Coastal Andhra Pradesh Research Articles

A study on variability in rainfall over India contributed by cyclonic disturbances in warming climate scenario

AbstractEvery year cyclonic disturbances (CDs) cause destructions along the coastal areas of the designated world basins. Apart from strong winds generated by CDs, torrential rain causes flood and landslides over the places of landfall. By using high‐quality daily rainfall data, the contribution of rainfall by the North Indian Ocean (NIO) CDs over India is investigated in this study. Eastern Indian states suffer landfalling CDs from the Bay of Bengal and the western coastal states experience the influence from those formed over the Arabian Sea. Among eastern coastal states, the accumulated rainfall is higher over Andhra Pradesh (AP), Tamil Nadu (TN), Odisha and southern West Bengal during pre‐monsoon season. Among western coastal states, Karnataka and Kerala suffer maximum rainfall from CDs. During post‐monsoon season, coastal AP, TN, Odisha, Karnataka and coastal Kerala received higher accumulated rainfall. Gujarat received ~70% and both AP and TN received up to 20–30% of rainfall by CDs during pre‐monsoon months. During post‐monsoon season, Gujarat, Odisha and AP received maximum rainfall contribution up to 50%. In most of the states, the overall rainfall contribution by CDs is observed to have a decreasing trend during both seasons. Owning to the stable average rainfall trend over India along with decreasing CD frequency during the post‐monsoon season, the results indicate an increased amount of rainfall by CDs. CDs contribute a considerable amount of rainfall to central and northern India during the post‐monsoon season, which is helpful for agricultural purpose.

People’s Acceptance of Vernacular Houses - Transformed Dwellings of Ghantasala, Andhra Pradesh

Dwellings are usually constructed by people as per their respective needs, with the use of traditional skills. The architectural built form, layout, building materials, and local construction practices vary from one region to the other, depending on the socio cultural and socio-economic significance. It is essential and crucial to understand the cultural significance in an ever-transforming world. Thus, a study has been attempted to analyze typical characteristics of houses in Krishna district of coastal Andhra Pradesh. As part of the study process, a few dwellings were selected which have vernacular building components and which underwent transformation (spatial, physical and esthetical) in response to the respective users’ changing requirements in time and space. People’s attachment to the vernacular components of the present and earlier house was recorded. The qualitative analysis brought out that 25% of houses exhibited transformation in their built-up area while 75% exhibited transformation in terms of its spaces, components such as roof, wall, joinery and ornamentation. It was also found that the quantum of transformation which had taken place arose from different reasons in isolation and combination such as family structure, change from joint large family to a smaller nuclear family system within the same premises, property subdivision, growth in economic condition, and partial physical deterioration of building components. The principal focus of this paper is to understand the degree of people’s attachment or satisfaction level toward vernacular elements and thereby understand the social acceptance of vernacular architecture in a broader perspective.

Tide-current-eddy interaction: A seasonal study using high frequency radar observations along the western Bay of Bengal near 16°N

The seasonally reversing boundary currents along the western Bay of Bengal (BoB) provide a background for studying the rich and complex relationship between tidally-driven currents, mean current structure and mesoscale eddies. A year-long high-resolution surface current data set from high-frequency radars (HFR) during 2015 along the Andhra Pradesh coast (near 82°E, 16°N) has been utilized to investigate the interaction of tidal currents with bathymetry and eddies during three seasons: January, March–April and November–December. The seasonal variability shows the reversibility of boundary currents with speeds of ~1.58 (1.24) m s−1 during poleward (equatorward) flow associated with an offshore anticyclonic (inshore cyclonic) eddy in this region. The amplitudes of the tidal constituents from the HFR currents are highly correlated (R > 0.80) with those from the sea level observations from a nearby tide gauge. Among the semi-diurnal and diurnal tidal constituents, M2 (5.25–6.51 cm s−1) and K1 (2.36–4.32 cm s−1) are the dominant two respectively, in all three seasons. The tidal variance of 40–70% is observed throughout the domain, with highest contribution from the M2 tidal currents. The M2 tidal ellipse patterns match well with the mean circulation pattern, i.e., cyclonic (anticyclonic) during November–December (March–April). In the nearshore regions, the tidal currents amplify mainly through shallow-water tidal constituents (M4 and MS4) interacting with bathymetry; whereas in the offshore regions, they are dominated by M2, which co-vary with the mean seasonal circulation pattern. The highest amplitude of M2 tidal currents during November–December is predominantly due to high stratification along the western BoB. In the presence of stratification, the loss of tidal kinetic energy into turbulent processes is reduced, resulting in the amplification of M2 tidal currents. The shallow water constituents are also observed with significant amplitudes of 0.50–3.50 cm s−1 in the nearshore region. The amplitudes of overtides (M3, M4 and S4) associated with an offshore anti-cyclonic eddy are higher during March–April, whereas those for the compound tides (MK3, SK3, MS4, 2SK5, 2MN6 and 2SM6) are associated with an inshore cyclonic eddy dominate during November–December.

