Extreme snowfall event analysis and its impacts on agriculture and horticultural crops in western Himalaya, India

Glaciers and snow are the important features of hydrological cycle and affect volume, variability and water quality in areas where these occur. Snow supplies more than half of water used for irrigation in Himachal Pradesh and other northern states of India and is an important contributor to hydropower and irrigation reservoirs. The fact that snow acts as water storage over the winter and provides soil moisture recharge in the spring is of particular importance to agriculture productivity in mountainous regions. The study on snowfall estimation during 2004-05 in Himachal Pradesh was carried out using remote sensing techniques and ground truth data to estimate total snowfall and assess the impact of snow fall on water availability and crop productivity. The snowfall estimates using remote sensing techniques for two periods by using two sets of imageries before snow fall (October, 2004) and after snowfall (May 2005). This indicated an increase of 28.7 per cent in snow cover compared to pre snowfall period. The ground data from 22 sites also indicated an increase of more than 50 per cent higher amount of snowfall during 2004-05 compared to last two decades. The area under different crops during rabi 2004 was found to be increased by 8.57 per cent, whereas, subsequent kharif season registered 1.85 per cent reduction in cropped area. The increase also reflected in higher productivity during rabi season 2004 and kharif 2005. The productivity of total food grains increased by more than 19.0 per cent during 2004-05 compared to 2003-04. The apple and other fruits registered 12.1 and 59.8 per cent higher productivity, respectively in 2004-05 compared to 2002-03 and 2003-04. The impact of extreme snow fall was more pronounced in short duration vegetables crops. The total vegetables arrivals in the market increased by 48.33 per cent during 2004-05 compared to last three year arrivals. This indicated that there was a positive and significant effect of heavy snowfall on agricultural as well as horticultural crop productivity in the mountains and downstream of Himachal Pradesh.

Pastoral Subjugation in Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites: A Biopolitical Outlook

Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites (2013) reflects the bare life of its protagonist, Agnes. She leads her Muselmann life from her outset of life. Grown up as foster child, she works as a farm maid whose rightful position is entirely ignored and eventually she is condemned to death. Natan molests her and she is banished from his home at night during snow fall when she demands her legal status at his home. Later she is accused of killing Natan and his friend. Before her execution, in order to tame and domesticate her, a priest is deployed who uses pastoral power, part of biopolitics that executes power over body. She unbuttons her pathetic life history along with her penitence. Finally, she leads a life of ‘homo sacer’ bearing the injustices like the superstes of holocaust and succumbed to condemnation.

Snow Fall in de polder

Snow Fall in the polder. Interactive multimedia productions in Dutch journalism Interactive multimedia productions are a recent journalistic format. The format has been studied in the Anglo-Saxon context as digital longform and interactive documentary. Research has consequently focused on English language productions. This article presents an overview of these types of productions created in the Netherlands and also proposes an analytical apparatus and conceptualization that does justice to the main properties of this new genre; multimediality and interactivity. The results show that this journalistic form is mainly produced by established national newsrooms. Furthermore, the potential of digital media is used sparsely. Despite the use of complex narrative structures like multi-linear and non-linear stories, familiar media forms are used. Interactive features are mostly utilized to provide additional information to users.

Sea ice and snow phenology in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from 1997 to 2018

The multiple islands and narrow channels that form the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) complicate snow/ice monitoring, as coarse resolution satellite observations are unable to resolve smaller-scale changes in snow/ice cover. We present the first study showing the utility of the Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS) 24 km (1997–2018) and 4 km (2004–2018) products to investigate changes in sea ice and snow phenology together in the CAA. Although ice break-up and snow retreat are shifting earlier (p > 0.05), on par with other Arctic regions, the final summer clearing of ice is shifting later. This, combined with trends towards earlier ice freeze and snow fall (p < 0.05), result in shorter open water and snow free seasons in the CAA. Spatial links between sea ice and snow are evident as significant clusters of trends were identified for all phenology parameters. The western regions were dominated by shifts towards shorter snow/ice seasons, whereas eastern regions tended to exhibit longer cover. Our research highlights the considerable regional and interannual variability in the timing of sea ice and snow advance/retreat within the CAA and emphasizes how the ice and snow dynamics in this complex region are responding to ongoing changing climate conditions.

