[1] Dispersive atmospherics (tweeks) observed during 2010 simultaneously at two low-latitude stations, Allahabad (geomagnetic latitude, 16.05 N) and Nainital (geomagnetic latitude, 20.48 N), have been used to estimate the nighttime D region electron density at the ionospheric reflection height under the local nighttime propagation (21:00-02:00 LT or 15:30-20:30 UT). The analysis of simultaneously recorded tweeks at both the stations on five international quiet days during one month each from summer (June), winter (January), and equinox (March)

We present a geochemical and Sr-Nd isotopic study on a sediment core collected from the Andaman Sea in an attempt to reconstruct the Late Quaternary weathering and erosion patterns in the watersheds of the river systems of Myanmar and understand their controlling factors. Age control is based on nine radiocarbon dates and d18 O stratigraphy. The rate of sedimentation was strongly controlled by fluctuations of the monsoon. We identify three major sediment provenances: (1) the Irrawaddy catchment, (2) the western slopes of the Indo-Burman-Arakan (IBA) mountain ranges and the Andaman Islands, and (3) the catchments of Salween and Sittang and the Bengal shelf, with the first two contributing 30-60% of the material. Enhanced contributions from juvenile sources and corresponding positive shifts of d 18 O are observed at seven time periods (11-14, 20-23, 36, 45, 53, 57, and 62 ka) of which five are synchronous with cooling of the northern hemisphere, suggesting a link between the changes in sediment provenances and the shifting of the locus of the summer monsoon, southward from the Himalayas, without substantial reduction in intensity. Our data, and that from other cores in the region suggest that an eastward moving surface current disperses sediments, derived from the Bengal shelf and western margin of Myanmar, from the eastern Bay of Bengal into the western Andaman Sea and that its strength has increased since the LGM. The existence of this current during the LGM implies that the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal were well connected during the last glacial period.

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Carbon paper electrodes are employed for different electrochemical applications such as flow batteries and fuel cells. However, redox reactions such as VO2+/VO2 + in a vanadium redox flow battery have been found to possess relatively slow kinetics, resulting in significant activation losses during operation. In this work, we demonstrate a facile and scalable method for nitrogen doping of carbon paper electrodes, leading to superior electrocatalytic activity. The effects of pyrolytic pretreatments under different conditions on the performance of carbon paper were also studied to elucidate their electrocatalytic activity from a material physics perspective, using Raman spectroscopy. The 2D Raman signature, a specific feature of the carbon structures, was employed to understand the effect of different pretreatments on the Fermi level of the carbon papers, which could help us elucidate their intrinsic electron transfer kinetics. The full wave half-maximum of the 2D Raman band and the intensity ratio I 2D/I G were used to indicate changes in the Fermi level relative to the untreated carbon paper, and hence the electrocatalytic properties, which were confirmed using voltammetric techniques. Although heating of carbon paper in air at around 500 °C (a widely used method for activating carbon paper electrodes) increases the surface area by about 16 times compared to untreated and nitrogen-doped carbon paper, the latter exhibits superior electrocatalytic property for VO2+/VO2 +, [Fe­(CN)6]3–/4–, and the oxygen reduction reaction. This study provides greater physical insights into different pretreatments in terms of the energy barrier at the interface, which will aid the pursuit for better carbon-based electrode materials and provide mechanistic details about charge transfer processes at the interface.

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The variability of ionospheric response to the total solar eclipse of 22 July 2009 has been studied analyzing the GPS data recorded at the four Indian low-latitude stations Varanasi (100% obscuration), Kanpur (95% obscuration), Hyderabad (84% obscuration) and Bangalore (72% obscuration). The retrieved ionospheric vertical total electron content (VTEC) shows a significant reduction (reflected by all PRNs (satellites) at all stations) with a maximum of 48% at Varanasi (PRN 14), which decreases to 30% at Bangalore (PRN 14). Data from PRN 31 show a maximum of 54% at Kanpur and 26% at Hyderabad. The maximum decrement in VTEC occurs some time (2–15 min) after the maximum obscuration. The reduction in VTEC compared to the quiet mean VTEC depends on latitude as well as longitude, which also depends on the location of the satellite with respect to the solar eclipse path. The amount of reduction in VTEC decreases as the present obscuration decreases, which is directly related to the electron production by the photoionization process. The analysis of electron density height profile derived from the COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere & Climate) satellite over the Indian region shows significant reduction from 100 km altitude up to 800 km altitude with a maximum of 48% at 360 km altitude. The oscillatory nature in total electron content data at all stations is observed with different wave periods lying between 40 and 120 min, which are attributed to gravity wave effects generated in the lower atmosphere during the total solar eclipse

Understanding the factors that control the variability of oxygen isotopic ratios (δ18O) of Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) rainfall (δ18Op) is of vital importance for the interpretation of δ18Op derived from climate proxies (e.g., speleothem and tree ring cellulose) of this region. Here we demonstrate the importance of moisture transport pathways on spatiotemporal variations of ISM δ18Op using a new set of daily observations from central and northern India and previously reported data aided by simulations from an isotope‐enabled General Circulation Model. 18O‐depleted rain events are characterized by a higher number of air parcel back trajectories through the Bay of Bengal branch of moisture transport, while those through the Arabian Sea branch are associated with 18O enriched rain events. This effect is observed on intraseasonal to interannual timescales in the long‐term observations at New Delhi as well. Thus, the shift in moisture transport regimes must be considered when interpreting δ 18Op from climate proxies of the ISM region.

, at Allahabad, a low-latitude station in the Indian sector, has been used to study seasonal occurrence which shows maximum tweek occurrence of about 63% during summer season and about 19% and 18% occurrences during equinox and winter seasons. Maximum occurrence of tweeks during summer season is consistent with the larger number of lightnings detected by World Wide Lightning Location Network in the Indian and Asia Oceania regions during summer as compared to that during equinox and winter. Seasonally, tweek (ionospheric) reflection height in the premidnight (18:00-00:00 LT) during winter is less as compared to that during equinox and summer. Annual (seasonal average) variation of the mean ionospheric reflection height shows a gradual increase in the reflection height from about 19:30 to 04:30 LT. The annual average of postmidnight (00:00-06:00 LT) reflection height is about 5 km higher as compared to that in the premidnight. Our initial results on the variability in the ionospheric reflection height under pure nighttime propagation (21:00-03:00 LT) on magnetically quiet days show a day-to-day variability of up to 8 km. Theoretically calculated attenuation of the Earth-ionosphere waveguide for first six tweek modes in the early and late night periods (21:00-00:00 LT; 00:00-03:00 LT) is less compared to that in the dusk (18:00-21:00 LT) period. The higher attenuation in the dusk period and most of the tweeks in the dawn period traveling partially under daytime conditions explain the lower occurrence of tweeks in these periods.