma forest and Simlipal forest, than that derived from ASTER data (TES with AST 13). However, over agriculture land, there is some uncertainty and difference between the measured and the estimated LSTs for both validation dates for all the derived LSTs. LST obtained using Single Channel algorithm with NDVI based emissivity method in channel 13 of ASTER data has yielded closer agreement with ground measurements recorded over vegetation and mixed lands of low spectral contrast. LST results obtained with TIR band 6 of Landsat ETM+ using Single Channel algorithm show close agreement over Dalma forest, Simlipal forest and waterbody with LSTs obtained using MODIS and ASTER data for a different date. Comparison of LSTs shows good agreement with ground measurements in thermally homogeneous area. However, results in agriculture area with less homogeneity show difference of LST up to 2◦C. The results of the present study indicate that continuous monitoring of LST and emissivity can be undertaken with the aid of multi-sensor satellite data over a thermally homogeneous region.


⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr anomalies in Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary strata of the Cauvery basin, south India: Constraints on nature and rate of environmental changes across K–T boundary
Mu Ramkumar1,∗, Doris St¨uben2, Zsolt Berner2 and Jens Schneider3
1Department of Geology, Periyar University, Salem 636 011, India.
2Institut f¨ur Mineralogie und Geochemie, Universit¨at Karlsruhe, D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany.
3Institut f¨ur Geowissenschaften und Lithosph¨arenforschung, Justus-Liebig-Universit¨at,
D-35032 Marburg, Germany.
∗e-mail: muramkumar@yahoo.co.in

Abstract: The Ariyalur–Pondicherry sub-basin of the Cauvery basin comprises a near complete stratigraphic record of Upper Cretaceous–Lower Tertiary periods. Earlier studies have documented variations of clay mineral assemblages, change in microtexture of siliciclasts and many geochemical and stable isotopic anomalies far below the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary (KTB) in these strata. This paper documents the occurrences of two positive ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr anomalies preceding K–T boundary in this basin and discusses plausible causes. Analysis of trace elemental and stable isotopic profiles, sedimentation history, petrography and mineralogy of the rocks reveal that while both the anomalies may be due to increased detrital influx caused by sea level and climatic changes, the second anomaly might have been influenced by Deccan volcanism which in turn predated KTB. Record of such anomalies preceding K–T boundary supports the view of multi-causal step-wise extinction of biota across KTB.


Retrieval of hydrometeors from microwave radiances with a polarized radiative transfer model
C Balaji1,∗, M Deiveegan1, S P Venkateshan1, R M Gairola2,
A Sarkar2 and V K Agarwal2
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India.
2Meteorology and Oceanography Group, Space Applications Centre, ISRO Ahmedabad, India.
∗e-mail: balaji@iitm.ac.in

Abstract: This paper reports the results of a Bayesian-based algorithm for the retrieval of hydrometeors from microwave satellite radiances. The retrieval technique proposed makes use of an indigenously developed polarized radiative transfer (RT) model that drives a data driven optimization engine (Bayesian) to perform retrievals of rain and other hydrometeors in a multi-layer, plane parallel raining atmosphere. For the sake of completeness and for the purposes of comparison, retrievals with Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) have also been done. Retrievals have been done first with  a simplified two-layer atmosphere, where assumed values of hydrometeors are given to the forward model and these are taken as ‘measured radiances’. The efficacy of the two retrieval strategies is then tested for this case in order to establish accuracy and speed. The highlight of the work is however, the case study wherein a tropical storm in the Bay of Bengal is taken up, to critically examine the performance of the retrieval algorithm for an extreme event wherein a 14-layer realistic, raining atmosphere has been considered and retrievals are done against Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) measured radiances. The key novelties of the work are:  inclusion of polarization from both hydrometeors and oceans in the RT model, and  populating the database involving atmospheric profiles vs. simulated radiances by profiles of similar rain events in the past.  In this work, the database was populated with TRMM retrieved profiles for tropical cyclones that occurred earlier in the area of interest (Indian Ocean), rather than with the Goddard Cloud Ensemble profiles. The use of (i) polarization in the forward model and (ii) creation of an a priori database for the retrieval denote the significant departure from the current state-of-the-art in the area.