IoT and Machine Learning for Identifying Correlation between Factors Causing Climate Change

The global climate is changing due to anthropogenic activities such as industrialization, infrastructure development, deforestation etc. Expected effects of climate change include increase in global temperatures, rising sea levels, changing precipitation, melting of glaciers, less snowfall, expansion of deserts etc. Most ecosystems are affected by manmade climate change and Mount Everest is no exception. This paper delves into the effects of global warming on Mount Everest and how Internet of Things (IOT) can be used to correctly monitor these effects. The IOT system will take three parameters temperature, carbon parts per million in the atmosphere and snowfall. This research paper also proposes a IOT framework to measure the net snowfall. The data gathered by the IOT system will be used to create a model will be created to monitor the effect of temperature and carbon parts per million on snow fall.

Development of a statistical model to assess the climate conditions in the ventilation layer of double pitched roofs

For the proper simulation of hygrothermal processes in roof constructions with ventilation layers the knowledge of climate conditions within the ventilation layer is requisite. In this work a model for the assessment of temperature and air humidity has been developed using multiple regression analysis. Therefore, the climate conditions inside the ventilation layers of differently covered and oriented roofs have been monitored for one year. Relevant outside climate parameters for the calculation of ventilation layer climates have been identified. The comparison between measured and calculated values indicated an adequate accuracy of the developed model with limitations for the use in snow fall periods.

Mathematical models of agricultural production management in high risk environments

The paper presents an algorithm for modeling the production of agricultural products in the formation of agrometeorological events. Stochastic models of variability of downpours, early snow-fall and crop yields are constructed to assess the likelihood of extreme events. Based on a probabilistic assessment of crop bio-productivity by a normative method, economic losses from agrometeorological events are determined. A model for optimizing crop production taking into account natural risks was built and implemented for an agricultural organization. The results were obtained according to data of the Irkutsk district.

Shadow analysis of buildings over urban express way by using three-dimensional GIS – To study the distribution of long remained snow cover that made express way close for five days

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> In January 2018, it snowed heavily in Kanto area including Tokyo Metropolitan Area, Japan. Due to the snowfall, many cars stuck on the Metropolitan Express Way for about ten hours and the express way was closed for five days. There are many conditions that affect melting snow cover such as temperature, wind and weather. Among them, we paid attention to the shadows casted on the express way from high buildings surrounding the road. Insolation can be calculated if the three-dimensional shapes of buildings and the road by using functions of three-dimensional GIS. This information of insolation of time and date are one of the conditions that affect the speed of snow melting and it can be used for preparing countermeasures against heavy snow fall.</p><p>We chose area near Kandabashi-junction of Metropolitan Express way where maximum gradient of slopes was nine per cent and had severe traffic condition in snow fall. Procedures of the data preparation and analysis are as follows.</p><p>Polygon data of buildings and road edge data were obtained by downloading the Fundamental Geographic Data provided by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan. But these data have no height information. Therefore we carried out three dimensional measurement using photogrammetry. Aerial photos of 0.22&amp;thinsp;m GSD (ground sample distance) were used for generating 3-D point cloud by using SfM (structure from motion) software PhotoScan professional edition. In total five photos of one course were used to generate DSM (digital surface model). The point cloud and the derived DSM were used for determining the building and road surface height. With these data we developed three-dimensional city model of the target area. Figure 1 shows the 3-D model made from the aerial photos.</p><p>We used ArcGIS with Spatial Analyst extension for insolation analysis. The tool “Area Solar Radiation” was used to obtain the amount of solar radiation of specified date and time interval. One of the results is shown as Figure 2. The figure shows solar radiation of direct and scattered rays between January 24 and 25, 2018. It snowed on January 22, but it was fine from January 23 to 25 in Tokyo. Therefore we can see shaded area in this figure that prevented snow melting. Preparing these kind of maps beforehand will help initial operation planning for snow ploughing.</p><p>The “Area Solar Radiation” tool can also generate solar radiation map of specified time interval. Figure 3 shows the solar radiation at 12:00 &amp;ndash; 13:00 on January 24, 2018. We can identify shaded areas on the express way around noon.</p><p>Although we do not have enough detailed data of snow cover depth distribution on the express way at this snow hazard, we consider this areal solar radiation data are useful for managers of the express way to prepare countermeasures against heavy snow fall. This analysis is one of the applications of three-dimensional GIS and city models generated by a photogrammetric method.</p>