Persistence of radon-222 flux during monsoon at a geothermal zone in Nepal

The Syabru-Bensi hydrothermal zone, Langtang region (Nepal), is characterized by high radon-222 and CO₂ discharge. Seasonal variations of gas fluxes were studied on a reference transect in a newly discovered gas discharge zone. Radon-222 and CO₂ fluxes were measured with the accumulation chamber technique, coupled with the scintillation flask method for radon. In the reference transect, fluxes reach exceptional mean values, as high as 8700 ± 1500 g m⁻² d⁻¹ for CO₂ and 3400 ± 100 × 10⁻³ Bq m⁻² s⁻¹ for radon. Gases fluxes were measured in September 2007 during the monsoon and during the dry winter season, in December 2007 to January 2008 and in December 2008 to January 2009. Contrary to expectations, radon and its carrier gas fluxes were similar during both seasons. The integrated flux along this transect was approximately the same for radon, with a small increase of 11 ± 4% during the wet season, whereas it was reduced by 38 ± 5% during the monsoon for CO₂. In order to account for the persistence of the high gas emissions during monsoon, watering experiments have been performed at selected radon measurement points. After watering, radon flux decreased within 5 min by a factor of 2–7 depending on the point. Subsequently, it returned to its original value, firstly, by an initial partial recovery within 3–4 h, followed by a slow relaxation, lasting around 10 h and possibly superimposed by diurnal variations. Monsoon, in this part of the Himalayas, proceeds generally by brutal rainfall events separated by two- or three-day lapses. Thus, the recovery ability shown in the watering experiments accounts for the observed long-term persistence of gas discharge. This persistence is an important asset for long-term monitoring, for example to study possible temporal variations associated with stress accumulation and release.     

Seasonal variation in physicochemical properties of coastal waters of Kalpakkam, east coast of India with special emphasis on nutrients

A study pertaining to the seasonal variation in physicochemical properties of the coastal waters was carried out at Kalpakkam coast for a period of 1 year (February 2006 to January 2007). It revealed that the coastal water was significantly influenced by freshwater input during North East (NE) monsoon and post-monsoon periods. Concentration of all the nutrients and dissolved oxygen (DO) was relatively high during the NE monsoon, whereas, salinity and chlorophyll-a (chl-a) were at their minimum level during this period. Phytoplankton production peak was observed in summer during which a typical marine condition prevailed. The present observed values of nitrate, phosphate, silicate, and turbidity are significantly high (five to ten times) compared to that of the pre-Tsunami period from this coast. Relatively low DO and chl-a concentration was noticed during the post-Tsunami period. A notable feature of this study is that though nutrient concentration in the coastal waters during post-Tsunami period has increased significantly, turbidity, the most single dominating factor, was found to adversely affect the phytoplankton production during post-Tsunami period as reflected by relatively low chl-a concentration. Thus, the post-Tsunami period may result in a change in coastal biodiversity pattern concomitant with change in coastal water quality.     

Monitoring changes in soil organic carbon pools, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur under different agricultural management practices in the tropics

Soil organic matter not only affects sustainability of agricultural ecosystems, but also extremely important in maintaining overall quality of environment as soil contains a significant part of global carbon stock. Hence, we attempted to assess the influence of different tillage and nutrient management practices on various stabilized and active soil organic carbon pools, and their contribution to the extractable nitrogen phosphorus and sulfur. Our study confined to the assessment of impact of agricultural management practices on the soil organic carbon pools and extractable nutrients under three important cropping systems, viz. soybean–wheat, maize–wheat, and rice–wheat. Results indicated that there was marginal improvement in Walkley and Black content in soil under integrated and organic nutrient management treatments in soybean–wheat, maize–wheat, and rice–wheat after completion of four cropping cycles. Improvement in stabilized pools of soil organic carbon (SOC) was not proportional to the applied amount of organic manures. While, labile pools of SOC were increased with the increase in amount of added manures. Apparently, green manure (Sesbania) was more effective in enhancing the lability of SOC as compared to farmyard manure and crop residues. The KMnO₄-oxidizable SOC proved to be more sensitive and consistent as an index of labile pool of SOC compared to microbial biomass carbon. Under different cropping sequences, labile fractions of soil organic carbon exerted consistent positive effect on the extractable nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur in soil.     