Influence of climatic teleconnections on the temporal isotopic variability as recorded in a firn core from the coastal Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica
Sushant S Naik1,∗,#, Meloth Thamban1, A Rajakumar1, Witty D’Souza1,
C M Laluraj1 and Arun Chaturvedi2
1National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Vasco-da-Gama, Goa 403 804, India.
2Geological Survey of India (Antarctica Division), NH-5P, NIT, Faridabad 121 001, India.
#Presently at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721 302, India.
∗e-mail: sushant@ncaor.org

Abstract: Ice and firn core studies provide one of the most valuable tools for understanding the past climate change. In order to evaluate the temporal isotopic variability recorded in ice and its relevance to environmental changes, stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen were studied in a firn core from coastal Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. The annual δ18O profile of the core shows a close relation to the El Ni˜no Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability. The ENSO indices show significant correlation with the surface air temperatures and δ18O values of this region during the austral summer season and support an additional influence related to the Southern Annular Mode (SAM). The correlation between the combined ENSO-SAM index and the summer δ18O record seems to have been caused through an atmospheric mechanism. Snow accumulation in this region illustrates a decreasing trend with opposite relationships with δ18O data and surface air temperature prior and subsequent to the year 1997. A reorganization of the local water cycle is further indicated by the deuterium excess data showing a shift around 1997, consistent with a change in evaporation conditions. The present study thus illustrates the utility of ice-core studies in the reconstruction of past climate change and suggests possible influence of climatic teleconnections on the snow accumulation rates and isotopic profiles of snow in the coastal regions of east Antarctica.



Inversion of quasi-3D DC resistivity imaging data using artificial neural networks
Ahmad Neyamadpour∗,1, W A T Wan Abdullah1 and Samsudin Taib2
1Department of Physics, University of Malaya, 50603 WP Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
2Department of Geology, University of Malaya, 50603 WP Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
∗e-mail: anpour@gmail.com

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to investigate the applicability of artificial neural networks in inverting quasi-3D DC resistivity imaging data. An electrical resistivity imaging survey was carried out along seven parallel lines using a dipole–dipole array to confirm the validation of the results of an inversion using an artificial neural network technique. The model used to produce synthetic data to train the artificial neural network was a homogeneous medium of 100Ωm resistivity with an embedded anomalous body of 1000Ωm resistivity. The network was trained using 21 datasets (comprising 12159 data points) and tested on another 11 synthetic datasets (comprising 6369 data points) and on real field data. Another 24 test datasets (comprising 13896 data points) consisting of different resistivities for the background and the anomalous bodies were used in order to test the interpolation and extrapolation of network properties. Different learning paradigms were tried in the training process of the neural network, with the resilient propagation paradigm being the most efficient. The number of nodes, hidden layers, and efficient values for learning rate and momentum coefficient have been studied. Although a significant correlation between results of the neural network and the conventional robust inversion technique was found, the ANN results show more details of the subsurface structure, and the RMS misfits for the results of the neural network are less than seen with conventional methods. The interpreted results show that the trained network was able to invert quasi-3D electrical resistivity imaging data obtained by dipole–dipole configuration both rapidly and accurately.


On the modeling of electrical boundary layer (electrode layer) and derivation of atmospheric electrical profiles, eddy diffusion coefficient and scales of electrode layer
Madhuri N Kulkarni
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Dr. Homi Bhaba Road, Pune 411 008, India.
e-mail: mnkulk2005@gmail.com

Abstract: Electrode layer or electrical boundary layer is one of the charge generators in the global atmospheric electric circuit. In spite of this we find very few model studies and few measurements of it in the literature. Using a new technique it is shown that in this layer, the space charge density varies exponentially in vertical. A new experimental method based on the surface measurements is discussed to determine all the characteristic scales and an average electrical and meteorological state of an electrode layer. The results obtained are in good agreement with the previous studies. So, it is suggested that an exponential space charge density profile will no longer be an assumption in the case of electrode layer studies. The profiles of atmospheric electric field and electrical conductivity are also derived and a new term named as electrode layer constant is introduced.



Water quality of the Chhoti Gandak River using principal component analysis, Ganga Plain, India
Vikram Bhardwaj1,∗, Dhruv Sen Singh1 and A K Singh2
1Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow 226 007, India.
2Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad 826 001, India.
∗e-mail: vik−bhardwaj0710@rediffmail.com

Abstract: Chhoti Gandak is a meandering river which originates in the terai area of the Ganga Plain and serves as a lifeline for the people of Deoria district, Uttar Pradesh. It travels a distance of about 250 km and drains into Ghaghara near Gothani, Siwan district of Bihar. It has been observed that people of this region suffer from water-borne health problems; therefore water samples were collected to analyse its quality along the entire length of Chhoti Gandak River. The principal components of water quality are controlled by lithology, gentle slope gradient, poor drainage, long residence of water, ion exchange, weathering of minerals, heavy use of fertilizers, and domestic wastes. At some stations water is hard with an excess alkalinity and is not suitable for drinking and irrigation purposes. The variation in the local and regional hydrogeochemical processes distinguished the geogenic sources from the anthropogenic one.



