The Mauritius Radiotelescope

The Mauritius Radiotelescope (MRT) is a T-shaped array of helical antennas with a 2048 m EW arm and a 890 m South arm. The primary objective of the telescope is to produce a sky survey in the declination zone -15° to -65° with a point source sensitivity of 200 mJy and an angular resolution of 4'×4.6'cosec(z) at 151.6 MHz, z being the zenith angle . This paper describes the telescope and the present status     

Secondary geochemical dispersion in the Precambrian auriferous Hutti-Maski schist belt, Raichur district, Karnataka, India. Part I: anomalies of As, Sb, Hg and Bi in soil and groundwater

The nature of secondary geochemical dispersion of As, Sb, Hg and Bi in soil and ground water of the semi-arid, tropical, Archaean, auriferous, Hutti-Maski greenstone belt has been investigated for identification of appropriate geochemical techniques for Au exploration in similar terrains.Results indicate that the <180 μm size-fraction of C-horizon soil is an appropriate sampling medium for delineating pedogeochemical anomalies of As, Sb, Hg and Bi related to gold mineralisation. These pedogeochemical anomalies along with anomalous values of alkalinity, chloride, sulphate, As and Sb in groundwater are controlled significantly by primary mineralisation located along shear zones in the greenstone belt. Arsenic anomalies in soil are broad, whereas, those of Sb and Bi are restricted to narrow zones directly over mineralised areas. In contrast, Hg anomalies around known mineralised areas are irregular and do not clearly demarcate the mineralised areas. The study indicates that anomalies of As, Sb and Hg in soil are principally hydromorphic, whereas those of Bi are clastic.The study recommends use of groundwater sampling at 2–3 km spacing with routine analysis of chloride, sulphate and alkalinity along with As and Sb in the first phase. This may be followed up with sampling of C-horizon of soils on a 1 km square grid for As-anomalies. Arsenic-anomalous areas may be sampled for As, Sb, Hg and Bi on a 500 m square grid for detailed exploration.     

A three-dimensional multi-level turbulence model for tidal motion

A three-dimensional multi-level turbulence model is developed to simulate tide induced circulation in coastal waters. Based on the bathymetry data, the coastal waters are divided into a number of layers. In every layer, the velocities are integrated along the layer depth. The eddy viscosity and diffusivity are computed from the Prandtl mixing length turbulence model. This multi-level model solves for the water surface elevations and currents in different water depths. Comparison of numerical results with the measured data shows good conformity.     

Are sea-level-rise trends along the coasts of the north Indian Ocean consistent with global estimates?

Mean-sea-level data from coastal tide gauges in the north Indian Ocean were used to show that low-frequency variability is consistent among the stations in the basin. Statistically significant trends obtained from records longer than 40 years yielded sea-level-rise estimates between 1.06–1.75 mm yr^− 1, with a regional average of 1.29 mm yr^− 1, when corrected for global isostatic adjustment (GIA) using model data. These estimates are consistent with the 1–2 mm yr^− 1 global sea-level-rise estimates reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.     

Planning and Scheduling of Payloads of AstroSat During Initial and Normal Phase Observations

On 28th September 2015, India launched its first astronomical space observatory AstroSat, successfully. AstroSat carried five astronomy payloads, namely, (i) Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager (CZTI), (ii) Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC), (iii) Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT), (iv) Ultra Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) and (v) Scanning Sky Monitor (SSM) and therefore, has the capability to observe celestial objects in multi-wavelength. Four of the payloads are co-aligned along the positive roll axis of the spacecraft and the remaining one is placed along the positive yaw axis direction. All the payloads are sensitive to bright objects and specifically, require avoiding bright Sun within a safe zone of their bore axes in orbit. Further, there are other operational constraints both from spacecraft side and payloads side which are to be strictly enforced during operations. Even on-orbit spacecraft manoeuvres are constrained to about two of the axes in order to avoid bright Sun within this safe zone and a special constrained manoeuvre is exercised during manoeuvres. The planning and scheduling of the payloads during the Performance Verification (PV) phase was carried out in semi-autonomous/manual mode and a complete automation is exercised for normal phase/Guaranteed Time Observation (GuTO) operations. The process is found to be labour intensive and several operational software tools, encompassing spacecraft sub-systems, on-orbit, domain and environmental constraints, were built-in and interacted with the scheduling tool for appropriate decision-making and science scheduling. The procedural details of the complex scheduling of a multi-wavelength astronomy space observatory and their working in PV phase and in normal/GuTO phases are presented in this paper.     

Trapped waves of the 27 November 1945 Makran tsunami: observations and numerical modeling

The 27 November 1945 earthquake in the Makran Subduction Zone triggered a destructive tsunami that has left important problems unresolved. According to the available reports, high waves persisted along the Makran coast and at Karachi for several hours after the arrival of the first wave. Long-duration sea-level oscillations were also reported from Port Victoria, Seychelles. On the other hand, only one high wave was reported from Mumbai. Tide-gauge records of the tsunami from Karachi and Mumbai confirm these reports. While the data from Mumbai shows a single high wave, Karachi data shows that high waves persisted for more than 7 h, with maximum wave height occurring 2.8 h after the arrival of the first wave. In this paper, we analyze the cause of these persistent high waves using a numerical model. The simulation reproduces the observed features reasonably well, particularly the persistent high waves at Karachi and the single high wave at Mumbai. It further reveals that the persistent high waves along the Makran coast and at Karachi were the result of trapping of the tsunami-wave energy on the continental shelf off the Makran coast and that these coastally-trapped edge waves were trapped in the along-shore direction within a ∼300-km stretch of the continental shelf. Sensitivity experiments establish that this along-shore trapping of the tsunami energy is due to variations in the shelf width. In addition, the model simulation indicates that the reported long duration of sea-level oscillations at Port Victoria were mainly due to trapping of the tsunami energy over the large shallow region surrounding the Seychelles archipelago.     

