Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

The Urban Heat Island Of Bengaluru, India : Characteristics, Trends, And Mechanisms, Heather Samantha Sussman

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The urban heat island (UHI) effect refers to how urban surfaces tend to be warmer than nearby non-urban areas due to less vegetation and other processes. UHIs can increase the risk of heat and respiratory illnesses. Since every city is unique, UHIs should be studied on a local-scale. One particular city that has not had its UHI comprehensively evaluated is Bengaluru, India. Bengaluru was once known as the “Garden City” of India due to a wide presence of gardens and public parks, but is now known as the “Silicon City” of India due to the overwhelming presence of the information …

Effect Of Lockdown On Hcho And Trace Gases Over India During March 2020, Akshansha Chauhan, Ramesh P. Singh

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

COVID-19 is one of the deadly Epidemics that has impacted people living in more than 200 countries. In order to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, India observed total lockdown in the first phase for a period of 21 days (24 March–13 May 2020), so that social distancing is maintained. However, this sudden decision severely affected the normal life of people. The air quality improved due to lockdown, some relaxation was given in different cities and within some areas in the city where the people were not affected by COVID-19. In this paper, we discuss results of detailed analysis of trace …

Toward Improved Understanding Of Black And Brown Carbon Radiative Impacts Over South Asia, Apoorva Pandey

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Atmospheric aerosols directly affect the Earth’s radiative budget by absorbing and scattering solar radiation. Carbonaceous aerosols constitute 20-90% of the global aerosol mass burden and are recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as important drivers of direct radiative forcing (DRF). Aerosol radiative impacts have been implicated in regional atmospheric warming in South Asia: changing Indian monsoon patterns, and accelerating melting of the Himalayan glaciers. There are systematic global discrepancies between estimates of aerosol absorption optical depths derived from observations and those from climate models. Over South Asia, models predict six times lower aerosol absorption than ground-based observations, leading …

Impact Of Deadly Dust Storms (May 2018) On Air Quality, Meteorological, And Atmospheric Parameters Over The Northern Parts Of India, Sudipta Sarkar, Akshansa Chauhan, Rajesh Kumar, Ramesh P. Singh

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The northern part of India, adjoining the Himalaya, is considered as one of the global hot spots of pollution because of various natural and anthropogenic factors. Throughout the year, the region is affected by pollution from various sources like dust, biomass burning, industrial and vehicular pollution, and myriad other anthropogenic emissions. These sources affect the air quality and health of millions of people who live in the Indo‐Gangetic Plains. The dust storms that occur during the premonsoon months of March–June every year are one of the principal sources of pollution and originate from the source region of Arabian Peninsula and …

Does Household Capital Mediate The Uptake Of Agricultural Land, Crop, And Livestock Adaptations? Evidence From The Indo-Gangetic Plains (India), Sameer H. Shah, Courtney Hammond Wagner, Udita Sanga, Hogeun Park, Lia Helena Monteiro De Lima Demange, Carolina Gueiros, Meredith T. Niles

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Faculty Publications

Farmers in the Indo-Gangetic Plains produce much of the wheat and rice grown in India. However, food production and millions of farm-based livelihoods in this region will continue to be adversely affected by hydro-climatic change and variation, reduced land productivity, and declining groundwater levels. Thus, agricultural adaptations are essential for protecting and improving upon intersecting goals of food security, poverty alleviation, and wellbeing. Household “capital” (e.g., natural, human, financial, physical, and social) is commonly cited as an indicator of livelihood adaptability and innovation. We develop a series of mediated structural equation models to empirically evaluate the validity of capital as …

Is There A Path For Green Growth? Evidence From India, Thuc Anh Thi Trinh

Gettysburg Economic Review

This paper uses historical temperature fluctuations in India to identify its effects on economic growth rates. Using a climate-adjusted form of the Solow growth model, I find that one degree Celsius increase in temperature decreases GDP per capita growth by 0.71%. This finding informs debates over the role of climate on economic development and suggests the possibility of a green path for economic growth, a policy agenda that is both sustainable and pro-growth.

Slides: Learning From Drought Crises In Federations: Principles, Indicators And Lessons Learned, Lucia De Stefano, Dustin Garrick, Daniel Connell

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenters:

Lucia De Stefano, Complutense Universidad de Madrid

Dustin Garrick, McMaster University/University of Oxford

Daniel Connell, Australia National University

27 slides

Agenda: Coping With Water Scarcity In River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned From Shared Experiences, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Water scarcity is increasingly dominating headlines throughout the world. In the southwestern USA, the looming water shortages on the Colorado River system and the unprecedented drought in California are garnering the greatest attention. Similar stories of scarcity and crisis can be found across the globe, suggesting an opportunity for sharing lessons and innovations. For example, the Colorado River and Australia's Murray-Darling Basin likely can share many lessons, as both systems were over-allocated, feature multiple jurisdictions, face similar climatic risks and drought stresses, and struggle to balance human demands with environmental needs. In this conference we cast our net broadly, exploring …

Slides: Environmental Flows In The Era Of 'River Anthropology', Rebecca Tharme

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Rebecca Tharme, Riverfutures Ltd.

