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Population an land cover dinamics of Sundarbans impact zone is Bangladesh
1-13Views:471Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest of the world that lies in Bangladesh and India. This paper examined the correlation among population dynamics of Sundarbans impact zone (SIZ) from 1974 to 2011; impact of climate change on the forest; and changes in land cover of the forest from 1973 to 2010. Population size of SIZ was increased by 1.6 times between 1974 and 2011, whereas decreased by 2% during 2001 to 2011. During 1973 to 2010, water bodies, barren land and vegetated land reduced by 7.35%, 49.56% and 15.92% respectively; while grass land increased by 228.14% during the same period. But both population size and vegetated land declined during 2001 and 2011. This was due to the landfall of two severe cyclones in 2007 and 2009 through Sundarbans which resulted thousands of human casualties and out migration, and destruction of the forest. In addition, anthropogenic interventions like low flow from Ganges River and policy constraints also contributed to the demolition of Sundarbans. Thus, population growth, climate change and anthropogenic interventions are playing a decisive role to the depletion of forest resources from the Sundarbans mangrove forest.
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Urbanization induced land use/land cover change and its impact on land surface temperature in Bhubaneshwar city, India
43-62Views:345The study was conducted in Bhubaneswar City, the capital of the Indian state of Odisha. The impact of the increase in surface temperature on the city was studied by retrieving LST, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDBI) values of Bhubaneswar using Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 data for 2001, 2011, and 2021. The surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect was also studied to identify temperature changes and hotspots in the city. There was a rise of 3.93℃ and 1.55℃ in the maximum and minimum LST in Bhubaneshwar city from 2001 to 2021. The heating effect of the built-up and cooling effect of vegetation was ascertained through correlation analysis between LST and NDBI (positive) and between LST and NDVI (negative). The results of this study will help the government and urban planners to identify heat stress and vulnerable areas, thereby contributing to better monitoring and future planning of the city. Thus, this will lead to efficient heat strategies and action plans such as developing green spaces in and around the city.
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Quantitative Morphometric Analysis of Streams in Extreme Humid Areas: A Case Study of the Um-Mawiong River Basin, Mawsynram, Meghalaya
59-75Views:269Quantitative morphometric analysis of the drainage system is essential to characterising a watershed, as all the hydrologic and geomorphic processes occur within the watershed. Consequently, this plays a crucial role in understanding the geo-hydrological attributes of a drainage basin to the terrain feature and its flow patterns, thus enabling the estimate of the incidence of infiltration and runoff and other related hydrological characteristics of a watershed, which strongly impacts natural resource conservation. The study area selected is the Um-Mawiong River basin in Mawsynram, Meghalaya. The basin shows a dendritic pattern that highlights the homogeneity in the texture of the basin. Results suggest that the stream frequency of the basin is 19.10 km², suggesting a faster surface runoff and less infiltration. In addition, it has an Elongation ratio of 0.75 indicating an elongated basin shape. The current study demonstrates that the implementations of GIS techniques are trustworthy, efficient, and capable of managing extensive databases for managing river basins. The present study tries to analyse the linear, areal and relief aspects of the basin using a GIS environment and manipulated for different calculations. The analysis reveals that the total number of stream segments and length are maximum in first-order streams and decrease as stream order increases. The drainage density exhibits a high degree of positive correlation, i.e., 0.87, with its frequency suggesting an increase in stream population concerning increasing drainage density and vice versa.
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Analysis of Climate Variability and Agricultural Productivity in Mizoram, Northeast India
53-64Views:554Mountainous regions are considered highly vulnerable to the affects of climate change. The extent of change and variability of climatic parameters is still unexamined in many remote mountainous areas. This paper aims in understanding the change in pattern of rainfall and temperature for a period of 30 years in Mizoram. The analysis of time series changing trend in climatic variables is carried out by using Coefficient of Variation (CV), Mann-Kendall (M-K) and Sen’s Slope estimator. The analysis reveals that high variation is observed for both the variables in all the decadal, three decadal and seasonal change. The CV analysis shows that the highest seasonal rainfall variation occurs during winter and the highest seasonal temperature variation occurs during spring. Mann-Kendall test shows a significant change in rainfall with November showing the highest negative trend of rainfall. The temperature trend analysis in the study also reveals drastic change of temperature. An understanding of climatic change, trend and variability helps in predicting for better natural resources from the susceptibility of climate change.
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Above ground forest biomass distribution in the landscape of Jorhat, Assam, India
16-31Views:38This study aims to analyze the spatial and temporal variations in above-ground biomass (AGB) within the Jorhat region from 2001 to 2023. It also highlights the impacts of urbanization, physiographic characteristics, and soil types on AGB variation. In order to accurately assess landscape-level variation of biomass, a combination of field surveys, remote sensing techniques, and modelling approaches are employed in this study. Biomass estimation is difficult over large area using traditional method. The synoptic nature of satellite-based data improves the monitoring of inaccessible areas. Results show approximately 16.6% decrease in AGB, with urban and peripheral areas experiencing the most notable declines due to reduced forest cover. Physiographic analysis reveals low AGB values in marshes (13 t/ha), swamps (14 t/ha), and char lands (25 t/ha). The growth of trees is suppressed seasonal flooding in this physiography. Additionally, AGB follows an increasing trend from North to South, in alignment with the region’s elevation profile. Soils also exhibit variations in AGB, with alluvial soils supporting higher biomass compared to other soil types. Key ecological linkages and spatial patterns are highlighted in this study, laying the groundwork for more proactive and comprehensive environmental management. Finally, in a time of fast environmental change, these insights can assist stakeholders and policymakers
in creating more evidence-based, flexible solutions to protect ecosystems.