Metabolic Parameter and Insulin Resistance in Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Patient Attending Tertiary Care Hospital Coastal Andhra Pradesh

Metabolic Parameter and Insulin Resistance in Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Patient Attending Tertiary Care Hospital Coastal Andhra Pradesh

Enzyme Activity and Rhizosphere Microflora under Sugarcane Monocropping as Influenced by Integrated Nutrient Management

Sugarcane is one of the lead crops in North Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Farmers in North Coastal Zone are opting for raising more number of ratoons owing to its substantially low cost of production. Ratoon crops however seldom receive proper care and inputs due to considered it as a bonus crop by majority of farmers. Field experiments were conducted consecutively for six years in the same field (2012-13 to 2018-19) at RARS, Anakapalle to study the monocropping effect on soil biology under the influence of different nutrient management practices. Irrespective of the year of ratooning, plots which received 50% recommended dose of chemical fertilizers + 25% nitrogen though vermicompost + 25% nitrogen through green manure incorporation resulted in higher microbial population over chemical fertilizers alone. Activity of dehydrogenase and active carbon pool also showed similar trend in multi-ratooning system of sugarcane. Rhizosphere microbial population at different growth stages revealed that, azospirillum population was observed highest followed by azotobacter while lowest population counts of phosphorus solubilizing bacteria were observed. Highest population counts were recorded in INM plots and population was highest at formative later reduced to harvest. INM with 50% RDFN + 50% through organics (66.80 t ha-1) recorded at par yields with 100% RDF (67.28 t ha-1).

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Is Cyclone JAL Stimulated Chlorophyll-A Enhancement Increased Over the Bay of Bengal?

Tropical cyclone JAL developed in the south Bay of Bengal and worn south coastal Andhra Pradesh on November 7, 2010. The main objective of this study was to investigate the ocean’s response before and after the passage of cyclone in the southern Bay by utilizing the multi-satellite approach. For this study, I used Sea Surface Temperature (SST), Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), and Sea Surface Height (SSH) data production from different remote sensing satellites. JAL induced large scale of upwelling within large cooling of sea surface (~ 1.2°C), enhancement of Chl-a ~ 0.4 mg/m3 in the open ocean and 2-3mg/m3 along the coast, and decrease of SSH (~15cm) in the southeast Bay of Bengal after its passage. After the JAL, the upwelling area expanded rapidly on the shelf break. Chl-a images also revealed high values (~3.3mg/m3) appeared in the shelf region, where the high Chl-a patterns matched the upwelling in terms of location and time. Large offshore surface cooling was also observed mainly to the right of the cyclone track. From the above observations it is evident that cyclonic storm JAL significantly increased upwelling in the southern Bay of Bengal.

Effect of biochar on soil physical and hydrological properties, and on growth, yield, quality of rabi groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) in red sandy loam soils of North Coastal Andhra Pradesh

