Climate Change and Variability in the Northeastern Himalayan Region of India

Mountainous regions are considered highly vulnerable to the affects of climate change. The extent of change and variability of climatic parameters is still unexamined in many remote mountainous areas. This paper aims in understanding the change in pattern of rainfall and temperature for a period of 30 years in Mizoram. The analysis of time series changing trend in climatic variables is carried out by using Coefficient of Variation (CV), Mann-Kendall (M-K) and Sen’s Slope estimator. The analysis reveals that high variation is observed for both the variables in all the decadal, three decadal and seasonal change. The CV analysis shows that the highest seasonal rainfall variation occurs during winter and the highest seasonal temperature variation occurs during spring. Mann-Kendall test shows a significant change in rainfall with November showing the highest negative trend of rainfall. The temperature trend analysis in the study also reveals drastic change of temperature. An understanding of climatic change, trend and variability helps in predicting for better natural resources from the susceptibility of climate change.

Effects of Seasonal Temperature Variation on Slurry Temperature and Biogas Composition of a Commercial Fixed-Dome Anaerobic Digester Used in Bangladesh

Biogas is produced in Bangladesh mostly through fixed-dome anaerobic digesters, which usually operate without any temperature controller. An experiment was conducted to monitor the seasonal temperature variation inside a fixed-dome type digester and its effect on biogas composition. A commercial-scale digester with a working volume of 350 m3 was used for this study. Three k-type thermocouple sensors were used to monitor the ambient, biogas, and slurry temperatures in real-time. The results showed that the average ambient temperature in the autumn, late autumn, and winter was 29.05, 22.90, and 17.64 °C, respectively. The average slurry temperature in the autumn (30.38 °C) was higher than in the late autumn (29.36 °C) and in the winter (25.76 °C). The highest and lowest slurry temperatures were found to be 31.11 and 24.47 °C, respectively, which indicated that the digester worked within a wide temperature range, establishing both psychrophilic and mesophilic operational conditions. Higher methane concentrations were observed in the autumn than in the late autumn and winter. The CO2 and H2S concentrations were higher in the winter than those of in the autumn and late autumn. The electricity generation in the winter was 47.85% and 45.15% lower than in the autumn and late autumn, respectively.

The Effect of Temperature Variation on Bridges—A Literature Review

Bridges are commonly subjected to complex load scenarios in their lifetime. Understanding the response of bridges under such load scenarios is important to ensure their safety. While static and dynamic loads from vehicles and pedestrians influence the instantaneous response of bridges, studies show that thermal load from diurnal and seasonal temperature variation influences its long-term response and durability. This study addresses the effects of thermal load variation on bridges and briefly reviews methods of measuring such effects. The findings show that thermally induced deformations in bridges are of magnitude equal or larger than that induced by vehicle induced load. This study highlights the significance of measuring temperature responses of bridges for their robust structural health monitoring.

The effects of oscillating boundary conditions on thermal ignition

We investigate the effect that oscillating ambient temperatures have on the ignition times of supercritical stockpiles. Large stockpiles are exposed to seasonal and diurnal temperature variation. We analyse the effects of seasonal temperature variation. When considering ignition within a year of construction, stockpiles built in spring ignited with a lower critical parameter than those built at other times. Consequently, seasonal temperature variation needs to be accounted for when predicting stockpile ignition times. References P. C. Bowes. Self-heating: evaluating and controlling the hazards. Dept. of the Environment, Building Research Establishment, 1984. R. J. Longbottom, B. J. Monaghan, G. Zhang, D. J. Pinson, and S. J. Chew. Self-sintering of BOS filter cake for improved recyclability. ISIJ Int., 59(3):432–441, 2019. doi:10.2355/isijinternational.ISIJINT-2018-627. V. Novozhilov. Thermal explosion in oscillating ambient conditions. Sci. Rep., 6:29730, 07 2016. doi:10.1038/srep29730. N. C. Roy. Convection characteristics in a closed vessel in the presence of exothermic combustion and ambient temperature oscillations. Int. J. Heat Mass Trans., 116:655–666, 2018. doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.09.058.

Evidence that higher temperatures are associated with lower incidence of COVID-19 in pandemic state, cumulative cases reported up to March 27, 2020

Seasonal temperature variation may impact the trajectories of COVID-19 in different global regions. Cumulative data reported by the World Health Organization, for dates up to March 27, 20201, show association between COVID-19 incidence and regions at or above 30° latitude. Historic climate data also show significant reduction of case rates with mean maximum temperature above approximately 22.5 degrees Celsius. Variance at the local level, however, could not be well explained by geography and temperature. These preliminary findings support continued countermeasures and study of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 transmission rates by temperature and humidity.