Calibration and Validation of SWAP to Simulate Conjunctive Use of Fresh and Saline Irrigation Waters in Semi-Arid Regions

Soil–Water–Atmosphere–Plant (SWAP) version 2.0 was evaluated for its capability to simulate crop growth and salinity profiles at Agra (India) located in a semi-arid region having deep water table and monsoon climate. The data of 12 conjunctive use treatment combinations simulating cyclic and mixing modes of fresh and saline water for wheat were used to calibrate and validate the model. Absolute deviations between the SWAP simulated and observed relative yields during calibration ranged from 2.5 to 2.9 %. A close agreement in the trend and values of measured and simulated soil salinity profiles was observed. Scenario building simulations carried out with the validated SWAP revealed that the maximum crop yields varied from 97 to 99 % with the best available water (EC 3.6 dS m^?1) while the minimum ranged from 65 to 79 % in the treatment with all saline water. Other than this, the relative yield varied from 80 to 98 % in 10 other cyclic and mixing mode treatments. It was established that notwithstanding the seasonal build-up of salts due to saline water use, there would be no long-term build-up of salts as leaching during the monsoon season would render the soil profile salt free at the time of sowing of rabi (winter) crops. Thus, short-term field observations could be used in conjunction with SWAP to show that there seems to be an assured long-term sustainability when saline water is used in conjunctive mode with fresh water in monsoon climatic conditions with deep water table. These results are in conformity with the observation that many farmers in India are using saline and fresh water in conjunctive mode on a long-term basis.     

The Development of a Model to Examine Source-Receptor Relationships for Visibility on the Colorado Plateau

This paper describes the development and application of the Visibility and Haze in the Western Atmosphere (VISHWA) model to understand the source-receptor relationships that govern chemical species relevant to visibility degradation in the western United States. The model was developed as part of a project referred to as Visibility Assessment for Regional Emission Distributions (VARED), the objective of which is to estimate the contributions of various geographical regions, compounds, and emission

sources to light scattering and absorption by particles on the Colorado Plateau.

The VISHWA model is a modified version of a comprehensive Eulerian model, known as the Acid Deposition and Oxidant Model.1 The modifications were designed to obtain the computational efficiency required to simulate a one-year period at about 1/25th of real time, and at the same time incorporate mechanistic features relevant to realistic modeling of the fate and transport of visibility degrading species. The modifications included use of a condensed chemical mechanism; incorporation of reactions to simulate the formation of secondary organic particles; and use of a semi-Lagrangian advection scheme to preserve concentration peaks during advection.

The model was evaluated with 1992 air quality data from Project MOHAVE (Measurements of Haze and Visual Effects) intensive experiments. An important conclusion of this evaluation is that aqueous-phase oxidation of SO2 to sulfate in nonprecipitating clouds makes a significant contribution to observed sulfate levels during winter as well as summer. Model estimates of ambient sulfate

for the winter intensive were within a factor of 2 of the observations for 75% of the values. The corresponding statistic for the summer intensive was 90%. Model estimates of carbon were within a factor of 2 of the limited set of observations.     

Evaluation of Wind Fields Used in Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission Analyses

ABSTRACT

The Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission (GCVTC) was established by the U.S. Congress to assess the potential impacts of projected growth on atmospheric visibility at Grand Canyon National Park and to make recommendations to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on what measures could be taken to avoid such adverse impacts. A critical input to the assessment tool used by the commission was three-dimensional model-derived wind fields used to transport the emissions. This paper describes the evaluation of the wind fields used at various stages in the assessment. Wind fields evaluated included those obtained from the Colorado State University Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS), the National Meteorological Center's Nested Grid Model (NGM), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion (ATAD) trajectory model. The model-derived wind fields were evaluated at multiple vertical levels at several locations in the southwestern United States by determining differences between model predicted winds and winds that were measured using radiosonde and radar wind profiler data. Model-derived winds were also evaluated by determining the percent of time that they were within acceptable differences from measured winds.

All models had difficulties, generally meeting the acceptable criteria for less than 50% of the predictions. The RAMS model had a persistent bias toward southwesterly winds at the expense of other directions, especially failing to represent channeling by north-south mountain ranges in the lower levels. The NGM model exhibited a substantial bias in the summer months by extending northwesterly winds in the eastern Pacific Ocean well inland, in contrast to the observed southwesterlies at inland locations. The simpler ATAD trajectory model performed somewhat better than the other models, probably because of its use of more upper air sites. The results of the evaluation indicated that these wind fields could not be used to reliably predict source-receptor impacts on a particular day; thus, seasonally averaged impacts were used in the GCVTC assessment.     

