The Sorrows of Bihar

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Colopy
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Sandy Soil ◽  
Central Valley ◽  
The Other ◽  
Back Seat ◽  
The North ◽  
Indian State ◽  
The Himalaya

Before I went to Bihar I knew little about embankments. I had seen levees in California, in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta and in the Central Valley. There, if you stand on an embankment on one side of the river, you can look across and see a matching embankment. Some have been set back from the river a half of a mile or so; but even then it is easy to grasp in a glance the relatively linear triad of a river and its pair of embankments. The first embankment I saw in Bihar after miles of bumping along in the back seat of a gray Tata Sumo SUV in the April heat was a steep-sided loaf of sand, maybe twelve feet above the adjacent land. I scrambled to the top and looked around. The Kamla River glared below, reflecting a hazy but intense sun. It flowed lazily between the embankment and a wide stretch of sand a few inches above the water. Together the water and the sandbank narrowed as they receded into the distance. I didn’t see another embankment. I was disoriented by the incessantly jarring ride and the heat, but I recall asking where the other embankment was. A gesture directed my eyes toward the horizon of low trees and brush and sandy soil. Nothing was very distinguishable in the monochromatic haze of dust and heat. Over the next two days my eyes and brain continued to struggle in vain to make sense of what I was seeing by comparing the north Indian state of Bihar to California. California rivers are powerful and can flood portions of the flat Central Valley, but they are in no way comparable to the rivers that rush out of the towering Himalaya. The Sierra Nevada ranges from five to twelve thousand feet. At twelve thousand feet in the Himalaya, one is still in the “middle hills,” where in spring there are forests of rhododendron trees blooming.

scholarly journals The Role of Moisture Pathways on Snowfall Amount and Distribution in the Payette Mountains of Idaho

2020 ◽  
Vol 148 (5) ◽  
pp. 2033-2048
Author(s):  
Matthew D. Cann ◽  
K. Friedrich
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Central Valley ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Intermountain West ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Precipitation Events

Abstract The pathways air travels from the Pacific Ocean to the Intermountain West of the United States are important for understanding how air characteristics change and how this translates to the amount and distribution of snowfall. Recent studies have identified the most common moisture pathways in the Intermountain West, especially for heavy precipitation events. However, the role of moisture pathways on snowfall amount and distribution in specific regions remains unclear. Here, we investigate 24 precipitation events in the Payette Mountains of Idaho during January–March 2017 to understand how local atmospheric conditions are tied to three moisture pathways and how it impacts snowfall amount and distribution. During one pathway, southwesterly, moist, tropical air is directed into the Central Valley of California where the air is blocked by the Sierra Nevada, redirected northward and over lower terrain north of Lake Tahoe into the Snake River Plain of Idaho. Other pathways consist of unblocked flows that approach the coast of California from the southwest and then override the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades, and zonal flows approaching the coast of Oregon overriding the Oregon Cascades. Air masses in the Payette Mountains of Idaho associated with Sierra-blocked flow were observed to be warmer, moister, and windier compared to the other moisture pathways. During Sierra-blocked flow, higher snowfall rates, in terms of mean reflectivity, were observed more uniformly distributed throughout the region compared to the other flows, which observed lower snowfall rates that were predominantly collocated with areas of higher terrain. Of the total estimated snowfall captured in this study, 67% was observed during Sierra-blocked flow.

Awakening the Serpent King: Ritual and Textual Ontologies in Garhwal, Uttarakhand

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-121
Author(s):  
Aftab S Jassal
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
High Caste ◽  
Textual Production ◽  
The North ◽  
Textual Authority ◽  
The World ◽  
Indian State ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract In the north Indian state of Uttarakhand, the god Nagaraja, associated with the pan--Indian god Krishna, is an extremely popular deity. However, there exist key disjunctures in how Nagaraja is known, experienced and worshiped in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand by jāgar performers—low--caste ritual specialists, storytellers, and musicians—on the one hand, and high--caste temple priests, on the other. Temple priests were generally dismissive of the practices of the jāgar performers, often re--directing my interest in regional narratives of Nagaraja to the Sanskrit--language Bhagavadgita and Bhagavata Purana (the Gita--Bhagavat), which they saw as authoritative and ‘original' sources of oral and vernacular traditions. This interpretation, however, was highly contested by jāgar performers who articulated a non--essentialist, ritually efficacious, rhetorical, oral and vernacular ‘textual ontology.' Jāgar performers not only critiqued Brahminical notions of textual purity and essentialism but also assumptions within the academic study of Hinduism about the relationship between vernacular religious practices and textual Hinduism, or the so--called Great and Little traditions of Hinduism. By ‘textual ontology,' I describe how different relations to textual authority and knowledge in turn reveal distinctive ways of creating, knowing, and interacting with deities and the world. In challenging priestly and western scholarly notions of text, this article offers a radically different view of textual production, transmission, and authority.

