Good Rainfall Research Articles

Application of ensemble Kalman filter in WRF model to forecast rainfall on monsoon onset period in South Vietnam

Application of ensemble Kalman filter in WRF model to forecast rainfall on monsoon onset period in South Vietnam

Multi-scale interactions in a high-resolution tropical-belt experiment and observations

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is used to dynamically downscale 27 years of the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) in a tropical belt configuration at 36 km horizontal grid spacing. WRF is found to give a good rainfall climatology as observed by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and to reproduce well the large-scale circulation and surface radiation fluxes. The impact of conventional and Modoki-type El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) are confirmed by linear regression. Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) and Boreal Summer Intra-seasonal Oscillation (BSISO) are also well-simulated. The WRF simulation shows that conventional El Niño increases (La Niña decreases) the MJO amplitude in the boreal summer while Modoki-type ENSO and IOD impacts are MJO-phase dependent. While WRF is found to perform well on seasonal to sub-seasonal timescales, it does not capture well the diurnal cycle of precipitation over the Maritime Continent. For the investigation of multi-scale interactions through the local diurnal cycle, TRMM data is used instead. In the Maritime Continent, moderate El Niño and La Niña causes anti-symmetric enhancement/reduction of the MJO’s influence on the diurnal cycle amplitudes with little change in the diurnal phase. Non-linear impacts on the diurnal amplitude with changes in diurnal phase manifest during strong ENSO. Given that the simulation does not employ data assimilation, this modified version of WRF submitted to the model developers is a suitable downscaling tool of CFSR for sub-seasonal to seasonal tropical atmospheric research.

Impact assessment of meteorological drought on rainfed agriculture using drought index and NDVI modeling: a case study of Tikamgarh district, M. P., India

Drought, an environmental stress is a major crisis of India. Tikamgarh, a district of Madhya Pradesh, is facing the crisis of drought since the last two decades. Rainfall data of the previous years between 1964–1965 and 2011–2012 (crop year) is obtained from Commissioner Land Record (CLR) and crop yield from resource atlas of Tikamgarh. Drought index shows that 52% of the years have mild to severe drought (rainfall deficit) and 48% have no drought but after 1990–1991; 13 years out of 21 have mild to moderate drought and 1 year has severe drought. The last two decades during 1991–1992 to 2011–2012 suffer from drought. Crop yield (cereals, pulses, and oilseeds) is showing continuously increasing trend since 1964–1965 to 1996–1997 and after continuously decreasing. The maximum yield of cereals and pulses for year 1999–2000 and 1996–1997 is 1924 and 883 kg/ha respectively and oilseeds for 1996–1997 is 1122 kg/ha. NDVI modeling shows that natural vegetation is also showing the impact of rainfall variation as severe (2007), mild (2001), and no drought (2012). Crop yield and natural vegetation show the drought impact during 1964–1965 to 2011–2012. Regression model is showing that district witnessed good to very good rainfall (no drought) for two decades and in two decades rainfall-deficit (mild to severe drought) alternately. Rainfall and agricultural correlation are showing that total agriculture depends on rainfall so rainwater harvesting must be implemented for crop saving in Rabi season.

Conceptual design of an integrated PV catchment storage system for rainwater harvesting

The issue of freshwater resources being continuously contaminated and polluted deemed to create water supply shortages. In urban areas where working population dominates, demands for freshwater supply increases rapidly over the years which lowers the government’s capability to supply and keeping in pace with the basic need in the near future. The RWHPV system are proposed to be located at the Faculty of Engineering Universiti Putra Malaysia PV in Serdang district which has a good rainfall collection throughout the year. The objective of this work is to feasibly identify and design a suitable rainwater catchment using PV array combinations, to calculate, design and install underground storage tanks with rainwater feasibility study and lastly to suggest the system as Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for urban flood mitigation for public awareness and research purposes.

Remote sensing entropy to assess the sustainability of rainfall in tropical catchment

This study demonstrated the utility of entropy computation using the satellite precipitation remote sensing data to assess the sustainability of rainfall in tropical catchments. There were two major issues need to be anticipated in monitoring the tropical catchments; first is the frequent monitoring of the rainfall and second is the appropriate indicator that sensitive to rainfall pattern changes or disorder. For the first issue, the use of satellite remote sensing precipitation data is suggested. Meanwhile for the second issue, the utilization of entropy concept in interpreting the disorder of temporal rainfall can be used to assess the sustain ability had been successfully adopted in some studies. Therefore, we hypothesized that the use of satellite precipitation as main data to compute entropy can be a novel tool in anticipating the above-mentioned conflict earlier. The remote sensing entropy results and in-situ river level showed good agreement indicating its reliability. 72% of the catchment has moderate to good rainfall supply during normal or non-drought condition. However, our result showed that the catchments were highly sensitive to drought especially in the west coast and southern part of the Peninsular Malaysia. High resiliency was identified in the east coast. We summarized that the proposed entropy-quantity scheme was a useful tool for cost-effective, quick, and operational sustainability assessment This study demonstrated the utility of entropy computation using the satellite precipitation remote sensing data to assess the sustainability of rainfall in tropical catchments.