A field experiment was conducted in red sandy loamsoils of North Coastal Andhra Pradesh to study the effect of biochar on soil physical and hydrological properties, and on growth and yield of rabi groundnut (variety K-6) during 2018-19. Biochar application to soil had significant influence on soil bulk density, porosity and maximum water holding capacity, non-significant influence on final infiltration rate and saturated hydraulic conductivity. Significantly low bulk densities (1.40 mg/m3 and 1.39 mg/m3) and high total porosities (47.17% and 47.55%) of soil at sowing stage were recorded in treatments which received biochar @ 6 t //ha (T5 & T8) and these treatments were on par with treatments which received biochar @ 4 t /ha(T4 and T7) and @ 2 t //ha (T3 and T6). However, T5 and T8 were significantly lower in bulk densities and higher in total porosities when compared to T1 (control) and T2 (100% RDF). Highest bulk density of 1.58 Mg /m3 and lowest total porosity ofsoil (40.38%) was noticed in T1 (control). Soil penetration resistance and soil temperature followed the trend of bulk density. In general, soil bulk density, soil penetration resistance and soil temperature increased fromsowing to harvesting stage of groundnut crop, but the percent pore space decreased. Biochar addition to soil impacted the maximum water holding capacity (MWHC) by recording increased water retention with increased rate of biochar addition from control to 2 t /ha upto 6 t /ha. Biochar addition @ 6 t /ha (T5 & T8) significantly increased MWHC of soil when compared to control (T1) and 100% RDF (T2). A slight but non-significant decrease in final infiltration rate and saturated hydraulic conductivity was noticed by biochar addition. Groundnut crop growth in the form of leaf area index at pod development stage was highest (3.16) in T5 (biochar 6 t /ha + 100% RDF) which was on par with T4 (biochar 4 t/ha + 100% RDF) and both T5 & T4 were significantly higher than T6, T7, T8, T2 and T1. In general, the dry matter accumulation increased from peg penetration to harvest. Highest dry matter accumulation of 2950.90 kg /ha and 6427.54 kg /ha, respectively at peg penetration and pod development stage was observed in T5 (100% RDF + biochar @ 6 t /ha) which was on par with T4 (100% RDF + biochar @ 4 t /ha), T3 (100% RDF + biochar @ 2 t /ha),T8 (75% RDF + biochar @ 6 t /ha) treatments. Groundnut pod yield was highest (4020 kg /ha) in T5 treatment (100% RDF + biochar @ 6 t /ha), which was on par with T4 (100% RDF + biochar @ 4 t /ha) and T8 (75% RDF + biochar @ 6 t /ha). From these observations, it could be concluded that application of biochar at either @ 4 t/ha + 100 % RDF or @ 6 t /ha + 75% RDF, resulted in better soil physical environment and also increased availability of nutrients which resulted in higher plant growth, dry matter production and pod yield in groundnut.

Natural History of Patients with Unresectable Cholangiocarcinoma

AbstractCholangiocarcinoma is a malignancy of the bile ducts. Globally, CCA is the second most common primary hepatic malignancy. These tumors usually progress insidiously, are difficult to diagnose, and have poor prognosis. Unfortunately, treatment options are discouraging. Data on the natural history of CCA in coastal Andhra Pradesh is limited. Our aim is to report the natural history of CCA in this region.

Factors influencing early initiation of breast feeding among mothers in North Coastal Andhra Pradesh, India

Background: The benefits of breastfeeding for the health and wellbeing of the mother and babies are well documented. A recent trial has shown that early initiation of breastfeeding could reduce neonatal mortality, which would contribute to the achievement of the Millennium development goals. The positive effects of breastfeeding on the new-born’s health can be attributed to the components of breast milk, as well as the contact between mother and baby.Methods: This is a hospital based, cross sectional study conducted in the Department of Pediatrics and Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at a tertiary care hospital in North Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Study period was one year between March 2018 to February 2019. 310 healthy term new-born babies of singleton pregnancy were included.Results: The prevalence of initiation of breast breastfeeding within one hour in this study is 48.7% (151 neonates). Hindu religion, literacy, urban residence, vaginal delivery, male child, breast feeding advice during antenatal period, birth spacing <2 years, not giving prelacteal feeds, absence of breast-feeding problems and maternal illness were found to have a significant association with initiation of breast feeding within 1 hour after delivery (p value <0.05).Conclusions: Innovative strategies like provision of breastfeeding counsellors in the hospital setup; constant counselling to mothers and their immediate relatives who take care of baby and mothers can increase early initiation of breast feeding.