scholarly journals A Seven-Year Wind Profiler–Based Climatology of the Windward Barrier Jet along California’s Northern Sierra Nevada

2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
pp. 1206-1233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J. Neiman ◽  
Ellen M. Sukovich ◽  
F. Martin Ralph ◽  
Mimi Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Central Valley ◽  
Wind Profiler ◽  
Cool Season ◽  
Plan View ◽  
The North ◽  
Synoptic Conditions ◽  
Windward Slope ◽  
The Mean

Abstract This wind profiler–based study highlights key characteristics of the barrier jet along the windward slope of California’s Sierra Nevada. Between 2000 and 2007 roughly 10% of 100 000 hourly wind profiles, recorded at two sites, satisfied the sierra barrier jet (SBJ) threshold criteria described in the text. The mean magnitude of the terrain-parallel flow in the SBJ core (i.e., Vmax) was similar at both sites (∼17.5 m s−1) and at a comparable altitude, 500–1000 m above the surface. The cross-mountain wind speed was weak at the altitude of Vmax, consistent with blocked conditions. The seasonal cycle of SBJ occurrences showed a maximum during the cooler months and a minimum in summer. Additionally, the SBJ was stronger in winter than in summer. Because the warm-season (May–September) SBJs were different than their cool-season (October–April) counterparts and occurred during California’s dry season, they were not discussed in detail. An inventory of ∼250 cool-season SBJ cases from the two sites was generated (a case contains ≥8 consecutive SBJ profiles). Up to 60% of the nearby cool-season precipitation fell during SBJ cases, and these cases shifted the precipitation down the sierra’s windward slope and enhanced precipitation at the north end of the Central Valley (relative to non-SBJ conditions). The large number of cool-season SBJ cases was stratified by the mean strength and altitude of Vmax and by the case duration. Composite profiles of the along-barrier component for the top- and bottom-20 ranked cases in each of these three SBJ classes reveal stark differences in the magnitude and vertical positioning of the barrier jet. The three SBJ classes yielded uniquely different local precipitation characteristics in proximity to the wind profilers, with the strongest and longest-lived SBJs yielding the greatest precipitation. North American Regional Reanalysis plan-view composites were generated to explore the synoptic conditions responsible for, and to showcase the precipitation distributions associated with, the top- and bottom-20 ranked cases in each of the three classes of SBJs. The composite analyses yielded large contrasts between the SBJ classes that could prove useful in forecasting SBJs and their precipitation impacts. All SBJ classes occurred, on average, in the pre-cold-frontal environment of landfalling winter storms.

scholarly journals II. On the deflection of the plumb-line in India, caused by the attraction of the Himalayan Mountains

1859 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 701-702
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Physical Geography ◽  
The Other ◽  
Plumb Line ◽  
General Level ◽  
The North ◽  
The Press ◽  
General Mass ◽  
North And South ◽  
The Himalaya

Since transmitting his Paper “On the deflection of the Plumb-line in India caused by the attraction of the Himalaya Mountains," the author has had the advantage of seeing the pages of Major R. Strachey’s work on the physical geography of the Himalayas, now passing through the press ; and being permitted to make use of them, he availed himself of the important information therein contained to add a postscript to his former communication. Major Strachey thinks that none of the numerous ranges commonly marked on maps of Thibet, have any special definite existence as mountain chains, apart from the general mass of the table-land; and that this country should not be considered to be as if in the interval between the two so-called chains of the Himalaya and Kouenlun, but that it is in reality the summit of a great protuberance, above the general level of the earth’s surface, of which the supposed Kouenlun and Himalaya are nothing more than the north and south faces, while the other ranges are but corrugations of the table-land more or less marked. The plains of India which skirt the foot of the table-land, to an extent of 1500 miles, nowhere have an elevation exceeding 1200 feet above the sea, the average being much less; and there is reason to think that the northern plateau of Yarkend and Khotan, like the country about Bukhara, lies at a very small eleva­tion, probably not more than 1000 or 2000 feet above the sea, while on the borders of the Caspian the surface descends below the sea-level.