Breeding Sorghum Using Induced Mutations: Future Prospect for Namibia

In arid and semi-arid regions of the world sorghum stands out as a climate change-ready crop with high potential for the production of food, feed, fodder, fiber and fuel in the face of increasing human population. The present review highlights induced mutation breeding technique as a potential tool for improving sorghum in Namibia. The review discussed the following issues; crop improvement using mutagens, mutant screening, selection and evaluation, impact of induced mutation breeding, factors for declining production and future implication of sorghum mutation breeding. In Namibia, severe drought stress resulting in total crop failure has become frequent. This is partly a consequence of farmers growing crop varieties which cannot withstand impact of drought. As such Namibia has limited drought tolerant varieties available for the diverse agro-ecologies. Farmers keep growing the familiar landraces which performs well in good rainfall years but fails to produce stable yield with irregular and erratic rainfall. Thus, breeding new sorghum varieties of high yield and quality combined with multiple agronomic traits including pest and disease resistance and high efficiency in nutrient and water use is needed. Induced mutation is one of the breeding methods utilized worldwide to supplement conventional breeding for developing superior varieties with desirable traits in different crops. Development of high yielding, drought tolerant, and dwarf sorghums with early maturity enables effective utilization of available soils moisture and in optimizing plant density for achieving higher yield in farmers’ fields. Recombination breeding through exploitation of natural genetic variability and mutation breeding to reduce the plant height without disturbing agronomic superiority of elite lines is recommended for sorghum improvement in Namibia.

El agua como factor de conflicto y determinante en el precio de la tierra: Córdoba, Argentina, 1800-1855

El agua es recurso vulnerable, finito y esencial para sostener la vida y posee un valor específico como bien muy apreciado. Esto se observa claramente en la provincia de Córdoba por sus condiciones climáticas e hídricas variadas; tiene un clima templado pampeano al sur y este, con buen régimen de lluvias, un clima semiárido al oeste y norte y en el centro y valles serranos, aguadas naturales. En esta realidad el agua desempeña un rol bastante diverso. Entre otras cosas, en las relaciones humanas es factor de conflictos y en la estructura agraria, determinante en los precios de la tierra. A partir de estas conceptualizaciones, nuestros objetivos son analizar los conflictos en torno a la provisión y posesión del agua, la organización burocrática encargada de administrarla y la normativa creada al respecto. Y estudiar el agua como determinante del precio de la tierra y variable de fluctuaciones en su circulación.

Temporal and Spatial Analysis of Rainfall and Associated Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) over the Pune District, India

Introduction: With increasing population, demands for agricultural products are increasing in tropical countries like India. However, vegetation cover is decreasing to meet the human requirements. Rainfall through hydrological cycle plays an important role in the vegetation growing cycle. It acts as a determining factor for agriculture and food security. Since agricultural products are monsoon rainfall dependent, it is essential to know the changes in the vegetation cover and trends and its relationship with the climate change. This will be helpful in accurate prediction of vegetation cover and therefore in management of loss and damages to the economy of the country. Therefore, a detailed understanding of the relationship between rainfall variability and vegetation cover is very important.Method: An attempt has been made in this paper to study the distribution of rainfall over the Pune district (Maharashtra state, India) and its impact on NDVI during 1971-2012. Analysis of data was carried out by programming, ERDAS & GIS technique using Landsat MSS and Resourcesat data and Microsoft Excel functions.Results: The results indicated that the NDVI values changed in relation to different amount of precipitation showing that about 54% and 13% of area remained barren during 1972 and 2009 drought years respectively.Conclusion: The NDVI has been used to monitor the response of vegetation cover to rainfall and this showed that vegetation cover has drastically reduced during drought years of1972 and 2009, whereas there is increase in vegetation cover during good rainfall years of 1975 and 2010. The comparative study of rainfall pattern and NDVI will be useful to farmers (agricultural section), engineers (irrigation sector) and water resources management point of view.

