scholarly journals Relationship between Environmental Covariates and Ceylon Tea Cultivation in Sri Lanka

Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sadeeka Layomi Jayasinghe ◽  
Lalit Kumar ◽  
Md Kamrul Hasan
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climatic Data ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Elevation Data ◽  
Terrain Elevation

How the current distribution of tea cultivation is influenced by specific environmental conditions in Sri Lanka is yet to be explored. Therefore, this study aims to assess the differences between tea and non-tea growing areas with respect to climatic and topographic covariates, and to determine the major covariates that control tea distributions. Climatic data of temperature and rainfall were extracted from WorldClim-Global Climate Data; the elevation, slopes, and aspects were obtained from Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data; and the solar radiation data was computed using a clear-sky solar radiation model. Random points were created on rasterised environmental layers for tea-growing and non-tea growing areas, stratified into low, mid, and high regions, using ArcGIS version 10.4.1 (Environmental Systems Research Institute: ESRI Redlands, CA, USA).Correlations were derived between covariates and tea and non-tea growing areas. According to the logistic regression analysis, there was no significant influence of the south-west, west, and north-west aspect compared to the north aspect when all other covariates were held constant. The odds ratio indicated that an area with a one-unit higher solar radiation was 1.453 times more likely to be a tea growing area. Similarly, a per unit increase in slope increases the likelihood of an area being suitable for tea cultivation by 1.039 times. When the annual mean temperature increased, the suitability of tea cultivation decreased, but an increased rainfall had increased the suitability of an area for tea cultivation. Areas with a north facing slope had the highest suitability for tea cultivation. This research demonstrated that tea growing could be expanded into a variety of locations as long as these variables are either found or managed in order to obtain the critical levels. In addition, it is proposed that the results of this study could be utilised in the assessment of the climate or/and land suitability for tea.

scholarly journals Ensemble models on palaeoclimate to predict India's groundwater challenge

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Partha Sarathi Datta
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Humid Climate ◽  
Ensemble Models ◽  
North West ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
14C Age

In many parts of the world, freshwater crisis is largely due to increasing water consumption and pollution by rapidly growing population and aspirations for economic development, but, ascribed usually to the climate. However, limited understanding and knowledge gaps in the factors controlling climate and uncertainties in the climate models are unable to assess the probable impacts on water availability in tropical regions. In this context, review of ensemble models on δ18O and δD in rainfall and groundwater, 3H- and 14C- ages of groundwater and 14C- age of lakes sediments helped to reconstruct palaeoclimate and long-term recharge in the North-west India; and predict future groundwater challenge. The annual mean temperature trend indicates both warming/cooling in different parts of India in the past and during 1901–2010. Neither the GCMs (Global Climate Models) nor the observational record indicates any significant change/increase in temperature and rainfall over the last century, and climate change during the last 1200 yrs BP. In much of the North-West region, deep groundwater renewal occurred from past humid climate, and shallow groundwater renewal from limited modern recharge over the past decades. To make water management to be more responsive to climate change, the gaps in the science of climate change need to be bridged.

Agro-ecological field vulnerability evaluation and climate change impacts in Souma area (Iran), using MicroLEIS DSS

Biologia ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farzin Shahbazi ◽  
Ali Jafarzadeh ◽  
Mohammad Shahbazi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heavy Metal Contamination ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Environmental Change ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
North West ◽  
Evaluation Approach

AbstractSoil erosion and contamination are two main desertification indices or land degradation agents in agricultural areas. Global climate change consequence is a priority to predict global environmental change impacts on these degradation risks. This agro-ecological approach can be especially useful when formulating soil specific agricultural practices based on the spatial variability of soils and related resources to reverse environmental degradation. Raizal and Pantanal models within the new MicroLEIS framework, the Ero&Con package, are database/expert system evaluation approach for assessing limitations to land use, or vulnerability of the land to specified agricultural degradation risks. This study was performed in Souma area with approximately 4100 ha extension in the North-West of Iran (west Azarbaijan). Based on 35 sampling soils, Typic Xerofluvents, Typic Calcixerepts, Fluventic Haploxerepts and Fluventic Endaquepts were classified as main subgroups. Climatological data, referred to temperature and precipitation of more than 36 consecutive years were collected from Urmieh station reports and stored in monthly Climate Database CDBm, as a major component of MicroLEIS DSS (CDBm) program. Climate data for a hypothetical future scenario were collected from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports for the 2080s period. The evaluation approach predicts that attainable water erosion vulnerability classes were none (V1) very low (V2) and moderately low (V4) in the total of 72%, 13% and 15% of the Souma area, respectively and they will not affected by climate change. On contrary, attainable wind erosion vulnerability classes will increase. Also, phosphorous and heavy metal contamination vulnerability risks will not differ in two compared scenarios while nitrogen and pesticides vulnerability classes will be improved.