Influence of exogenous urea on photosynthetic pigments, 14CO2 uptake, and urease activity in Elodea densa—environmental implications

This paper analyzes the effect of exogenous urea in increased concentration gradient (0, 100, 500 and 1,000 mg L^?1) on photosynthetic pigments (measured spectrophotometrically), uptake of ¹⁴CO₂ (using radioisotope), and urease activity (by measuring ammonia with Nessler’s reagent) in leaves of Elodea densa Planch. We have observed that low concentration of urea (100 mg L^?1) stimulates the accumulation of photosynthetic pigments and intensifies photosynthesis in E. densa, whereas high concentration (1,000 mg L^?1) suppresses these processes. Urease activity increased by approximately 2.7 and 8 fold when exogenous urea concentrations were 100 and 500 mg L^?1, respectively. However, exogenous urea in high concentration (1,000 mg L^?1) decreased urease activity by 1.5 fold compared to the control. The necessity of mitigating urea and other nitrogen-containing compounds (NH₃ from urea) in water bodies has been discussed with emphasis on the potential for phytoremediation of urea using common water weed viz. E. densa.     

Lead toxicity, defense strategies and associated indicative biomarkers in Talinum triangulare grown hydroponically

Talinum species have been used to investigate a variety of environmental problems for e.g. determination of metal pollution index and total petroleum hydrocarbons in roadside soils, stabilization and reclamation of heavy metals (HMs) in dump sites, removal of HMs from storm water-runoff and green roof leachates. Species of Talinum are popular leaf vegetables having nutrient antinutrient properties. In this study, Talinum triangulare (Jacq.) Willd (Ceylon spinach) grown hydroponically were exposed to different concentrations of lead (Pb) (0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0 and 1.25 mM) to investigate the biomarkers of toxicity and tolerance mechanisms. Relative water content, cell death, photosynthetic pigments, sulphoquinovosyldiacylglycerol (SQDG), anthocyanins, α-tocopherol, malondialdehyde (MDA), reactive oxygen species (ROS) glutathione (GSH and GSSG) and elemental analysis have been investigated. The results showed that Pb in roots and shoots gradually increased as the function of Pb exposure; however Pb concentration in leaves was below detectable level. Chlorophylls and SQDG contents increased at 0.25 mM of Pb treatment in comparison to control at all treated durations, thereafter decreased. Levels of carotenoid, anthocyanins, α-tocopherol, and lipid peroxidation increased in Pb treated plants compared to control. Water content, cells death and elemental analysis suggested the damage of transport system interfering with nutrient transport causing cell death. The present study also explained that Pb imposed indirect oxidative stress in leaves is characterized by decreases in GSH/GSSG ratio with increased doses of Pb treatment. Lead-induced oxidative stress was alleviated by carotenoids, anthocyanins, α-tocopherol and glutathione suggesting that these defense responses as potential biomarkers for detecting Pb toxicity.     

Spatio-temporal analysis of fire events in India: implications for environmental conservation

Information on fires in different geographic regions of India is relatively scarce. This study quantifies spatial and temporal patterns in fire occurrences covering different states and districts in India. Two important scientific questions are answered in this study: (1) how are the fire events distributed across different geographical regions? (2) are there any specific districts where fire events clustered across space and time? To address these questions, Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) derived satellite fire counts from 1997–2006 were used and the datasets were analysed using spatial scan statistic. Spatial scan statistic provides a test statistic for most likely ‘hotspot’ spatial clusters, based on the likelihood ratio test and Monte Carlo simulation. Results from geographical analysis based on state boundaries suggested Maharastra state had the highest number of fires followed by Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Orissa, etc., during the 10-year period. Among the several districts, the spatial scan statistic identified the most likely cluster of fire events in Dausa, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur, Bharatpur and Alwar in addition to several other secondary clusters, with high statistical significance. These results are based on a large sample of cases, and they provide convincing evidence of spatial clustering of fire events in the Indian region. Results relating to hotspot areas of fire risk can guide policy makers towards the best management strategies for avoiding damages to forests, human life and personal property in the ‘hotspot’ districts.