Atmospheric rivers fueling the intensification of fog and haze over Indo-Gangetic Plains.

Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) experiences persistent and widespread rise of fog and haze during the winter season. This has been attributed to the rise in pollution levels and water vapor, but the reason for enhancement in latter is not clear yet. We detect moisture incursion from Arabian Sea, a phenomenon called atmospheric rivers (AR), land-falling intermittently along 12-25° N corridor of the west-coast of India during winter; using satellite and reanalysis data.

Effects of land use/land cover alterations on regional meteorology over Northwest India.

Irrigation activities, as part of the agricultural green revolution, in Northwest India are aimed at transforming barrenland to agriculturally productive area. The main objective of this study is to determine the effects of these land use land cover (LULC) transformations on regional meteorology over this region. Satellite derived LULC classes in 2003 and 2012 reveal conversion of significantly large areas of barrenland to open shrubland and open shrubland to cropland over Northwest India.

Assessment of Epidemiological Implications Due to Serial Tropical Cyclones in India: Introspecting the Recent Sanitation Interventions.

Objectives: The Indian subcontinent is prone to tropical cyclones that used to originate in the North Indian Ocean. Through this study, an inventory of disease outbreaks for the tropical cyclone-affected regions from 2010 to 2018 has been compiled. This inventory is used to assess the success of recent sanitation intervention, Swachh Bharat Mission, also known as the Clean India Mission.

Trends of absorption, scattering and total aerosol optical depths over India and surrounding oceanic regions from satellite observations: role of local production, transport and atmospheric dynamics.

The study examines trends of scattering, absorption and total aerosol optical depths (SAOD, AAOD and AOD) over India and surrounding oceanic regions and explores role of local production, long-range transport and atmospheric dynamics on observed trends. Long-term satellite observations are used to estimate trends and assess their statistical significance. Significant spatial and seasonal changes are observed in trends of SAOD, AAOD and AOD.

Warming trends in Asia amplified by brown cloud solar absorption.

Atmospheric brown clouds are mostly the result of biomass burning and fossil fuel consumption. They consist of a mixture of light-absorbing and light-scattering aerosols and therefore contribute to atmospheric solar heating and surface cooling. The sum of the two climate forcing terms-the net aerosol forcing effect-is thought to be negative and may have masked as much as half of the global warming attributed to the recent rapid rise in greenhouse gases.