Incidence of locally advanced breast cancer in women presenting to a tertiary care center

Background: Trends for incidence of breast cancer are on the rise in India. However, regional specific epidemiological data for North Coastal Andhra Pradesh are inadequate. The study aims to stress upon the trends of the incidence and burden of locally advanced breast cancer in the region.Methods: In a retrospective quantitative study, 310 in-patients of Department of General Surgery, King George Hospital diagnosed with breast cancer whose information is in the medical records covering the calendar period from May 2014 to May 2019 were studied.Results: The number of females being admitted as in-patients for treatment of breast cancer has increased from 11.2% to 13.6% in these five years. The overall result showed that the age of breast cancer patients ranged from 28-74 years, with a mean age of 49.12±10.942. The average duration of time lag to contact with health personnel was 3.6 months for all the cases included in our study. Stage III was the most common presentation constituting 55.01% patients of the series. Most common cause for late presentation was lack of awareness (64.5%) followed by emotional reasons and cultural barriers (31.9%).Conclusions: There is an urgent need for implementation of measures to ensure early presentation as prevention of LABC is much better than cure.

Coastal Social Vulnerability and Risk Analysis for Cyclone Hazard Along the Andhra Pradesh, East Coast of India

People around the world are prone to frequent and intensive hazards due to the global climate change scenario and human interventions. Particularly, the coastal communities are always prone to various long-term coastal hazards like sea-level rise, shoreline changes, and short-term hazards like tsunami cyclone and storm surge. Coastal Andhra Pradesh state is consisting of 9 district and 670 villages and also having 3.43 Million Population (69.3%). Andhra Pradesh has a vast 972 km long coastline and total coastal area spread over 92,906 km2 comprising the nine coastal districts. Andhra Pradesh state is prone to various natural hazards, especially cyclone and associated storm surges. There is an extreme loss of life and damage to properties caused by these cyclones. During the past 40 years Andhra Pradesh coast experienced more than 62 cyclones including depression, cyclone surge, and severe cyclone surges. Among these cyclones, there were 32 cyclones which affected the Krishna–Godavari region, comprising four districts, namely East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, and Guntur. Therefore, these four districts have been considered for this social vulnerability study to identify the cyclone vulnerable villages. Geospatial applications are used in this study for spatial and non-spatial data processing and spatial analysis. The study indicated that half of the study area (3121.07 km2) lying moderately risk zone and around 7% of the study area observed high vulnerability. This study revealed that the use of geospatial application is most reliable and cost-effective approach for vulnerability and risk mapping and analysis. The result obtained from the present study may serve the baseline information for disaster management planning in the area.

First Report of Reef associated fish, Apolemichthys xanthurus (Pomacanthidae) from Andhra Pradesh coast, India

The present paper reports one reef associated fish species of the family Pomacanthidae, Apolemichthys xanthurus (Bennett, 1833) for the first time from the Andhra Pradesh coast. The specimen was collected from Kumbhabhishekam fishing harbour, Kakinada. Current manuscript deals with species description, morphometric and meristic characters to record its occurrence along Andhra Pradesh coast.

Characteristics and evolution of a coastal mesoscale eddy in the Western Bay of Bengal monitored by high-frequency radars

Evolution of a coastal cyclonic eddy has been investigated using surface current observations from high-frequency radar (HFR) along the western Bay of Bengal (BoB) near Andhra Pradesh coast during October-December 2015. The HFRs tracked the genesis of the cyclonic eddy from early October, which persisted throughout November and dissipated after mid-December within the shelf-slope regions of HFR domain along the western boundary of BoB. A vector-based technique has been adapted to detect and track the mesoscale cyclonic eddy. The eddy is observed to propagate with a mean speed of ∼0.27 m s−1 (23.36 km day−1). It is asymmetric in nature with an average radius of ∼90 (80) km along the eastern and western (northern and southern) sides of the cyclonic eddy aligned along-shelf. The eddy has been characterized based on the Eulerian parameters; normalized vorticity (∼0.75), divergence (∼0.20), strain (∼0.25), and Okubu-Weiss (OW) parameter (−0.7 × 10−9 s−2). Positive vorticity and divergence, along with lower strain at the eddy center, justify the cyclonic eddy. The negative values of OW parameter show good agreement with the eddy-cores detected. Kinematics show that the Rossby number (R0) varies in the range 0.6–1.2, depicting that the cyclonic eddy is associated with mesoscale dynamical features and matches perfectly with the geostrophic balance. The eddy-induced upwelling signatures are observed from the subsurface temperature and salinity structures. The upwelling is well supported by positive (∼11 × 10−7 N m−3) wind stress curl during November. The sea surface temperature (SST), surface chlorophyll-a concentration as well as sea surface salinity (SSS) associated with the cyclonic eddy, show the advection of warm waters from the open ocean and low saline cold waters from the coastline. This study reveals that the eddy evolved due to baroclinic instability, well indicated by positive values of T2 (rate of conversion of mean potential energy to eddy potential energy) and lower values of Brunt–Väisälä Frequency (N2), whereas growth and intensification of the eddy are attributed to barotropic instability, supported by the positive values of T4 (the conversion of mean kinetic energy to eddy kinetic energy).