18 slides

Geospatial Analysis Of Droughts, Rice And Wheat Production, And Agrarian Vulnerability: A District-Level Study Of The Self-Calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index In India, Aaron Michael Shew

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Droughts have affected more people than any other natural disaster in the last century, causing billions in economic damages and millions of deaths. As the Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) have heated in the Indian Ocean, drought patterns across South Asia have changed; the Indian monsoon has become more volatile and less predictable. In this study, monthly self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (sc-PDSI) data for the time period between 1950 and 2009 were interpolated to India’s districts; then the data were analyzed for changes in frequency and severity. The data were further evaluated using Anselin’s Local Moran’s I Statistic to elicit …

Agenda: Drafting Model Laws On Indoor Pollution For Developing And Developed Nations, University Of Colorado Boulder. Center For Energy & Environmental Security, Colorado Natural Resources, Energy And Environmental Law Review

Drafting Model Laws on Indoor Pollution for Developing and Developed Nations (July 12-13)

On July 12 and 13, 2012, experts convened at Colorado Law to demonstrate the extent to which a model law could help address the global problem of indoor air pollution from inefficient cook stoves. The air pollution that results from inefficiently burning biomass as fuel for cooking has serious health and climatic consequences. The workshop produced two sets of Model Laws and commentaries to help nations solve the problem, and the commentaries were published in the Colorado Natural Resources, Energy, and Environmental Law Review.

Drafting Model Laws On Indoor Pollution For Developing And Developed Nations Workshop, July 12-13, 2012, Boulder, Colorado: Introduction, Lakshman Guruswamy

Drafting Model Laws on Indoor Pollution for Developing and Developed Nations (July 12-13)

11 pages.

"This Essay introduces the framework for deliberation and legislative drafting undertaken at the workshop: Drafting Model Laws on Indoor Pollution for Developing and Developed Nations on July 12-13, 2012, in Boulder, Colorado. There are a number of fundamental premises upon which the workshop was based, and this Essay refers to the most salient among them."-- Excerpted from 24 Colo. Nat. Resources, Energy & Envtl. L. Rev. 319 (2013).

Estimation Of Nox Emissions From Delhi Using Car Max-Doas Observations And Comparison With Omi Satellite Data, R. Shaiganfar, S. Beirle, Manish Sharma, A. Chauhan, Ramesh P. Singh, T. Wagner

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

We present the first Multi-Axis-(MAX-) DOAS observations in India performed during April 2010 and January 2011 in Delhi and nearby regions. The MAX-DOAS instrument was mounted on a car roof, which allowed us to perform measurements along individual driving routes. From car MAX-DOAS observations along closed circles around Delhi, together with information on wind speed and direction, the NOx emissions from the greater Delhi area were determined: our estimate of 4.4 x 10(25) molecules s(-1) is found to be slightly lower than the corresponding emission estimates using the EDGAR emission inventory and substantially smaller compared to a recent study by …

Agenda: 2010 World Energy Justice Conference: Emerging Solutions For The Energy Poor: Technological, Entrepreneurial And Institutional Challenges, University Of Colorado Boulder. Center For Energy & Environmental Security, Colorado Journal Of International Environmental Law And Policy

2010 World Energy Justice Conference (November 5)

This conference is a sequel to the 2009 World Energy Justice Conference (WEJC 2009) which began examining ways of mainstreaming safe, clean, and efficient energy for the world's Energy Poor (EP). The EP number two and a half billion people living on less than $1-2 a day who have no access to modern energy services. WEJC 2010 more fully develops these themes. WEJC 2010 will explore how the next round of global warming meetings in Cancun could design new flexibility mechanisms that give credits, for example, for the reduction of black carbon by the adoption of cookstoves, and embrace small …

Slides: Threats To Biological Diversity: Global, Continental, Local, J. Michael Scott

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: J. Michael Scott, U.S. Geological Survey, Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Idaho

38 slides

Climate Justice: The Next Movement [Outline], Richard J. Lazarus

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

Presenter: Richard J. Lazarus, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

2 pages.

Influences Of Winter Haze On Fog/Low Cloud Over The Indo-Gangetic Plains, Ritesh Gautam, N. C. Hsu, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The aerosol loading in south Asia has increased considerably because of the growing population, urbanization, and industrialization in recent years. To understand the effects of aerosols on cloud properties in this region, we have analyzed an extensive collection of aerosol and cloud properties, obtained from the Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, over the Indian subcontinent during winter 2000–2006. During these winter months, the Indo-Gangetic (IG) plains, in the northern part of India, are subjected to dense haze and fog on the basis of MODIS climatology of aerosol optical depth and cloud properties (cloud effective radius, cloud top pressure, and …