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Climate projections have confirmed the need to adapt to a changing climate, but have been less beneficial in guiding how to effectively adapt. The reason is the uncertainty cascade, from assumptions about future emissions of greenhouse gases to what that means for the climate to real decisions on a local scale. Each of the steps in the process contains uncertainty and these uncertainties from various levels of the assessment accumulate. This cascade of uncertainty should be critically analyzed to inform decision makers about the certain range of future changes.

On the basis of past 115 years (1901-2015) rainfall data of five districts of south Gujarat, the MannKendall trend, Sen’s slope and regression slope showed that annual and monsoon rainfall at Valsad, Dang and Surat shows the increasing trend while, that of Navsari and Bharuch districts are declining. The monsoon season (summer monsoon) rainfall variability of Valsad, Dang, Surat, Navsari and Bharuch districts was recorded is 30.1%, 30.9%, 35.9%. 33.3% and 38.6%.

Annual and seasonal variability and trends in low cloud cover over India were analyzed for the period 1961-2010. Taking all period into account, there is a general decrease in mean low cloud cover over most regions of India, but an increase in the Indo-Gangetic plains and northeast India. Long term mean low cloud cover over India has inter-annual variations with highest cloud cover (39.4%) in monsoon and lowest cloud cover (10.5%) in winter season.

Despite the spectacular success of the green revolution and achieving self-sufficiency in food production, there are increasing concerns on sustaining the pace of agricultural growth to feed the large population of our country. Lack of yield breakthroughs, deteriorating soil health, groundwater depletion, declining size of operational holdings and labour shortage are some of the prime reasons for slow growth of agriculture. (Editorial)

Original Source

Intermittent disruptions to rainfall patterns and intensity over the Pacific Ocean lasting up to B 1 year have major impacts on severe weather, agricultural production, ecosystems, and disease within the Pacific, and in many countries beyond. The frequency with which major disruptions to Pacific rainfall occur has been projected to increase over the 21st century, in response to global warming caused by large 21st century greenhouse gas emissions.

The food supply is being increasingly challenged by climate change and water scarcity. However, incremental changes in traditional cropping systems have achieved only limited success in meeting these multiple challenges. In this study, we applied a systematic approach, using model simulation and data from two groups of field studies conducted in the North China Plain, to develop a new cropping system that improves yield and uses water in a sustainable manner.

Seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF) are located in regions with alternating wet and dry seasons, with dry seasons that last several months or more. By the end of the 21st century, climate models predict substantial changes in rainfall regimes across these regions, but little is known about how individuals, species, and communities in SDTF will cope with the hotter, drier conditions predicted by climate models.

Peatlands are carbon-rich ecosystems that cover just three per cent of Earth’s land surface, but store one-third of soil carbon. Peat soils are formed by the build-up of partially decomposed organic matter under waterlogged anoxic conditions. Most peat is found in cool climatic regions where unimpeded decomposition is slower, but deposits are also found under some tropical swamp forests. Here we present field measurements from one of the world’s most extensive regions of swamp forest, the Cuvette Centrale depression in the central Congo Basin.

Global Circulation Models (GCMs) are a major tool used for future projections of climate change using different emission scenarios. However, for assessing the hydrological impacts of climate change at regional scale, the GCM outputs cannot be used directly due to the mismatch in the spatial resolution between the GCMs and hydrological models. In order to use the output of a GCM for conducting hydrological impact studies, downscaling is used.

There is great uncertainty over the timing and magnitude of the termination of the African Humid Period (AHP). Spanning from the early to middle Holocene, the AHP was a period of enhanced moisture over most of northern and eastern Africa. However, beginning 8000 years ago the moisture balance shifted due to changing orbital precession and vegetation feedbacks. Some proxy records indicate a rapid transition from wet to dry conditions, while others indicate a more gradual changeover.

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