Subspecies-level systematics and affinities of Cheimas Thieme—an endemic genus of the subparamo of the Venezuelan Cordillera de Mérida (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Satyrinae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4422 (2) ◽  
pp. 219 ◽  
Author(s):  
TOMASZ W. PYRCZ ◽  
JADWIGA LORENC-BRUDECKA ◽  
PIERRE BOYER ◽  
ANNA ZUBEK
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Molecular Data ◽  
The Other ◽  
Santo Domingo ◽  
The North ◽  
Intermediate Phenotypes ◽  
Subspecies Level ◽  
Morphological And Molecular Data

The validity of the monobasic neotropical butterfly genus Cheimas Thieme (Nymphalidae, Satyrinae, Satyrini, Pronophilina) is discussed, and confirmed based on morphological and molecular data. Cheimas opalinus (Staudinger), endemic to the Venezuelan Cordillera de Mérida, and considered prior to this study to be monotypic and restricted to the central part of the range, is demonstrated to be polytypic and more widely distributed. Five subspecies are recognised, differing mostly in their dorsal patterns, in particular the shape and colour of hindwing greenish–blue patch. Mitochondrial DNA sequences (COI) were obtained for three of them. The nominate subspecies is found in the central part of the range, in the Sierra Nevada and La Culata. The other subspecies are found as follows: C. opalinus dominici n. ssp.; in the Santo Domingo valley in the centre-north; C. opalinus cristalinus n. ssp. in the north; C. opalinus iosephi n. ssp. on the eastern slopes, and C. opalinus rosalinus n. ssp. in the southern Páramo El Batallón massif. A hybrid zone between the latter two subspecies was detected in the northern part of the Batallón massif based on unusual individual variation and intermediate phenotypes. All the populations of Cheimas opalinus occur in the forest–paramo ecotone at 2800–3400 m a.s.l., with the notable exception of C. opalinus cristalinus n. ssp. found also in mid-elevation forests down to 2300 m a.s.l. 

Past Verses Present; Metamorphosis in Different Spheres of Guwahati: A Study of Srutimala Duara’s Mindprints of Guwahati

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Ankita Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Areca Nut ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
River Bank ◽  
North East India ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Indian State ◽  
The City ◽  
Beautiful City

Guwahati derives its name from the Assamese word “Guwa” means areca nut and “Haat” means market. However, the modern Guwahati had been known as the ancient Pragjyotishpura and was the capital of Assam under the Kamrupa kingdom. A beautiful city Guwahati is situated on the south bank of the river Bramhaputra. Moreover, It is known as the largest city in the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in North East India. It has also its importance as the gateway to the North- East India. Assamese and English are the spoken languages in Guwahati.  In 1667, the Mogul forces were defeated in the battle by the Ahom forces commanded by Lachut Barphukan. Thus, in a sense Guwahati became the bone of contention among the Ahoms, Kochas and the Moguls during the medieval period.  Guwahati the administrative headquarters of Lower Assam with a viceroy or Barbhukan was made by the Ahom king.  Since 1972 it has been the capital of Assam. The present paper will discuss the changes happened in Guwahati over the period of late 1970s till the present time. It will focus on the behavior of people, transformed temples, Panbazar of the city, river bank of Bramhaputra, old Fancy Bazaar, chaotic ways, festivals and seasons including a fifth man made season etc. It will also deal how over the years a city endowed with nature’s gifts and scenic views, has been changing as “a dirty city”. Furthermore, it will also present the insurgencies that have barged into the city. The occurrence of changes will be discussed through the perspective and point of view of Srutimala Duara as presented in her book Mindprints of Guwahati.

Sphagnum mosses (Sphagnaceae, Bryophyta) of mires Chefandzar and Masota in North Ossetia (Caucasus)

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 455-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Ya. Doroshina ◽  
I. A. Nikolajev
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
The Other ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
Sphagnum Mosses ◽  
Greater Caucasus ◽  
The North ◽  
First Time ◽  
North Ossetia

Sphagnum mires on the Greater Caucasus are rare, characterized by the presence of relict plant communities of glacial age and are in a stage of degradation. The study of Sphagnum of Chefandzar and Masota mires is carried out for the first time. Seven species of Sphagnum are recorded. Their distribution and frequency within the North Caucasus are analyzed. Sphagnum contortum, S. platyphyllum, S. russowii, S. squarrosum are recorded for the first time for the study area and for the flora of North Ossetia. The other mosses found in the study area are listed.

