South of Africa, the Agulhas Current retroflects and a portion of its waters flows into the South Atlantic Ocean, typically in the form of Agulhas rings. This flux of warm and salty water from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean (the Agulhas leakage) is now recognized as a key element in global climate. An Agulhas leakage shutdown has been associated with extreme glacial periods, whereas a vigorous increase has preceded shifts towards interglacials.

This paper examines if the land parcels in Indian villages exhibit caste-based clustering. Using digitised cadastral maps of two villages in Uttar Pradesh and a unique data set collected by conducting a survey in these two villages, we determine the caste of the owner of each parcel. We then used spatial methods to calculate Moran's Index for caste-based clustering. In both villages, we observed a statistically significant level of clustering of land parcels based on caste groups.

In East Africa, human population growth and demands for natural resources cause forest loss contributing to increased carbon emissions and reduced biodiversity. Protected Areas (PAs) are intended to conserve habitats and species. Variability in PA effectiveness and ‘leakage’ (here defined as displacement of deforestation) may lead to different trends in forest loss within, and adjacent to, existing PAs.

Increasing urban surface temperature due to change of natural surfaces is one of the growing environmental problems in urban areas, especially in cities like Delhi. The present work is an attempt to assess the urban surface temperature in Delhi using remote sensing and GIS techniques. ASTER datasets of thermal bands were used to assess the land surface temperature (LST) using temperature emissivity separation technique. Ward-wise population density was calculated from the Census of India 2001 data to correlate the population density with LST.

This paper describes how a settlement profile, mapping and enumeration of Magada, an informal settlement in the town of Epworth just outside Harare, provided the basis for an upgrading programme. This was both in terms of the needed information and in terms of agreement between the residents and their community organizations and local and national government.

Advance and accurate forecasts of rainfall can aid many sectors, from agriculture to disaster mitigation. However, given the tremendous spatial variability of rainfall, only forecasts at high resolution can serve users’ needs. The skill of a dynamical forecast model depends on the resolution and varies from region to region. While such non-uniqueness poses challenges, they also provide avenues for improving skill; in particular, calibration and customization can improve

This correspondence refers to a recent note about monitoring alpine treeline in the Western Himalaya and few other
recent studies on the same aspect. Alpine zones in the Himalayas are the highest vegetation zones where seedbearing plants are found, but tree growth is excluded. Upper and lower boundaries of alpine zones are traditionally set as

Here the authors report the field evidences observed at Milam glacier, Goriganga basin, Kumaon Himalaya during the glaciological expedition carried out in July 2011 and the observations from Resourcesat-2 LISS IV data. (Correspondence)