An improved approach for rainfall estimation over Indian summer monsoon region using Kalpana-1 data

In this paper, an improved Kalpana-1 infrared (IR) based rainfall estimation algorithm, specific to Indian summer monsoon region is presented. This algorithm comprises of two parts: (i) development of Kalpana-1 IR based rainfall estimation algorithm with improvement for orographic warm rain underestimation generally suffered by IR based rainfall estimation methods and (ii) cooling index to take care of the growth and decay of clouds and thereby improving the precipitation estimation.     

Lift coefficient prediction at high angle of attack using recurrent neural network

In this paper, identification of dynamic stall effect of rotor blade is considered. Recurrent Neural Networks have the ability to identify the nonlinear dynamical systems from training data. This paper describes the use of recurrent neural networks for predicting the coefficient of lift (C_Z) at high angle of attack. In our approach, the coefficient of lift (C_Z) obtained from the experimental results (wind tunnel data) at different mean angle of attack θ_mean is used to train the recurrent neural network. Then the recurrent neural network prediction is compared with experimental ONERA OA212 airfoil data. The time and space complexity required to predict C_Z in the proposed method is less and it is easy to incorporate in any commercially available rotor code.     

Growth of hydrodynamic perturbations in accretion disks: Possible route to non-magnetic turbulence

We study the possible origin of hydrodynamic turbulence in cold accretion disks such as those in star-forming systems and quiescent cataclysmic variables. As these systems are expected to have neutral gas, the turbulent viscosity is likely to be hydrodynamic in origin, not magnetohydrodynamic. Therefore, MRI will be sluggish or even absent in such disks. Although there are no exponentially growing eigenmodes in a hydrodynamic disk because of the non-normal nature of the eigenmodes, a large transient growth in the energy is still possible, which may enable the system to switch to a turbulent state. For a Keplerian disk, we estimate that the energy will grow by a factor of 1000 for a Reynolds number close to a million.     

Role of ionospheric effects and plasma sheet dynamics in the formation of auroral arcs

At the ionospheric level, the substorm onset (expansion phase) is marked by the initial brightening and subsequent breakup of a pre-existing auroral arc. According to the field line resonance (FLR) wave model, the substorm-related auroral arc is caused by the field-aligned current carried by FLRs. The FLRs are standing shear Alfvén wave structures that are excited along the dipole/quasi-dipole lines of the geomagnetic field. The FLRs (that can cause auroral arc) thread from the Earthward edge of the plasma sheet and link the auroral arc to the plasma sheet region of 6–15 R _E. The region is associated with magnetic fluctuations that result from the nonlinear wave-wave interactions of the cross-field current-instability. The instability (excited at the substorm onset) disrupts the cross-tail current which is built up during the growth phase of the substorms and results in magnetic fluctuations. The diversion of the current to polar regions can lead to auroral arc intensification. The current FLR model is based on the amplitude equations that describe the nonlinear space-time evolution of FLRs in the presence of ponderomotive forces exerted by large amplitude FLRs (excited during substorms). The present work will modify the FLR wave model to include the effects arising from magnetic fluctuations that result from current disruption near the plasma sheet (6–15 R _E). The nonlinear evolution of FLRs is coupled with the dynamics of plasma sheet through a momentum exchange term (resulting from magnetic fluctuations due to current disruption) in the generalized Ohm's law. The resulting amplitude equations including the effects arising from magnetic fluctuations can be used to study the structure of the auroral arcs formed during substorms. We have also studied the role of feedback mechanism (in a dipole geometry of the geomagnetic field) in the formation of the discrete auroral arc observed on the nightside magnetosphere. The present nonlinear dispersive model (NDM) is extended to include effects arising from the low energy electrons originating from the plasma sheet boundary layer. These electrons increase the ionospheric conductivity in a localized patch and enhance the field-aligned current through a feedback mechanism. The feedback effects were studied numerically in a dipole geometry using the the NDM. The numerical studies yield the magnitude of the field-aligned current that is large enough to form a discrete auroral arc. Our studies provide theoretical support to the observational work of Newell et al. that the feedback instability plays a major role in the formation of the discrete auroral arcs observed on the nightside magnetosphere.     

Meteorological effects observed in the D-region of the equatorial ionosphere

Electron density values were measured during morning hours over Thumba. The results show that electron density in mesosphere is more during summer than during winter for same solar zenith angle. The temperature measurements carried out on the same day during night hours show that mesosphere is hotter in winter and cooler in summer over Thumba. The electron density and temperature are anti-correlated. The results are explained in terms of temperature effects and other meteorological effects.     