Rendimento do feijoeiro comum em função da aplicação de fertilizantes minerais nitrogenados em cobertura

With the intention to reduce losses of nitrogen (N) resulting from soil fertilization, several modified nitrogen fertilizers are being made available to growers. This study aimed to evaluate the response of common beans to nitrogen fertilizers applied in topdressing. The experiment was conducted in Vacaria, Southern of Brazil, on an Oxisol with 516 g kg-1 clay, pH = 5.2 and 46 g kg-1 organic matter. The experimental area was previously an apple orchard for twenty years. The treatments included the following commercial mineral fertilizers: conventional urea, Super N®, Kimcoat N®, Nitro Mais®, Super Nitro®, Producote®, Sulfammo Meta 29® and ammonium nitrate, all applied at a rate of 60 kg ha-1, in topdressing, in addition to a control without application of N. The availability of N in soil, N in the leaves, protein in the grain, mass of 1,000 grains, and grain yield was evaluated. The average grain yield across treatments was 3,770 kg ha-1 and was not affected by any N fertilizer applied at topdressing. In addition, N fertilizers did not affect any soil and plant evaluated attribute, including N availability in the soil 21 days after application. Thus, soil organic matter supplied all N needed to the plants, mainly due to the good rainfall distribution.

Vulnerability to Drought and Food Price Shocks: Evidence from Ethiopia

While the measurement and determinants of poverty have been widely studied, vulnerability, or the threat of future poverty, has been more difficult to investigate due to data paucity. We combine nationally representative household data with objective drought and price information to quantify and investigate causes of vulnerability to poverty in Ethiopia. Previous estimates have relied on self-reported shocks and variation in outcomes within a survey, which is inadequate for shocks such as weather and prices that vary more across time than space. We used historical distributions of climate and price shocks in each district to simulate the probable distribution of future consumption for individual households and use these quantify vulnerability to poverty. We find that many Ethiopians are unable to protect their consumption against lack of rainfall and sudden increases in food prices. A moderate drought causes a 9% reduction in consumption for many rural households and recent high inflation has caused a 14% reduction in the consumption of uneducated households in urban areas. We also find that the vulnerability of rural households is considerably higher than that of urban households, despite realized poverty rates being fairly similar. This reflects the fact that the household survey in 2011 was conducted during a year of good rainfall but rapid food price inflation. The results highlight the need for caution in using a snapshot of poverty to target programs, as underlying rates of vulnerability can be quite different from the poverty rate captured at one point in time. The results also suggest that significant welfare gains can be made from risk management in both rural and urban areas.

Intraseasonal Variability of Summer Monsoon Rainfall and Droughts over Central India

Rainfall over Madhya Pradesh (MP) in central India has large intra-seasonal variability causing droughts and floods in many years. In this study, rainfall variability in daily and monthly scale over central India has been examined using observed data. Consistency among various datasets such as rainfall, surface temperature, soil moisture and evapotranspiration has been examined. These parameters are from various different sources and critical for drought monitoring and prediction. It is found that during weak phases of monsoon, central India receives deficit rainfall with weaker monsoon circulation. This phase is characterized by an anticyclonic circulation at 850 hPa centered on MP. The EOF analysis of daily rainfall suggests that the two leading modes explain about 23–24% of rainfall variability in intraseasonal timescale. These two modes represent drought/flood conditions over MP. Relationship of weak phases of rainfall over central India with real-time multivariate (RMM) indices of Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) has been examined. It is found that RMM-6, RMM-7, RMM-1 and RMM-2 describe the weak monsoon conditions over central India. However, frequency of drought occurrence over MP is more during RMM-7 phase. Surface temperature increases by about 0.5°–1° during weak phases of rainfall over this region. Soil moisture and evapotranspiration gradually reduce when rainfall reduces over the study region. Soil moisture and evapotranspiration anomalies have positive pattern during good rainfall events over central India and gradually reduce and become negative anomalies during weak phases.

Breeding and Movements of the Straw-necked Ibis in Australia

Data on distribution and movements were obtained from the literature, an Australia-wide questionnaire and regular censuses at fifteen locations in eastern Australia from May 1969 to December 1972. Fifty-four breeding swamps were recorded, most in south-eastern Australia, Northern Territory and south-western Western Australia. Populations using these breeding areas may be largely discrete. Differences in time and regularity of breeding are probably caused by rainfall. Seasonal movements occurred between breeding areas and eastern coastal refuges in each year, but later and in smaller numbers in years of good rainfall inland than in poor ones. North-eastern Queensland seems to be an important refuge for Ibis breeding in northern Australia and south-eastern Queensland for those from south-eastern Australia, with relatively few sightings in intervening central coastal Queensland. Juveniles appear to disperse earlier and more widely than adults. Local rainfall may stimulate Ibis to depart from refuges, most departures probably being pre-nuptial; rain also probably stimulates breeding. Though flooding is enough to do this at many swynps, at two in South Australia, not affected bv floods, increase in temperature is probably the proximate stimulus.

