Pre-and post-construction status of panam reservoir and its environs using remotely sensed and ancillary data

The success of water-resources projects can be evaluated by using remotely sensed and ancillary data supported by ground-based information. Surficial features in the vicinity of Panam reservoir of the Mahi-Kadana river-valley project, have been demarcated using IRS data of 1991 (post-commission) and 1969 topographic sheet information (prior to commission) and have been evaluated. Observed positive and negative changes indicate that the project maintains its environment-friendly function.     

Franck-condon factors and -centroids for certain band systems of astrophysical molecular ions CN+ and N+2

The Franck-Condon factors and r-centroids, which are very closelyrelated to relative vibrational transition probabilities, have beenevaluated by the more reliable numerical integration procedure forthe bands of c ¹ - a ¹ and f ¹ - a ¹ systems of CN ⁺ and C ^{2 +} _u- X ^{2 +} _g and D ² _g- A ² _u systems of N ⁺ ₂ molecular ions of astrophysical interest,using a suitable potential.     

Assessment of groundwater potential zones using GIS technique

A case study was conducted to find out the groundwater potential zones in Kattakulathur block, Tamil Nadu, India with an aerial extent of 360.60 km². The thematic maps such as geology, geomorphology, soil hydrological group, land use / land cover and drainage map were prepared for the study area. The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) has been generated from the 10 m interval contour lines (which is derived from SOI, Toposheet 1:25000 scale) and obtained the slope (%) of the study area. The groundwater potential zones were obtained by overlaying all the thematic maps in terms of weighted overlay methods using the spatial analysis tool in ArcGIS 9.2. During weighted overlay analysis, the ranking has been given for each individual parameter of each thematic map and weights were assigned according to the influence such as soil −25%, geomorphology − 25%, land use/land cover −25%, slope − 15%, lineament − 5% and drainage / streams − 5% and find out the potential zones in terms of good, moderate and poor zones with the area of 49.70 km², 261.61 km² and 46.04 km² respectively. The potential zone wise study area was overlaid with village boundary map and the village wise groundwater potential zones with three categories such as good, moderate and poor zones were obtained. This GIS based output result was validated by conducting field survey by randomly selecting wells in different villages using GPS instruments. The coordinates of each well location were obtained by GPS and plotted in the GIS platform and it was clearly shown that the well coordinates were exactly seated with the classified zones.     

Enrichment pattern of leachable trace metals in roadside soils of Miri City,Eastern Malaysia

This article presents the results on distribution and enrichment pattern of acid-leachable trace metals (ALTMs) from roadside soil of Miri city, Sarawak, East Malaysia. The city is one of the fastest developing in the Malaysian region with huge petroleum resources. ALTMs Fe, Mn, Cr, Cu, Ni, Co, Pb, Zn and Cd along with organic carbon and carbonates (CaCO₃) were analyzed in 37 soil sediments collected from roadside. The enrichment of ALTMs [especially Cu (0.4–13.1 μg g^?1), Zn (9.3–70.7 μg g^?1), Pb (13.8–99.1 μg g^?1)] in the roadside soils indicate that these metals are mainly derived from sources related to traffic exhausts, forest fires and oil refineries. The comparative study and enrichment pattern of elements indicates that Mn, Cu, Zn and Pb are enriched multi-fold than the unpolluted soil and Ni, Pb, Cd in some samples compared to Sediment Quality Guidelines like Lowest Effect Level (LEL) and Effects Range Low (ERL) in the region which is mainly due to the recent industrial developments in the region.     

Remote sensing- and GIS-based runoff modeling with the effect of land-use changes (a case study of Cochin corporation)

A study was conducted to estimate the runoff in urbanized zone using Soil Conservation Services Curve Number (SCS-CN) method through remote sensing and GIS techniques. In this study, the region was identified as Cochin Corporation (Kerala State, India) with an aerial extent of 96.44 km². The spatial and non-spatial data were collected from different sources, and the thematic layers of soil hydrologic group and land-use maps were prepared and overlaid with one other. The overlaid output results were assigned by curve numbers with respect to soil and land-use categories, and the CN map was prepared with the help of Visual Basic (VB) language in ArcGIS platform. Through supervised classifications, 13 different land-use classes were identified from Quickbird data for the year of 2005 and 2010. The most prominent land-use classes were water bodies, residential, mixed crops, commercial and industrial, and 3 types of soil hydrologic groups were identified namely A, B, and C categories. The B group is most prominent occupying 60 km² of the study area. The CN map shows the ranges that 92–100 is the major CN area with high runoff potential zone of the study region. At the final stage, the runoff was estimated by the maximum successive rainfall received in this study area in two different years—2005 and 2010 along with their land-use pattern. The runoff model is applied for temporal variation in land-use change, and impact of runoff was studied. The study area showed significant changes in land-use pattern between 2005 and 2010 particularly in the land-use change from agricultural into industrial, commercial, and residential (high density). The area covered by the highest runoff depth with the range of 92–100 CN values increased from 43.87 to 45.32 km² from 2005 to 2010. The volume of runoff was increased from 135.56 to 141.49 Mm³ from 2005 to 2010 due to the land-use change pattern.     

