Petrographic studies of samples of the Rajmahal basalt reveal a variety of microscopic joints within phenocrysts, which seem to have developed under the in uence of thermal stresses during cooling. The theoretical analysis shows that:
     thermal stresses develop in a system only under unsteady state of cooling, 
      the stresses responsible for the development of joints are tensile in nature, and
     the magnitude of stresses increases with increasing rates of cooling.
In order to understand the effects of cooling rate on the mode of jointing, analogue model experiments were performed by quenching melt films of organic, crystalline materials under varying cooling conditions. In experiments, non-branching linear joints developed at relatively lower rates of cooling by a process of sub-critical crack propagation. On the other hand, at higher rates of cooling the mechanism of crack propagation was essentially supercritical leading to the development of branching joints.

Perturbations in elastic constants and density distinguish a volume inhomogeneity from its homogeneous surroundings. The equation of motion for the first order scattering is studied in the perturbed medium. The scattered waves are generated by the interaction between the primary waves and the inhomogeneity. First order scattering theory is modified to include the source term generating the primary waves. The body force equivalent to the scattering source is presented in a convenient form involving the perturbations in wave velocities and gradient of density perturbation. A procedure is presented to study the scattering of a spherical pulse from a small inhomogeneity, in time domain. The size of inhomogeneity is assumed small as compared to its distance from source and receiver. No restrictions are placed on the positions of source, receiver and inhomogeneity. The dilatation and rotations are calculated for a pulse scattered from an arbitrary point in a spherical volume. The aggregate of the scattered phases from all the points of the inhomogeneity, reaching at a fixed receiver, gives the amount of scattering from the inhomogeneity. The interaction of both P and S waves with inhomogeneity are considered. Dilatation and rotations for scattering are obtained as integral expressions over the solid angle of inhomogeneity. These expressions are computed numerically, for hypothetical models. The effects of source (unit force) orientations, velocity and density perturbations, and size of inhomogeneity, on the scattered phases, are discussed.

The dynamic problem in micropolar viscoelastic medium has been investigated by employing eigen value approach after applying Laplace and Fourier transformations. An example of infinite space with concentrated force at the origin has been presented to illustrate the application of the approach. The integral transforms have been inverted by using a numerical technique to obtain the displacement components, force stresses, couple stress and microrotation in the physical domain. The results for these quantities are given and illustrated graphically.

Recent algorithms for Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (DMSP-SSM/I) satellite data are used for estimating integrated water vapour over the Indian seas. Integrated water vapour obtained from these algorithms is compared with that derived from radiosonde observations at Minicoy and Port Blair islands. Algorithm-3 of Schlussel and Emery (1990) performed best. On the basis of this algorithm, distribution of integrated water vapour is determined during the monsoon depression (22nd{27th July, 1992) that formed over the Bay of Bengal.

The brightness temperatures of the Microwave sensor MSMR (Multichannel Scanning Microwave Radiometer) launched in May 1999 onboard Indian Oceansat-1 IRS-P4 are used to develop a direct retrieval method for latent heat ux by multivariate regression technique. The MSMR measures the microwave radiances at 8 channels at frequencies of 6.6, 10.7, 18 and 21 GHz at both vertical and horizontal polarizations. It is found that the surface LHF (Latent Heat Flux) is sensitive to all the channels. The coeficients were derived using the National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data of three months: July, September, November of 1999. The NCEP daily analyzed latent heat uxes and brightness temperatures observed by MSMR were used to derive the coeficients. Validity of the derived coeficients was checked with in situ observations over the Indian Ocean and with NCEP analyzed LHF for global points. The LHF derived directly from the MSMR brightness temperature (Tb) yielded an accuracy of 35 watt/m 2. LHF was also computed by applying bulk formula using the geophysical parameters extracted from MSMR. In this case the errors were higher apparently due to the errors involved in derivation of the geophysical parameters.

Time series of soil surface and subsurface temperatures, soil heat ux, net radiation, air temperature and wind speed were measured at two locations in Kalpakkam, coastal southeast India. The data were analysed to estimate soil thermal di usivity, thermal conductivity, volumetric heat capacity and soil heat ux. This paper describes the results and discusses their implications.