The return current induced in a plasma by a relativisitc electron beam generates a new electron-ion two-stream instability (return current instability). Although the effect of these currents on the beam-plasma e-e instability is negligible, there exists a range of wave numbers which is unstable only to return current (RC) instability and not to e-e instability. The electromagnetic waves propagating along the direction of the external magnetic field, in which the plasma is immersed, are stabilized by these currents but the e.m. waves with frequencies,ω²≪Ω_e²≪ω_pe² (Ω_e andω_pe being cyclotron and plasma frequency for the electrons of the plasma respectively) propagating transverse to the magnetic field get destabilized. Heuristic estimates of plasma heating, due to RC instability and due to decay of ion-acoustic turbulence generated by the return current, are made. The fastest time scale on which the return current delivers energy to the plasma due to the scattering of ion-sound waves by the electrons can be ∼ω_pi⁻¹ (ω_pi being the plasma frequency for the ions).

A modifiedK-dV equation, which describes the propagation of an ion acoustic solitary wave in an inhomogeneous plasma with both density and temperature gradients, is derived. It is shown that, the velocity of a solitary wave increases as it propagates towards regions of increasing temperature.

The presence of a small amount of relatively cold electrons in an otherwise hot plasma reduces the ion sound speed in the medium and hence reduces the growth rate of the drift dissipative ion acoustic mode in an inhomogeneous weakly ionized plasma. This is expected to improve the confinement time in certain magnetic confinement schemes. The propagation of a small but finite amplitude mode in the presence of ion viscosity is also investigated by using reductive perturbation method. It is shown that, when the damping due to ion viscosity is stronger than the growth due to collisions, there exists a stationary shock solution.

Predictability of the Indian summer monsoon is investigated by conducting three multiyear integrations with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory’s climate model. The mean monsoon simulated by the model is realistic. It is shown that a significant fraction of the interannual variance of the simulated Indian summer monsoon may be due to internal dynamics. It is discovered that the tropical atmosphere is capable of sustaining a quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) accounting for most of the internal low frequency variability. It is also shown that neither air-sea interaction nor surface hydrology feedback is essential for the QBO of the model atmosphere. That such a QBO can arise due to modulation of the nonlinear intraseasonal oscillations by the annual cycle is demonstrated using a simple nonlinear dynamical model. The phase and the amplitude of the internal mode is unpredictable and hence may be responsible for limiting the long range predictability of the monsoon.