Available macronutrient status of soils in various cropping systems of Thotapalli irrigation project ayacut of North coastal Andhra Pradesh

Assessment of macronutrient status of soils under five major cropping systems namely, rainfed mango/cashew orchards, rainfed groundnut/mesta cropping, irrigated rice followed by pulses, irrigated rice followed by maize and irrigated sugarcane in Thotapalli irrigation project ayacut area of north coastal Andhra Pradesh was carried out. A total of 125 random soil samples were collected from five different cropping systems from five villages of five Tehsils (mandals) namely, Cheeprupalli, Therlam (both tehsils from Vizianagarm district), Ranasthalam, Regidiamadalavalasa and Laveru (from Srikakulam district). The results of the study revealed that the soil organic carbon (OC), available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) and sulphur (S) contents of the irrigated land was higher than adjacent rainfed upland, however the exchangeable calcium and magnesium were higher in rainfed uplands and relatively lower in irrigated cropping systems. Significant positive correlation was noticed between percent clay content with available N (r = 0.311**), available P2O5 (r = 0.232*), available K2O (r = 0.473**), available Sulphur (r = 0.249*), likewise organic carbon content also positively correlated with available N (r = 0.456**), available P2O5 (r = O.578**), available K2O (r = 0.211*) and available sulphur (r = 0.298*), while available phosphorous, was negatively correlated with soil pH, EC and CaCO3 contents. The variations in soil properties and nutrient status among cropping systems indicate need for employing integrated and soil test based nutrient management in sustainable manner.

Study on the north-east monsoon onset features using a ground-based microwave radiometer over SHAR

Convection has a significant role in maintaining the atmospheric dynamics and thermodynamics; particularly in the tropical regions, it can often lead to the formation of clouds and precipitation, release of latent heat, etc. Microwave radiometers (MWRs) have evolved as a powerful tool for monitoring the genesis and evolution of the convection over a site. Ground-based MWRs are installed at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, (SDSC SHAR) Sriharikota (13.72°N; 80.18°E) located over south coastal Andhra Pradesh, the south-east coast of India in 2014. MWR provides high temporal resolution vertical profiles of temperature, vapour density and liquid column measurements. The mean profiles of temperature and vapour density of upper-air ascents of GPS radiosonde and microwave radiometer (MWR) are compared for the same location. After the middle of October, the rainfall pattern over south peninsular India and in particular Tamil Nadu and south coastal Andhra Pradesh is due to the arrival of the north-easterly/easterly winds. The aim of the present study is to use MWR products for the north-east monsoon (NEM) onset study. In addition to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and operational WRF models, reanalysis data products were also used for the study. The association between the temporal evaluation of thermodynamic profiles and NEM onset has been tested for 3 years. The present results suggest that during the period of NEM onset, 3–5 days early signatures can be observed by MWR.