scholarly journals Unravelling Evidence for Global Climate Change in Mississippian Carbonate Strata from the Derbyshire and North Wales Platforms, UK

2021 ◽  
pp. jgs2020-106
Author(s):  
L. Manifold ◽  
P. del Strother ◽  
D.P. Gold ◽  
P. Burgess ◽  
C. Hollis
Keyword(s):  
Global Climate ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Irish Sea ◽  
Carbonate Platforms ◽  
Humid Climate ◽  
North West ◽  
Coal Beds ◽  
The North ◽  
North Wales

The Mississippian Derbyshire and North Wales carbonate platforms were formed in similar tectonic settings within the Pennine and East Irish Sea Basin, respectively. The Derbyshire Platform was surrounded by sub-basins to the north, west, and south whilst the North Wales Platform, 130 km west, had a simpler land-attached geometry. Comparison of these age-equivalent platforms allows the controls on sedimentation, at an important juncture in Earth history, to be evaluated. Both platforms are dominated by moderate-to-high-energy, laterally discontinuous facies, with weak evidence for facies cyclicity, suggesting multiple controls on deposition. Influx of siliciclastic mud on the North Wales Platform led to perturbations in carbonate accumulation; along with abundant palaeosols and coal beds this implies a more humid climate, or shallower water depths compared to the Derbyshire Platform. On both platforms, exposure surfaces can rarely be correlated over >500 metres except for a regionally correlative palaeokarstic surface at the Asbian-Brigantian boundary. This exposure event appears to coincide with a significant regional facies change. Given the lack of evidence for ordering and cyclicity within the strata, the Asbian-Brigantian boundary may mark a significant event that could reflect onset of a transitional climate, prior to the second glaciation event in the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age.

scholarly journals Development of a minimalist conceptual numerical model for flood forecasting and management under GIS environment

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (S1) ◽  
pp. 359-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustapha Rabie Boudani ◽  
Mohamed Mazour ◽  
Hichem Mazighi ◽  
Omar Djoukbala
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Flood Management ◽  
Flood Forecasting ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Statistical Adjustment ◽  
Gis Environment

Abstract The floods that Algeria has experienced in recent years are among the most significant natural disasters recorded by the country. These disasters, whose amplitude and frequency have tended to become increasingly irregular in space and time, in the current context of global climate change, encourage us to improve our flood management and forecasting strategies, notably through the re-evaluation of protection structure capacities, designed on the basis of hydrological data analyzed by statistical adjustment of past rainfall hazards. The objective of this study is to develop a minimalist conceptual numerical model for flood forecasting and management under GIS environment for the north-east region of Algeria. This model was developed by analyzing hydrographic data that can be adapted to climate data collected in real time, to predict short-term flood hydrographs in all segments of the hydrographic network, based on the Sokolovsky model for construction of synthetic hydrographs, combined with the Horton architecture for basin discretization. We obtained accuracy on past rainfall hazard simulations around 65.2% for peak flow amplitudes and 88.3% for surface runoff base times. This low-cost simple model opens the way to more possibilities in flood management, and can be improved through better spatialization and calibration with more field data.

Updates to Hourly Climate Data for Use in AASHTOWare Pavement Mechanistic–Empirical Design

2017 ◽  
Vol 2640 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wouter Brink ◽  
Harold Von Quintus ◽  
Leon F. Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Weather Data ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Climatic Data ◽  
Systematic Bias ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
The North ◽  
Hourly Temperature ◽  
Regional Reanalysis ◽  
Pavement Damage ◽  
Empirical Design

The AASHTOWare Pavement Mechanistic–Empirical Design software requires hourly temperature, wind speed, percentage sunshine, precipitation, and relative humidity to properly calculate pavement damage and distresses. Actual or measured values, which vary hourly throughout a day for a given site, are required to properly capture the damage caused by environmental loadings. Currently the mechanistic–empirical design hourly climatic data contain approximately 1,200 U.S. and 300 Canadian stations. The U.S. stations typically contain data from 1995 through 2005, and data from the Canadian stations vary in length from 10 to 50 years, with the exception of some weather stations. Some agencies expanded their historical weather data to include longer periods of time. This paper documents the process and data sources that were used to update the current set of climate stations with climate data dating back to 1979 using the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) database. The results of the comparison between new climate files and the existing older climate data files for use in pavement design are presented. Overall, the NARR-generated climate data showed a very good comparison. The paper details the background of the NARR and its limitations and compares the performance predictions made by using the old and new climate data. The results indicate there is no systematic bias between the two climate data sets.

