Devesh Sharma

Assessment of climate change impact on yield of major crops in the Banas River Basin, India

Crop growth models like AquaCrop are useful in understanding the impact of climate change on crop production considering the various projections from global circulation models and regional climate models. The present study aims to assess the climate change impact on yield of major crops in the Banas River Basin i.e., wheat, barley and maize. Banas basin is part of the semi-arid region of Rajasthan state in India. AquaCrop model is used to calculate the yield of all the three crops for a historical period of 30years (1981-2010) and then compared with observed yield data. Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values are calculated to assess the model accuracy in prediction of yield. Further, the calibrated model is used to predict the possible impacts of climate change and CO2 concentration on crop yield using CORDEX-SA climate projections of three driving climate models (CNRM-CM5, CCSM4 and MPI-ESM-LR) for two different scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) for the future period 2021-2050. RMSE values of simulated yield with respect to observed yield of wheat, barley and maize are 11.99, 16.15 and 19.13, respectively. It is predicted that crop yield of all three crops will increase under the climate change conditions for future period (2021-2050).

Development of Indices for Aridity and Temperature Changes Pattern through GIS Mapping for Rajasthan, India

The present study is focused to determine the change in maximum and minimum temperature on monthly, seasonal and annual time scale for the Rajasthan state. Three different climatic indices were calculated to classify the districts of Rajasthan in different classes as per the given condition. Daily temperature data of 24 gridded locations from 1969 to 2005 were obtained from Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) for the study. Three indices that is, Lang (1915. Internationale Mitteilungen fuer Bodenkunde, 5: 312), De Martonne (1923. C. R. 182(23): 1935) and Emberger (1932. Su rune formule climatique et ses applications en botanique. La Meteorologie) were calculated to categorised districts in various zones. The results showed that there was mainly increase in both maximum and minimum temperature in the period 1987–2005 when compared to previous period 1969–1986. It was observed that there was increased change in annual maximum temperature and direction was towards southwest. Similarly, there was an increased change in annual minimum temperature, and direction of change was towards north-east.

Assessment of hydrological and hydrochemical vulnerability of groundwater in semi-arid region of Rajasthan, India

The aim of this study was to provide the overall assessment and identification of vulnerable area using the quantitative, qualitative and socio-economic assessment of groundwater resources in Kishangarh Tehsil of Ajmer district, Rajasthan, India. In quantitative assessment, the runoff and net recharge was estimated using the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCN-CN) and water balance methods, respectively. While qualitative assessment was performed by conducting groundwater sampling and analyzing the different hydrochemical parameters. Finally, socio-economic assessment (SEA) was done by gathering information through questionnaire survey focused on groundwater issues with the native people. All three assessments were integrated to evaluate groundwater resource vulnerability. The water balance of area shows very low recharge rate, even during the monsoon season. The soil in the area has only a 0.04% total annual net recharge coefficient and extremely high concentrations of copper, and fluoride, as well as high salinity, and hardness. The hydro-geochemical condition of the drinking water was extremely worse. PCA analysis indicates that an increase in first principal component was associated with the increase in copper and chromium, while the increase in second component was linked to the increase in fluoride, iron and cadmium. Sampling locations tends to be clustered into three quadrants of the Cartesian plane. This suggests an increase in contamination when moving along the bisecting line away from the origin of the Cartesian plane. The groundwater from the location of the first group (Ankauriya, Sinodiya, Nosal, and Jajota) tends to be highly polluted because of the parameters of both first and second components. Furthermore, socio-economic assessment also reported that the groundwater resources showed high vulnerability. This study may help in planning groundwater management strategies and technological approaches for the sustainable natural resources development.