HPLC Screening of Bioactives Compounds and Antioxidant Capacity of Different Hypericum Species

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Gitea ◽  
Simona Vicas ◽  
Manuel Alexandru Gitea ◽  
Sebastian Nemeth ◽  
Delia Mirela Tit ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antioxidant Capacity ◽  
Methanol Extract ◽  
Antioxidant Properties ◽  
Polyphenolic Compounds ◽  
The Other ◽  
The North ◽  
Western Area ◽  
North Western ◽  
Hypericum Species ◽  
Biological Actions

Our study compares the content in polyphenolic compounds and hypericin, in four species of Hypericum - H. perforatum L., H. maculatum Cr., H. hirsutum L., H. tetrapterum Fr. (syn. Hypericumacutum Mnch.) harvested from spontaneous flora in the north-western area of Transylvania, Romania. These species represent an important source of such compounds with different biological actions. After making the extracts, they were subjected to HPLC-SM analysis. The presence of rutoside in the largest amount (462.82 mg %) in the H. perforatum extract was observed, this containing most of the flavonoid heterosides. For the species H. maculatum, the presence in a much higher amount of the hyperoside (976.36 mg %) is characteristic compared to the other species. Quercetol is the best represented of the flavonoid aglycons, its concentration being the highest in H. hirsutum (659.66 mg %). The hypericin content ranges from 0.2171 g % in the H. tetrapterum extract, to 0.0314 g % in the methanol extract of H. maculatum.The highest antioxidant properties measured by FRAP method were recorded in the case of H. perforatum and H. maculatum.

Origins and Evolution of the North American Stable Peace

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G. Haglund
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
North American ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Interstate Relations ◽  
American Experience ◽  
Back Seat ◽  
The North ◽  
Security Communities ◽  
Primary Focus

Interstate relations among the North American countries have been irenic for so long that the continent is often assumed to have little if anything to contribute to scholarly debates on peaceful change. In good measure, this can be attributed to the way in which discussions of peaceful change often become intertwined with a different kind of inquiry among international relations scholars, one focused upon the origins and denotative characteristics of “pluralistic security communities.” Given that it is generally (though not necessarily accurately) considered that such security communities first arose in Western Europe, it is not difficult to understand why the North American regional-security story so regularly takes an analytical back seat to what is considered to be the far more interesting European one. This article challenges the idea that there is little to learn from the North American experience, inter alia by stressing three leading theoretical clusters within which can be situated the scholarly corpus of works attempting to assess the causes of peaceful change on the continent. Although the primary focus is on the Canada–US relationship, the article includes a brief discussion of where Mexico might be said to fit in the regional-security order.

scholarly journals Effects of the Tibetan High and the North Pacific High on the Occurrence of Hot or Cool Summers in Japan

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 307
Author(s):  
Makoto Inoue ◽  
Atsushi Ugajin ◽  
Osamu Kiguchi ◽  
Yousuke Yamashita ◽  
Masashi Komine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Pressure ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
Lower Stratosphere ◽  
The Other ◽  
Summer Climate ◽  
The North ◽  
Several Variables ◽  
Western Japan ◽  
Cool Summer ◽  
The North Pacific

In this study, we investigated the effects of the Tibetan High near the tropopause and the North Pacific High in the troposphere on occurrences of hot or cool summers in Japan. We first classified Japan into six regions and identified hot and cool summer years in these regions from a 38-year sample (1980–2017) based on the monthly air temperature. To investigate the features of circulation fields over Asia during hot and cool summers in Japan, we calculated the composite differences (hot summer years minus cool summer years) of several variables such as geopotential height, which indicated significant high-pressure anomalies in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. These results suggest that both the North Pacific and the Tibetan Highs tend to extend to Japan during hot summer years, while cool summers seem to be associated with the weakening of these highs. We found that extension of the Tibetan High to the Japanese mainland can lead to hot summers in Northern, Eastern, and Western Japan. On the other hand, hot summers in the Southwestern Islands may be due to extension of the Tibetan High to the south. Similarly, the latitudinal direction of extension of the North Pacific High is profoundly connected with the summer climate in respective regions.

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