Study of complex dielectric properties of lunar simulants and comparison with Apollo samples at microwave frequencies

Laboratory characterization of dielectric properties of terrestrial analogues of lunar soil (JSC-1A) and comparison with lunar samples returned from various Apollo missions is made at different as well as normalized bulk density. Here measurements of dielectric constants and losses were made at four microwave frequencies such as 1.7 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 6.6 GHz and 31.6 GHz. Complex permittivity of lunar simulant was measured at temperature ranging from −190 °C to + 200 °C using Wave-Guide cell method. Comparison of permittivity of JSC-1A with Apollo sample also has been done at similar microwave frequencies. The investigations reveal that dielectric constant and loss factor of terrestrial analogues of lunar soil are temperature dependent. As temperature is gradually increased both these parameter (storage factor and loss factor) also gradually increases. These temperatures were chosen because the Moon undergoes at that extremes level of temperature. It is scorching heat at 110 °C during the day and freezing cold at −180 °C during night. The measured value of ε can be useful for designing passive as well as active sensors.     

Progress in demonstrating homochiral selection in prebiotic RNA synthesis

The dual properties of RNA as an enzyme catalyst (ribozyme) and its ability to store genetic information suggest that early life could have been based on RNA. We have synthesized RNA oligomers up to 50-mer chain lengths by Na⁺-montmorillonite catalyzed reactions of 5′-activated mononucleotides. For studying chiral selectivity, the reactions of racemic mixtures of D, L-ImpA and D, L-ImpU were carried out on Na⁺-montmorillonite. The dimer, trimer, tetramer and pentamer fractions (yields 43.3%, 14.5%, 5.8% and 3.0%, respectively) were investigated for homochiral selection. These products were collected via ion exchange HPLC, their terminal 5′-phosphate was cleaved by alkaline phosphatase and further analyzed by reverse phase HPLC. Twelve linear and three cyclic dimers were isolated and characterized. The homochirality of dimers was 63.5 ± 0.8%. Out of the sixteen trimers isolated, ten were homochiral with an overall homochirality of 74.2 ± 1.6%. The tetramers and pentamers were separated into 24 and 20 isomers, respectively. Their co-elution with those formed in the binary reactions of D-ImpA with D-ImpU on Na⁺-montmorillonite revealed 92.7 ± 2.0% and 97.2 ± 0.5% homochirality, respectively. These results suggest that Na⁺-montmorillonite not only catalyzes the prebiotic synthesis of RNA but it also facilitates homochiral selection. Work is in progress to determine chiral selectivity in the reaction mixtures of activated nucleotides of racemic A, U, G and C on Na⁺-montmorillonite.     

A study on radio-loud interacting/non-interacting CMEs-associated SEPs and solar flares

We have established a data set of 58 major hybrid SEP events associated with meter-to-decahectometer wavelength (m-to-DH) type II bursts, solar flares, and radio-load CMEs during the period of 1997–2014. The main focus of our study is to address the following two questions: Does the interaction of CMEs play a role in the enhancement of SEP intensity? Is there any difference in the seed population, and parent eruptions in the SEP events with and without CME interactions? Hence, the sample of 58 events is classified into two sets: (i) 35 non-interacting-CME-associated SEP events; (ii) 23 interacting-CME-associated SEP events. All the characteristics of SEPs, their associated CMEs/flares and the relationships between them are statistically analyzed and compared. Some of the basic attributes and relative elemental abundances (Fe/O ratios) of the both the sets are also compared. The results indicate that the seed particles in non-interacting-CME-associated SEP events are mostly from solar wind/coronal materials. But in the case of interacting-CME-associated SEP events, it may be associated with both flare material from preceding flares and coronal materials from solar wind/preceding CMEs. The correlation studies reveal that there are clear correlations between logarithmic peak intensity of SEP events and properties of CMEs (space speed: cc?=?0.56) and solar flares (peak intensity: cc?=?0.40; integrated flux: cc?=?0.52) for non-interacting-CME-associated SEP events. But these correlations are absent for the interacting-CME-associated events. In addition, the results suggest that interaction of primary CMEs with their preceding CMEs plays an important role in the enhancement of peak intensity of SEPs at least for a set of m-to-DH type II bursts associated SEP events.