The objective of this study is to evaluate the ability of a European chemistry transport model, ‘CHIMERE’ driven by the US meteorological model MM5, in simulating aerosol concentrations [dust, PM10 and black carbon (BC)] over the Indian region. An evaluation of a meteorological event (dust storm); impact of change in soil-related parameters and meteorological input grid resolution on these aerosol concentrations has been performed. Dust storm simulation over Indo-Gangetic basin indicates ability of the model to capture dust storm events.

The temporal and spatial variability of the various meteorological parameters over India and its different subregions is high. The Indian subcontinent is surrounded by the complex Himalayan topography in north and the vast oceans in the east, west and south. Such distributions have dominant influence over its climate and thus make the study more complex and challenging.

The study focuses on understanding the variations of precipitation during summer monsoon season and its impact on Kharif and Rabi foodgrain yield over India. Total foodgrain yield over India during Kharif (summer) season is directly affected by variations in the summer monsoon precipitation (June–September). An increase (decrease) in rainfall is generally associated with an increase (decrease) in foodgrain yield. A similar correspondence during the Rabi (winter) foodgrain yield is not evident.

We report the initial results of the methane flux measured using eddy covariance method during summer months from the world’s largest mangrove ecosystem, Sundarbans of India. Mangrove ecosystems are known sources for methane (CH4) having very high global warming potential. In order to quantify the methane flux in mangroves, an eddy covariance flux tower was recently erected in the largest unpolluted and undisturbed mangrove ecosystem in Sundarbans (India).

Groundwater samples (n = 163) were collected across Kashmir Valley in 2010 to assess the hydrogeochemistry of the groundwater in shallow and deep aquifers and its suitability for domestic, agriculture, horticulture, and livestock purposes. The groundwater is generally alkaline in nature. The electrical conductivity (EC) which is an index to represent the total concentration of soluble salts in water was used to measure the salinity hazard to crops as it reflects the TDS in groundwater ranging from 97 to 1385 μS/cm, except one well in Sopore.

The occurrences of moderate to large magnitude earthquakes and associated subsurface geological processes were critically examined in the backdrop of Indian plate obliquity, stress obliquity, topography, and the late Tertiary regional tectonics for understanding the evolving dynamics and kinematics in the central part of the Himalayas. The higher topographic areas are likely associated with the zones of depressions, and the lower topographic areas are found around the ridges located in the frontal part of the orogen.

In this study, Gangotri glacier was monitored using Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) LISS-III sensor data in combination with field collected snow-meteorological data for a period of seven years (2001–2008). An overall decreasing trend in the areal extent of seasonal snow cover area (SCA) was observed. An upward

The reef and associated beachrock from certain Gulf of Mannar islands (Rameswaram, Kurusadai, Shingle and Appa Island) were studied to assess the diagenetic evidences. Sixty samples were collected from marine terraces and reef platforms. The samples comprised of coral rubbles, shell fragments and lithic fractions. The presence of corals in the form of framework or isolated patches on the reef flat suggests the rapid increase of accommodation and probably absence of terrigenous and siliciclastic inputs.

The paper presents the nature of annual cycles of tropospheric ozone, cloud occurrences, NO2, rainfall, SO2, SPM, CO, non-methane hydrocarbon and surface solar radiation for the period October 2004 to June 2009 over Alipore (22.52°N, 88.33°E), India. Annual cycle of low-level cloud occurrences depicts that the low-level cloud over Alipore had been noticed to occur for many days and nights, particularly from June to September. The low-level cloud occurrences were found in winter months and post-monsoon period.

Investigations of aerosol optical and physical characteristics using the application of Ångström formula and second order polynomial fit were carried out from April 2006 to March 2009 at Mohal in the Kullu valley. The measurements of spectral aerosol optical depths (AODs) were conducted using multiwavelength radiometer (MWR). The AOD at 0.5 μm wavelength on daily basis (mean ± standard deviation) for the entire three-year study period is obtained as 0.24 ± 0.08.