Adapting to climate change for food security in the Rift Valley dry lands of Ethiopia: supplemental irrigation, plant density and sowing date

SUMMARYStudies on climate impacts and related adaptation strategies are becoming increasingly important to counteract the negative impacts of climate change. In Ethiopia, climate change is likely to affect crop yields negatively and therefore food security. However, quantitative evidence is lacking about the ability of farm-level adaptation options to offset the negative impacts of climate change and to improve food security. The MarkSim Global Climate Model weather generator was used to generate projected daily rainfall and temperature data originally taken from the ECHAM5 general circulation model and ensemble mean of six models under high (A2) and low (B1) emission scenarios. The FAO AquaCrop model was validated and subsequently used to predict maize yields and explore three adaptation options: supplemental irrigation (SI), increasing plant density and changing sowing date. The maximum level of maize yield was obtained when the second level of supplemental irrigation (SI2), which is the application of irrigation water when the soil water depletion reached 75% of the total available water in the root zone, is combined with 30 000 plants/ha plant density. It was also found that SI has a marginal effect in good rainfall years but using 94–111 mm of SI can avoid total crop failure in drought years. Hence, SI is a promising option to bridge dry spells and improve food security in the Rift Valley dry lands of Ethiopia. Expected longer dry spells during the shorter rainy season (Belg) in the future are likely to further reduce maize yield. This predicted lower maize production is only partly compensated by the expected increase in CO2 concentration. However, shifting the sowing period of maize from the current Belg season (mostly April or May) to the first month of the longer rainy season (Kiremt) (June) can offset the predicted yield reduction. In general, the present study showed that climate change will occur and, without adaptation, will have negative effects. Use of SI and shifting sowing dates are viable options for adapting to the changes, stabilizing or increasing yield and therefore improving food security for the future.

EFFECT OF RAINFALL ON TRAFFIC FLOW CHARACTERISTICS DURING NIGHT TIME

Understanding traffic behavior for obtaining a smooth, safe and economical traffic operation requires a thorough knowledge of traffic flow parameters and their mutual relationships.Eventhough adverse weather can reduce traffic efficiencies, there are still questions to answer regarding the relationship between weather conditions and traffic flow at night. This paper presents an investigation of the rainfall effects to the traffic flow characteristics on atwo-lane rural highway during night time. The traffic data and corresponding rainfall data for uninterrupted road segment of Federal route 3 at Dungun, Terengganu were collected under road lighting condition during the north-east monsoon season. The effect of good weather condition, light rain, moderate rain and heavy rain conditions on speed, flow and density were quantified and compared. Results from the analysis indicate that mean speed, mean flow and mean density are reduced under various rainfall conditions. In general, the impact of good weather and various rainfall conditions on Greenshield’s fundamental traffic flow relationship have weak correlations except for the relationship between flow and density. The important points in the fundamental diagram derived from flow-density relationships indicated that critical density, maximum flow, critical speed, jam density and free flow speed of roadway all decrease as rainfall intensity increases. It can be concluded that traffic flow characteristics of two-lane rural highway in Terengganu are affected by rainfall conditions.

Providing a Model for Assessing the Quality of the Natural Environment in Rural Areas Using Knowledge-Based Systems

Providing a Model for Assessing the Quality of the Natural Environment in Rural Areas Using Knowledge-Based Systems

Feasibility of machinery transfer for growing grain in distant areas

After years of no-till (PD), arguments have emerged tha tthe requirement of lime (NC) in this system may be lower than for convention altillage system. However, the low quality on the adoption of the practices required to make PD system to work in the field,as well as the soil attributes stratification in depth in areas of consolidated PD have hindered yield increases and maximized crop shortfall due to draught periods, when liming can mitigate the negative effects of water restriction on nutrition and productivity of crops. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the initial effects of superficial liming in PD on soil chemical attributes, nutrition and yield of wheat, in a long run experiment settled in Guarapuava-PR. Treatments were: without limin gand with liming(rate necessary to reach V=70% in the 0-20 cm layer). Liming increased soil pHCaCl2 (5,12 → 5,70) and the level of calcium (4,90 → 5,32 cmolC dm-3) and decreased the already low level of Al3+(0,06 → 0,00 cmolC dm-3)in the 0-10 cm layer at 150 days after lime application. Using the rate necessary to reach V =70% in the 0-20 cm layer, liming did not significantly affect nutrition and yield of wheat cultivated just after lime application, in a cropping season with good rainfall distribution, on a soil with low Al3+ level and initial levels of basic cations above the critical levels.