High resolution facies record on late Holocene flood plain sediments from lower reaches of Narmada Valley,Western India

A high resolution quantitative granulometric record for site Uchediya [21°43′2.22″ N, 73° 6′26.22″ E; 10 m a. s. l.] gives understanding towards accretion history of the late Holocene flood plain in the lower reaches of Narmada River. Two sediment facies (sandy and muddy) and seven subfacies (sandy subfacies: St_MS+FS+CS, Sm_FS+MS, Sl_FS+VFS, and St_{MS + CS}; muddy subfacies: Fm_SILT+VFS+FS, Fm_SILT+VFS (O) and Fm_SILT+VFS (T)) are identified based on cluster analysis supplemented with sedimentary structures observed in field and other laboratory data. Changes in hydrodynamics are further deduced based on various sedimentological parameters and their ratios leading to arrive at a depositional model.     

Hydrogeochemistry and microbial contamination of groundwater from Lower Ponnaiyar Basin, Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, India

Groundwater is the major source of fresh water in regions where there is inadequate surface water resources. Forty-seven groundwater samples were collected from Lower Ponnaiyar basin, Cuddalore District, south India, during the premonsoon (PRM) and postmonsoon (POM) seasons of 2005. Out of 47 groundwater samples, 15 samples showing higher nitrate concentration were those collected during PRM 2005. Microbial analysis of these samples was carried out by employing 16S rRNA gene sequence tool. Detailed analysis was conducted to determine the hydrogeochemical processes and microbial contamination responsible for deterioration of quality. The abundance of the ions during PRM and POM are in the following order: Na?>?Ca?>?Mg?>?K?=?Cl?>?HCO₃?>?SO₄?>?CO₃. The dominant water types in PRM are in the order of NaCl?>?CaMgCl?>?mixed CaNaHCO₃, whereas during POM NaCl?>?CaMgCl?>?mixed CaNaHCO₃, and CaHCO₃. However, NaCl and CaMgCl are major water types in the study area. The quality of groundwater in the study area is mainly impaired by surface contamination sources, mineral dissolution, ion exchange and evaporation. Groundwater chemistry was used to assess quality to ensure its suitability for drinking and irrigation, based on BIS and WHO standards. Suitability for irrigation was determined on the basis of the diagram of US Salinity Laboratory (USSL), sodium absorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), and Na%. According to SAR and USSL classification, 27.66% (PRM) and 40.43% (POM) of samples fall under C3S2 category, indicating high salinity and medium sodium hazard, which restrict its suitability for irrigation. Microbiological analysis and its effects on the water quality were also addressed. The 16S rRNA gene sequences of 11 bacterial contaminants exhibited five groups with 11 operational taxonomic units with aerobic and facultatively anaerobic organisms. The presence of aerobic organisms in the groundwater samples reflects the active conversion of ammonia to nitrite by Nitrosomonas sp. which is further converted to nitrates by other organisms. Further the presence of nitrate reducers could also play a role in the process of conversion of nitrate to ammonia and nitrate to molecular nitrogen.     

Levels and distribution of polybrominated diphenyl ethers and organochlorine compounds in sea turtles from Japan

Three species of sea turtles (green, hawksbill and loggerhead turtles) stranded along the coasts or caught (by-catch) around Ishigaki Island and Kochi, Japan were collected between 1998 and 2006 and analyzed for six organohalogen compounds viz., PBDEs, PCBs, DDTs, CHLs, HCHs and HCB. The present study is the first and foremost to report the occurrence of organohalogen compounds in the sea turtles from Japan. Among the compounds analyzed, concentrations of PCBs, DDTs and CHLs were the highest in all the turtle samples. PBDEs were ubiquitously present in all the turtle species. Comparing with the other two species, concentrations of organohalogens in green turtle were relatively low and decreasing trend in the concentrations were noted with increasing carapace length. Concentrations of OCs in sea turtles from the coasts of Ishigaki Island and Kochi were relatively low as compared to those from other locations in the world.     

Controlling NOx Emission of Crude Rice Bran Oil Blend for Sustainable Environment

The main objective of this work is to investigate the factors influencing the NOx control of a stationary diesel engine fuelled with crude rice bran oil blend with lesser effect on smoke density and brake thermal efficiency (BTE). Fuel injection timing, percentage of EGR, and fuel injection pressure are chosen as the factors for the objective and NOx emission, smoke density, and BTE are considered as the response variables. To critically analyze the effects of the chosen factors on the objective three levels were chosen in each factor and the experiments were designed by following the design of experiments method. Taguchi's L₉ orthogonal array was used to conduct the tests with different combination of factor levels. Through analysis of variance (ANOVA) method, the most influencing factors and also the significance of each factor affecting each response variable were found out. Response graph was drawn for each response variable to determine the optimum combination of factor levels in achieving the objective and the obtained combination was confirmed experimentally.     

Particle Filter-based assimilation algorithms for improved estimation of root-zone soil moisture under dynamic vegetation conditions

In this study, we implement Particle Filter (PF)-based assimilation algorithms to improve root-zone soil moisture (RZSM) estimates from a coupled SVAT-vegetation model during a growing season of sweet corn in North Central Florida. The results from four different PF algorithms were compared with those from the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) when near-surface soil moisture was assimilated every 3 days using both synthetic and field observations. In the synthetic case, the PF algorithm with the best performance used residual resampling of the states and obtained resampled parameters from a uniform distribution and provided reductions of 76% in root mean square error (RMSE) over the openloop estimates. The EnKF provided the RZSM and parameter estimates that were closer to the truth than the PF with an 84% reduction in RMSE. When field observations were assimilated, the PF algorithm that maintained maximum parameter diversity offered the largest reduction of 16% in root mean square difference (RMSD) over the openloop estimates. Minimal differences were observed in the overall performance of the EnKF and PF using field observations since errors in model physics affected both the filters in a similar manner, with maximum reductions in RMSD compared to the openloop during the mid and reproductive stages.