The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
New Delhi: Delhiites woke up to a haze over the city on Tuesday, with southwesterly air currents carrying dust all the way from the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, and reducing visibility to 1,000 metres. Met officials said the haze would clear substantially on Wednesday as wind …
Experts looking at global climate models say there’s a good chance that February and March too will see below normal temperatures. As several parts of India reel under a cold spell, here's worse news: expect the rest of the winter to be colder than usual. Experts looking at global climate …
Eleven potential bacterial probiotic isolates of Enterococcus, Bacillus and Lactobacillus spp. were examined for their antagonistic activity against standard antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria. Antagonistic activity was exhibited by most of these indigenous isolates against selected pathogens, but it was very strong against Listeria monocytogenes-MTCC 839 and Staphylococcus aureus-MTCC 96. These …
Water security is one of the most important ingredients of the human security as the agricultural and industrial sectors are heavily dependent on water. Externally, it has lead to tensions between India and the neighbouring countries, and given rise to many intra-State conflicts internally. According to the National Commission for …
Hunting is the prime suspect in the global extinction of many species and is posing a major threat to populations of hundreds of species worldwide even in the absence of other forms of habitat destruction.This study was designed to investigate impact of wild ungulate offtakes on their populations in the …
The complex interaction of environmental stress, poor natural regeneration and insect pests have lead to forest decline in Himalayan sub-region. Amongst the insects, stem and wood boring beetles are capable of causing significant oak mortality. The paper reports the outcome of surveys on wood boring beetles carried out in moist …
During preliminary investigation of spiders in Milam Valley, Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, the authors documented a total of 86 species/morphospecies under 39 genus and 16 families. Spider fauna in the valley was rich and diverse.
Season’s Toll: 30 Dead, 233cr Property Damaged, Major Roads Hit Shimla: Rivers in spate, mega hydropower plants shut down at short notice, dams filled to the brim, cloudbursts and road networks having suffered heavy damages, a vigorous monsoon in August this year has left a trail of destruction in Himachal …
The Main Central Thrust (MCT) in Himalaya is seismically active in segments. In recent times, strain release within these active segments produce five spatial clusters (A to E; Figure 1). The seismicity within the cluster zones occurs in two depth bands; corresponding to the base of upper and lower crust. …
In engineering practice, simple methods are important for predicting runoff from watersheds particularly for flood forecasting and water balance calculations. In the present study, it is illustrated that the often-used SCS runoff curve-number approach in its most elementary form can be derived from assuming that only saturated areas contribute to …
North-western Himalayan region with its wide range of altitudes, topography and climatic conditions, is a rich repository of medicinal wealth, which occupies an important place in Vedic treatise. More than 800 no. valuable medicinal species found in this part of India is extensively used by the locals since time immemorial …
A short study was undertaken from December 2004 to April 2005, to assess the species diversity and composition of freshwater fishes in three tributaries of Ramganga river in the foothills of Western Himalaya. One tributary was within a protected area (PA; Corbett National Park); the other two were outside the …
The study reports the impact of migratory livestock in the buffer area of Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary. The cumulative impacts of livestock grazing, fuel wood extraction and other anthropogenic pressures on forest cover in and around camping sites have been analyzed using satellite data and field observations.
Soil and water are the two important natural resources, which are the backbone of the Indian agriculture. The prime cause for the backwardness of the farmers is reduction in soil fertility and productivity, due to massive soil erosion. Most of the farmers are depending mainly on renewable natural resources for …
The genus Quercus (oak) is a large group of hardwood trees with about 600 species worldwide1. In the Himalayan region, extensive oak forests (35 species) occur between 1500 and 3300 m elevations. Of the various species of oaks, the white oak or banj (Q. leucotrichophora) forms an extensive belt along …
Nearly two dozen people are missing while thousands of sheep, goat and other livestock have perished in unprecedented snowfall which caught lakhs of Gujjars and Bakerwals unawares on the north western Himalayas, which divide Jammu region from Kashmir valley. Quoting reports received from some people who returned midway following the …
Landscape changes were measured in two watersheds of western Himalayas over a period of 17 years using satellite images. Whereas the total forest cover was found to have been altered, there was substantial shift among different elements which could be attributed to the increasing populations that live off these watersheds. …
This document contains the presentation by A.P.Dimri on "Wintertime Climatic Analysis over the Western Himalayas", presented at National Climate Research Conference, IIT Delhi, March 5-6, 2010. The eastward moving synoptic weather systems, Western Disturbances (WDs), are the most dominant source of precipitation over the western Himalayas. Topographic variability and landuse …
This paper presents a method for deriving the snowline altitude using a combined analysis of terrain elevation and multispectral Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) data from the RESOURCESAT-1 satellite, launched by India on 17 October 2003. AWiFS is a unique instrument capable of acquiring imagery of the world repeatedly every …
New Delhi: With the last spell of fog on January 27 and 28, this month is now officially the foggiest since the 1960s, having clocked a total of 172 hours of below 200 m visibility. The good news is that the Met department does not foresee too many dense fog …