Colder environments are associated with a greater cancer incidence in the female population of the United States

Cancer incidence and/or mortality among individuals varies with diet, socio-culture, ethnicity, race, gender, and age. Similarly, environmental temperature modulates many biological functions. To study the effect of environment temperature on cancer incidence, the US population was selected. Because, county-wise cancer incidence rate data of various anatomical site–specific cancers and different races/ethnicities for both males and females are available. Moreover, the differences amongst the aforementioned factors among individuals are much less, as compared to the world population. Statistical analysis showed a negative correlation between the average annual temperature and cancer incidence rate at all anatomical sites and individually for 13 types (out of 16 types) of anatomical site–specific cancer incidence rates (e.g. uterine, bladder, thyroid, breast, esophagus, ovary, melanoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, brain, pancreas, etc.) for females. Further analysis found a similar inverse trend in all races/ethnicities of the female population but not in all male races/ethnicities or anatomical site–specific cancers. Moreover, the majority of the counties having the top-most cancer incidence rate in females are located above the latitude 36.5°N. These findings indicate that living in a cold county in the United States might have a higher risk of cancer irrespective of cancer type (except cervical and liver) and races/ethnicities for females but not in all such cases for the male population.

An Overview of Sustainable Dimensions and Indicators for Smart City

This paper provides an overview and literature review to understand the concept of smart cities with sustainability dimensions and indicators. Based on the outcomes of various studies, it is realized that several dimensions are identified with related factors for smart cities, i.e., economics, environmental, social, and governmental. These dimensions are further divided into indicators which are linked with various aspects like management and organization, technology, policy decision, public participation, socio-economic, infrastructure availability, and clean environment. It is very important to use these indicators to examine the participation and role of government for various development activities for smart city. These different definitions and indicators propose agendas for smart city development and provide an outline for government and other relevant organizations to take necessary steps in the formation of policy and development plans considering the future scenarios.

Selection of Suitable General Circulation Model Precipitation and Application of Bias Correction Methods: A Case Study from the Western Thailand

The General Circulation Models (GCMs) precipitations are generally characterized by the biases and low spatial resolution. These two are the major limiting factors for direct application of GCMs scenarios in the studies of climate change impact assessment. Based on 17 experiments over the two river basins of the western Thailand, Six GCMs were analyzed for their ability to simulate the magnitude and spatial variability of current precipitation. Monthly precipitation scenarios from six GCMs (17 experiments) are downloaded from the IPCC data centre. Three bias-correction techniques namely, scaling, empirical-gamma and gamma-gamma transformations were applied on a daily scale of 9 years (1991–1999) to improve the quality of the selected ECHAM4/OPYC SRES A2 and B2 precipitation for the Mae Ping and Mae Klong River Basins in the Western Thailand. All the three bias correction methods have been compared with observed precipitation based on statistical parameters. Gamma-gamma transformation method is found to be effective in correcting the rainfall frequency and intensity simultaneously as compared to other methods. The bias corrected daily precipitation is useful in studies related to climate change and water resources management at basin level.

Urban Environmental Settings of Dharuhera, Haryana Using Remote Sensing

The Indian Urban Environment is undergoing a radical change with far reaching implications on society and nature. A rapid impetus and thrust is being given to the development of urban areas on sustainable basis to meet the increasing demand of urban population for housing, infrastructure, and green space without comprising the natural resources, assets and quality of life. The present study demonstrates the present status, scope, need, methodology and outcomes of the thematic mapping for the purpose of urban environment analysis for Dharuhera of Haryana State. Satellite data used of this study is taken from high resolution Quick Bird PAN stereo of 2008–2009 with a scale of 1:4,000. Urban land use map is component of Urban Environment Baseline and thematic mapping in National Urban Information System (NUIS). The urban land use classification has been done with a three tier hierarchy level. Various maps for each class at each level (three level) of urban land use i.e., built-up, industrial, transport, water bodies, etc. were prepared. Ground truth and other field information were incorporated in the final maps. The study shows that urban-land use, comprises-Built-up Urban: 6.80 %, Built-up Rural: 1.91 %, Industrial Area: 8.82 %, Commercial Area: 0.51 % and Vacant Land 9.70 %. These maps are very useful for further urban environment setting and further urban planning and management at town and state level.