Spatial Distribution of Rainfall with Elevation in Satluj River Basin: 1986-2010, Himachal Pradesh, India

The complex relationship between topography and precipitation in mountainous regions such as Himalayas is evident from the pattern of rainfall distribution. The variation in precipitation with altitude is controlled by mean height of clouds and decrease in water vapours with altitude. Spatially distributed measurements of precipitation have gained renewed interest in connection with climate change impact studies. Precipitation values are usually available from a limited number of gauge stations and their spatial estimates can be obtained by interpolation techniques such as Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW), Kriging and Spline. In the present study, precipitation-elevation relationship can be established using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer-ASTER, 30m resolution), Spline interpolation technique in Geographical Information System (GIS) environment and point data from various gauge stations spread over the Satluj River Basin. Changes of spatial distribution of precipitation with elevation show a distinct shift. Bhakra Dam (5854.60 mm) to Rampur (4451.10 mm), there is continuous variation in rainfall with increase in altitude. But beyond Rampur, variation is very high. Swarghat shows exceptional rainfall (8031.76 mm), may be due to position of mountains and their orographic effects. Maximum rainfall was observed in the lower Himalayas i.e. Shiwalik range. Negligible rainfall was observed beyond Kaza (470 mm), above the elevation of around 3756 m. The general trend of rainfall exhibits that the lower and middle parts experience good rainfall whereas the upper part experiences less rainfall. Such spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall with elevation provides an important platform for hydrologic analysis, planning and management of water resources.

The future of grazing research

The future of grazing research

Spatial Distribution of Rainfall with Elevation in Satluj River Basin: 1986-2010, Himachal Pradesh, India

The complex relationship between topography and precipitation in mountainous regions such as Himalayas is evident from the pattern of rainfall distribution. The variation in precipitation with altitude is controlled by mean height of clouds and decrease in water vapours with altitude. Spatially distributed measurements of precipitation have gained renewed interest in connection with climate change impact studies. Precipitation values are usually available from a limited number of gauge stations and their spatial estimates can be obtained by interpolation techniques such as Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW), Kriging and Spline. In the present study, precipitation-elevation relationship can be established using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer-ASTER, 30m resolution), Spline interpolation technique in Geographical Information System (GIS) environment and point data from various gauge stations spread over the Satluj River Basin. Changes of spatial distribution of precipitation with elevation show a distinct shift. Bhakra Dam (5854.60 mm) to Rampur (4451.10 mm), there is continuous variation in rainfall with increase in altitude. But beyond Rampur, variation is very high. Swarghat shows exceptional rainfall (8031.76 mm), may be due to position of mountains and their orographic effects. Maximum rainfall was observed in the lower Himalayas i.e. Shiwalik range. Negligible rainfall was observed beyond Kaza (470 mm), above the elevation of around 3756 m. The general trend of rainfall exhibits that the lower and middle parts experience good rainfall whereas the upper part experiences less rainfall. Such spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall with elevation provides an important platform for hydrologic analysis, planning and management of water resources.

Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Rainfall in Satluj River Basin, Himachal Pradesh, India

Temporally and Spatially distributed measurements of precipitation have gained renewed interest in connection with climate change impact studies. The complex relationship between topography and precipitation in mountainous regions such as Himalayas is evident from the pattern of rainfall distribution. The variation in precipitation with altitude is controlled by mean height of clouds and decrease in water vapours with altitude. Precipitation values are usually available from a limited number of gauge stations and their spatial estimates can be obtained by interpolation techniques such as Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW), Kriging and Spline. In the present study, precipitation-elevation relationship can be established using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer-ASTER, 30m resolution), Spline interpolation technique in Geographical Information System (GIS) environment and point data from various gauge stations spread over the Satluj River Basin. Changes of spatial distribution of precipitation with elevation show a distinct shift. Bhakra Dam to Rampur, there is continuous variation in rainfall with increase in altitude. But beyond Rampur, variation is very high. Swarghat shows exceptional rainfall, may be due to position of mountains and their orographic effects. Maximum rainfall was observed in the lower Himalayas i.e. Shiwalik range. Negligible rainfall was observed beyond, above the elevation of around 3756 m. The general trend of rainfall exhibits that the lower and middle parts experience good rainfall whereas the upper part experiences less rainfall. Such spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall with elevation provides an important platform for hydrologic analysis, planning and management of water resources.