An atmospheric electrical method to determine the eddy diffusion coefficient
M N Kulkarni∗ and A K Kamra∗∗
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Dr. Homi Bhaba Road, Pune 411 008, India.
∗e-mail: mnkulk2005@gmail.com
∗∗e-mail: kamra@tropmet.res.in

Abstract: The ion–aerosol balance equations are solved to get the profiles of atmospheric electric parameters over the ground surface in an aerosol-rich environment under the conditions of surface radioactivity. Combining the earlier results for low aerosol concentrations and the present results for high aerosol concentrations, a relation is obtained between the average value of atmospheric electric space charge in the lowest ∼2m, the surface electric field and eddy diffusivity/aerosol concentration. The values of eddy diffusivity estimated from this method using some earlier measurements of space charge and surface electric field are in reasonably good agreement with those calculated from other standard methods using meteorological or electrical variables.

 
Felsic tuff from Rutland Island – A pyroclastic flow deposit in Miocene-sediments of Andaman-Java subduction complex
Tapan Pal1,∗, Biswajit Ghosh2,∗∗, Anindya Bhattacharya3 and S K Bhaduri4
1Petrology Division, ER, Geological Survey of India, Kolkata, India.
2Department of Geology, University of Calcutta, 35 B.C. Road, Kolkata 700 019, India.
3Andaman Division, Op. WSA, ER, Geological Survey of India, Kolkata, India.
4Chemical Division, ER, Geological Survey of India, Kolkata, India.
∗e-mail: tapanpal−in@yahoo.co.uk
∗∗e-mail: bghosh−geol@hotmail.com

Abstract: The bedded felsic tuff exposed in Rutland Island, Andaman, consists of two facies:  white massive tuff with ill-defined bedding contacts (facies-A) and  dominantly green tuff exhibiting well-developed turbidite sequence with up-section change from a massive unit to plane laminated units to ripple drift lamination (facies-B). The felsic tuff is vitric to crysto-vitric in nature and contains broken crystals of quartz, feldspar, biotite and glass shards of different shapes and sizes. The bulk chemistry indicates trachyte to dacite compositional range, and high values of Zr relative to Nb and Y suggest convergent margin tectonic setting of the tuff. Dominance of cuspate shards rather than blocky shards in both the facies indicates subaerial eruption of the pyroclasts. Recurrence of turbidites as well as good sorting of crystals and glass suggest that subaerially erupted ash was transported in subaqueous condition. The bed pattern supports rapid deposition of facies- A from high concentration turbidity flow whereas facies-B could be produced by decrease in grain size and suspended-load fallout rate of turbidity current. Regional correlation suggests that felsic volcanism in Sumatra was the source for such early Miocene to middle Miocene tuff.



Recent trends in pre-monsoon daily temperature extremes over India
D R Kothawale∗, J V Revadekar and K Rupa Kumar†
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pashan, Pune 411 008, India.
†Presently with World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
∗e-mail: kotha@tropmet.res.in

Abstract: Extreme climate and weather events are increasingly being recognized as key aspects of climate change. Pre-monsoon season (March–May) is the hottest part of the year over almost the entire South Asian region, in which hot weather extremes including heat waves are recurring natural hazards having serious societal impacts, particularly on human health. In the present paper, recent trends in extreme temperature events for the pre-monsoon season have been studied using daily data on maximum and minimum temperatures over a well-distributed network of 121 stations for the period 1970–2005. For this purpose, time series of extreme temperature events have been constructed for India as a whole and seven homogeneous regions, viz., Western Himalaya (WH),  Northwest (NW), Northeast (NE), North Central (NC), East coast (EC), West coast (WC) and  Interior Peninsula (IP). In general, the frequency of occurrence of hot days and hot nights showed widespread increasing trend, while that of cold days and cold nights has shown widespread decreasing trend. The frequency of the occurrence of hot days is found to have significantly increased over EC, WC and IP, while that of cold days showed significant decreasing trend over WH and WC. The three regions EC, WC and NW showed significant increasing trend in the frequency of hot nights. For India as whole, the frequency of hot days and nights showed increasing trend while cold days and nights showed decreasing trends. Day-to-day fluctuations of pre-monsoon daily maximum and minimum temperatures have also been studied for the above regions. The results show that there is no significant change in day-to-day magnitude of fluctuations of pre-monsoon maximum and minimum temperatures. However, the results generally indicate that the daily maximum and minimum temperatures are becoming less variable within the season.