Glaciology

A coupled ecophysiological and micrometeorological study was carried out in young pine (Pinus roxburghii) plantation at Forest Research Institute, Dehradun to ascertain seasonal carbon fluxes behavior and its environmental controls. The results showed that seasonality of Leaf Area Index (LAI) and its ambient subtropical climatic condition played very important role in seasonal carbon accumulation trend in addition to land management practices. The mean annual net primary productivity stands -2 -1 -1 -1 at 1.57 g C m day (5.75 t C ha yr) with distinct phenophasic and seasonal variations. Mean annual light use efficiency was -1 2.33 gMJ , with prominent peak in postmonsoon season. The normal trend of carbon fluxes varied from source to sink mode in the annual cycle. The LAI of physiologically dormant plants decreased during winter with net carbon assimilation being negative, i.e. it respired more than net photosynthetic uptake. Present study also brought out the role of understorey in...

The extreme rainfall event during June 2013 in the Western Himalayas caused widespread flash floods, which triggered landslides, a lake-outburst, and debris flow. For the hydrological study of such an unexpected extreme event, it is essential to have reliable and accurate rainfall predictions based on satellite observations. The mountainous state of Uttarakhand is covered by complex topography, and this state has few, unevenly distributed, rain gauge networks. This unique study was conducted to evaluate three satellite based rainfall products (i.e., TMPA-3B42, Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP), and NOAA CPC Morphing Technique (CMORPH)) against the observed rain gauge-based India Meteorological Department (IMD) gridded dataset for this rainfall episode. The results from this comprehensive study confirmed that the magnitude of precipitation and peak rainfall intensity were underestimated in TMPA-3B42 and CMORPH against gauge-based IMD data, while GSMaP showed dual trends with under-and over-predictions. From the results of the statistical approach on the determination of error statistic metrics (MAE (mean absolute error), NRMSE (normalized root mean square error), PBIAS (percent bias), and NSE (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency)) of respective satellite products, it was revealed that TMPA-3B42 predictions were more relevant and accurate compared to predictions from the other two satellite products for this major event. The TMPA-3B42-based rainfall was negatively biased by 18%. Despite these caveats, this study concludes that TMPA-3B42 rainfall was useful for monitoring extreme rainfall event in the region, where rain-gauges are sparse.