Organic aspirations in South India

Organic regulation makes products legible to consumers around the world, adding value to commodities and seeking to counter socioecological injustice through neoliberal logics of consumer choice and market diversification. Despite the regulatory and consumer need for universal signification, organic agriculture varies considerably between regional contexts and even within the same country. Within India, home to more organic producers than any other nation, certified organic cotton agriculture in Telangana and certified organic coffee production in Andhra Pradesh highlight how organic agriculture provides distinct, but parallel, ways for farmers and intermediaries to capture value in these supply chains. These questions are especially pressing in South India, which has struggled to spread the economic development of Hyderabad and coastal Andhra Pradesh to poorer rural areas plagued by suicide and agrarian distress. In this article, we explore how organic farmers and intermediaries in South India navigate the demands of foreign capital and governance while negotiating the benefits of global ethical supply chains alongside their own aspirations.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: A UCM Approach for Forecasting the Seasonal Rainfall Patterns in Coastal Andhra Pradesh, India 1901–2017

The changes in amount and pattern of seasonal rainfall have a significant impact on agriculture and water resources management in Coastal Andhra Pradesh (CAP) of India. This paper presents modeling and forecasting of the seasonal rainfall patterns in CAP using an unobserved components model (UCM) with the hidden components trend, seasonal, cyclical and irregular. The seasonal rainfall data for CAP were provided by the India Meteorological Department and the analysis for the four rainfall seasons, namely, winter, pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon. The UCM with deterministic level, deterministic trigonometric seasonal, deterministic cycle and stochastic irregular components is selected from the parsimonious models for forecasting the seasonal rainfall patterns in CAP based on the Bayesian information criterion (BIC), significance tests and statistical fit. The model parameters are obtained by using the maximum likelihood method, and the validity of the selected UCM is determined using normal correlation diagnostics and LJung–Box test statistics for residuals. The forecasting of seasonal rainfall patterns for the years 2018–2020 was carried out with the help of the selected UCM. Further, the UCM forecast reveals that winter rainfall will be around 36.4 mm in 2018, 11.3 mm in 2019 and 54.4 mm in 2020; pre-monsoon rainfall will be 91.3 mm in 2018, 135.1 mm in 2019 and 106.4 mm in 2020; monsoon rainfall will be 686.4 mm in 2018, 663.9 mm in 2019 and 652.9 mm in 2020; post-monsoon rainfall will be 286.2 mm in 2018, 267.9 mm in 2019 and 309.1 mm in 2020.

Soils of Thotapalli Major Irrigation Project of North- Coastal Andhra Pradesh: Physical and Chemical Properties

Physical and chemical properties of the soils were assessed for the ayacut area of Thotapalli major irrigation project of North-Coastal Andhra Pradesh. Six representative soil pedons were studied in Devarapalli, Gujjangivalasa, Patikivalasa, Gangada, Aamiti and Maddivalasa villages falling in ayacut area of Thotapalli major irrigation project. The soil texture ranged from sandy loam to sandy clay loam in upland pedons while sandy clay loam to clay in pedons under cultivated plains. In general, relatively low bulk density was recorded at surface horizons compared to sub-surface layers. Maximum water holding capacity, pore space and volume expansion increased with soil depth. The soils were acidic to alkaline in reaction, non-saline, low to medium in organic carbon content. The CEC ranged from 6.4 to 32.5 cmol (p+) kg-1. The soil exchange complex was dominated by calcium followed by magnesium, sodium and potassium. The soils were found to be low in nitrogen, low to medium in phosphorus and medium to high in available potassium status. Manganese and copper were sufficient but zinc and iron were deficient in soils. The total silica (SiO2) content of pedons varied from 48.10 to 71.40 per cent. Sesquioxide (R2O3) and the molar ratio of SiO2 / R2O3 ranged from 19.01 to 32.4 per cent and varied from 3.74 to 6.59, respectively in different pedons. The SiO2 / Al2O3 ratio and the SiO2 / Fe2O3 ratio varied from 4.43 to 7.65 and from 13.7 to 47.8, respectively. A significant positive correlation of clay content with cation exchange capacity (CEC), maximum water holding capacity (MWHC) was observed. Sand content was positively correlated with silica and negatively correlated with MWHC and volume expansion. Soil organic carbon had a significant positive correlation with soil pore space, available nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, zinc, manganese, copper and iron, but a negative correlation with soil bulk density. Soil pH was positively correlated with CaCO3 but negatively correlated with available phosphorous, potassium, zinc, manganese, and copper and iron. Soil CaCO3 content was negatively correlated with available phosphorous, potassium, zinc, manganese and copper and iron of the soil.