Link between convection and meridional gradient of sea surface temperature in the Bay of Bengal

We use daily satellite estimates of sea surface temperature (SST) and rainfall during 1998–2005 to show that onset of convection over the central Bay of Bengal (88–92°E, 14–18°N) during the core summer monsoon (mid-May to September) is linked to the meridional gradient of SST in the bay. The SST gradient was computed between two boxes in the northern (88–92°E, 18–22°N) and southern (82–88°E, 4–8°N) bay; the latter is the area of the cold tongue in the bay linked to the Summer Monsoon Current. Convection over central bay followed the SST difference between the northern and southern bay (ΔT) exceeding 0.75°C in 28 cases. There was no instance of ΔT exceeding this threshold without a burst in convection. There were, however, five instances of convection occurring without this SST gradient. Long rainfall events (events lasting more than a week) were associated with an SST event (ΔT ≥ 0.75°C); rainfall events tended to be short when not associated with an SST event. The SST gradient was important for the onset of convection, but not for its persistence: convection often persisted for several days even after the SST gradient weakened. The lag between ΔT exceeding 0.75°C and the onset of convection was 0–18 days, but the lag histogram peaked at one week. In 75% of the 28 cases, convection occurred within a week of ΔT exceeding the threshold of 0.75°C. The northern bay SST, T _N , contributed more to ΔT, but it was a weaker criterion for convection than the SST gradient. A sensitivity analysis showed that the corresponding threshold for T _N was 29°C. We hypothesise that the excess heating (∼1°C above the threshold for deep convection) required in the northern bay to trigger convection is because this excess in SST is what is required to establish the critical SST gradient.     

Turbulence Statistics Inside and Over Forest: Influence on Footprint Prediction

Observations of wind statistics within and above a Scots pine forest are comparedwith those predicted from an analytical second-order closure model. The roughnesssublayer (RSL) effects, and the influence of stability on similarity functions, arestudied using observations. The commonly accepted forms of similarity functionsdescribe the influence of diabatic effects above the RSL well. According to earlierstudies they are expected also to apply within the RSL. As an exception, the averagewind speed normalised with friction velocity was found to be invariant with stabilityclose to the canopy top under unstable conditions. Lagrangian stochastic trajectorysimulations were used to evaluate the influence of canopy turbulence profiles onfootprint prediction. The main uncertainty was found to arise from parameterisationof the random forcing term in the Lagrangian velocity equation. The influence ofdiabatic conditions was studied, and it was found that thermal stability affectssignificantly the footprint function above the forest canopy, but significantuncertainty exists because of uncertainties in the formulation of stability functions.     

Weathering of ilmenite from Chavara deposit and its comparison with Manavalakurichi placer ilmenite,southwestern India

The magnetic fractions of ilmenite from the beach placer deposit of Chavara, southwest India have been studied for mineralogical and chemical composition to assess the range of their physical and chemical variations with weathering. Chavara deposit represents a highly weathered and relatively homogenous concentration. Significant variation in composition has been documented with alteration. The most magnetic of the fractions of ilmenite, separated at 0.15 Å, and with a susceptibility of 3.2 × 10^?6 m³ kg^?1, indicates the presence of haematite–ilmenite intergrowth. An iron-poor, titanium-rich component of the ilmenite ore has been identified from among the magnetic fractions of the Chavara ilmenite albeit with an undesirably high Nb₂O₅ (0.28%), Cr₂O₃ (0.23%) and Th (149 ppm) contents. The ilmenite from Chavara is compared with that from the nearby Manavalakurichi deposit of similar geological setting and provenance. The lower ferrous iron oxide (2.32–14.22%) and higher TiO₂ (56.31–66.45%) contents highlight the advanced state of alteration of Chavara. This is also evidenced by the relatively higher Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ ratio compared to Manavalakurichi ilmenite. In fact, the ilmenite has significantly been converted to pseudorutile/leucoxene.     

Evaluation of a regional strain gradient in mylonitic quartzites from the footwall of the Main Central Thrust Zone (Garhwal Himalaya,India): Inferences from finite strain and AMS analyses

The footwall of the Main Central Thrust (MCT) Zone along the Bhagirathi valley comprises a wide zone of mylonitic quartzite and deep-level tectonites. The systematic variation of finite strain parameters (Es, k and v) in the mylonites indicates heterogeneous deformation, which is determined to vary between, simple shear and non-coaxial flattening type. In such a strain regime the outer boundary of the quartz clasts are no longer preserved thus leading to an error in finite strain measurement.In order to supplement the finite strain studies, Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) analyses were carried out on the mylonitic quartzites. A systematic variation in degree of anisotropy (P′) with distance from the MCT is documented and is interpreted to be tectonic in origin. Based on these results it is concluded that P′ can be used as a strain-intensity gauge at least on an outcrop scale, where a systematic variation in P′ values from one part of the outcrop to the other can be established. However, the quantitative relation between principal axes of finite strain ellipsoid and AMS axes, magnitude of principal susceptibility difference (ΔK₁ and ΔK₃) and finite strain magnitude (ε₁=ln 1 + e₁ and ε₃=ln 1 + e₃) were related by a logarithmic relationship with a correlation coefficient of 0.844.