Present status of the commercial sea cucumber fishery off the north-west and east coasts of Sri Lanka

2011 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 831-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.C.T. Dissanayake ◽  
G. Stefansson
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Sea Cucumber ◽  
Total Abundance ◽  
Catch Per Unit Effort ◽  
Underwater Visual Census ◽  
Sea Cucumbers ◽  
Random Effects Models ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Holothuria Atra

The sea cucumber fishery has been providing an important means of livelihood to the coastal fishing communities in Sri Lanka for centuries. Stock status, level of exploitation and mortality parameters of eleven commercial sea cucumber species were studied off the north-west and the east coasts of Sri Lanka using data collected from an underwater visual census and fishery-dependent surveys carried out in 2008 and 2009. The total abundance of sea cucumbers was higher in the north-west than the east (P < 0.01). However, the total abundance of all the species declined between 2008 and 2009. The commercial fishery predominantly relies on two nocturnal species: Holothuria spinifera and Thelenota anax. Holothuria spinifera had the highest contribution (73.2%) to the total landings in the north-west while this was provided by T. anax (93%) in the east. Both catch per unit effort and total landings declined in 2009 compared to 2008 having three exceptions (H. spinifera, Holothuria atra and Stichopus chloronotus) in the north-west. Further, the collection of immature individuals, reduced landings of high-value species and temporal shifting of fishing activities were observed in both areas. Two approaches (simple linear regression and random effects models) were used to estimate the natural mortality of sea cucumbers and the estimated values were 0.50 yr−1 and 0.45 yr−1, respectively. Apart from the management of local sea cucumber resources, this information is important to update the regional and global sea cucumber statistics as well as for launching regional management programmes.

scholarly journals Modeling the bioclimatic range of Pterostichus melanarius (Coleoptera, Carabidae) in conditions of global climate change

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-150
Author(s):  
T. A. Avtaeva ◽  
R. A. Sukhodolskaya ◽  
V. V. Brygadyrenko
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Ground Beetle ◽  
Large Family ◽  
Potential Range ◽  
Mediterranean Populations ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Bioclimatic Variables ◽  
Pterostichus Melanarius

At present, climate change significantly affects living organisms on the planet, leading to transformations in their niches, ranges and abundance. The aim of our work was to forecast the range of the representative of the large family Carabidae, famous for its indicative characters, richness and importance in soil communities. We used 19 bioclimatic variables of Bioclim according to our own data and the data of GBIF with the help of the MaxEnt program. We used 550 coordinates of ground beetle Pterostichus melanarius (Illiger, 1798) records. We distinguished the potential range the species studied and drew prognostic maps of the species’ distribution related to climate change according to four scenarios. Mean annual temperatures and the mean temperature in the warmest and the coldest quarters of the year were the major factors affecting spatial distribution of P. melanarius. Visualization of potential range according to RCP 2.6, RCP 4.5 and RCP 6.0 scenarios predicted range reduction by 2050 but its recovery by 2070. According to RCP 8.5 scenario, the range of the species studied will be significantly transformed: by 2070 the range will shift towards the north-west in the continental European states but to the northeast – in the coastal states. By 2070 almost all southern territories of Europe will become unsuitable for P. melanarius survival. The most visible changes will be the shift in range to the north in the eastern part of the European plain. The comfort conditions for P. melanarius decrease in mountain regions including the Alps, Carpathians, Caucasus and Urals. By 2070, the cenotic optimum significantly decreases on the Balkan Peninsula. Thus, a sharp reduction in Southern European and Mediterranean populations is predicted.

scholarly journals Farmers’ Knowledge and Perceptions to Climate Variability in North West Cameroon

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 261
Author(s):  
Roland Azibo Balgah ◽  
Jude Ndzifon Kimengsi ◽  
Bime, Mary-Juliet Wirbam ◽  
Forti, Kusamia Antonia
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Contextual Knowledge ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Negative Impacts

<p><em>Global climate variability exerts negative impacts especially on agriculture-dependent economies. Contemporary climate modelling suggests that farming households in developing countries will bear the greatest brunt from climate variability. However, information on farmers’ knowledge and perceptions to climate variability and possible influence on household adaptation strategies especially in developing countries is scarce. This paper assesses farmers’ knowledge and perceptions to climate variability, based on a case study from the North Western region of Cameroon.</em></p><p><em>A structured questionnaire was used in a </em><em>cross sectional survey to collect data on knowledge and perceptions to climate variability, from 272 farmers in six randomly selected villages in the North West Region of Cameroon. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 17.0) and Excel.</em><em> Over 97% of respondents demonstrated contextual knowledge of climate variability. Perceptions to the causes of climate variability were quite diverse. While 20% of respondents had no idea, around 40% attributed climate variability to human activities, 20% to industrial activities and 20% to the anger of the gods. </em></p><p><em>We conclude with the need for climate variability research to increasingly pay attention to farmers’ indigenous knowledge and perceptions as prerequisites to building resilience amongst farmers in Cameroon.</em></p>

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