[1] In this paper we report the evidence of a low-dimensional chaos in a set of data observed outside laboratories. The dynamic behavior of the time series of the fluctuations of the total electron content (TEC) measured at Goose Bay, which is a high-latitude station, is analyzed in detail using the tools of nonlinear dynamics. The low-dimensional character of the dynamics is evident from the estimated value of the fraction of false neighbors for various dimensions and the correlation dimension. The deterministic nature of the dynamics is investigated using recurrence plots and spatiotemporal entropy. The chaotic nature of the underlying dynamics of the fluctuations of TEC is shown by the power spectrum indicating exponential decay and the calculated positive value of Lyapunov exponent. This is also supported by the results of the comparison of the chaotic characteristics of the time series of variations of TEC with the pseudochaotic characteristic of the colored noise time series. The results of the tests based on the prediction error and the time reversal asymmetry statistic reject the hypothesis that TEC belongs to the family of linear stochastic signals. The nonlinear non-Gaussian nature of the oscillations of variations of TEC is further investigated by the surrogate data test based on several geometrical and dynamical characteristics of the variations of TEC such as mutual information, the fraction of the false nearest neighbours, the local slopes of the correlation sums, the curves giving Lyapunov exponents, and finally, the value of Lyapunov exponents. The results of this analysis show that low-dimensional chaotic dynamics could be a possible and fruitful concept which can be utilized to study the disturbance in the ionosphere as in the case of magnetospheric dynamics. We feel that the dynamical invariants like Lyapunov exponents and correlation dimension can describe the disturbance in the variations of TEC and thus the disturbance in the ionosphere. Hence the techniques of nonlinear and chaos theory and the measure of the dynamical invariants could be used for the characterization and thus for the modeling of variations of the total electron content.

Continuous observation data collected over the year 2008 at Astronomical Observatory, Thiruvananthapuram in south Kerala (76 • 59 E longitude and 8 • 30 N latitude) are used to study the diurnal, monthly and seasonal soil moisture variations. The effect of rainfall on diurnal and seasonal soil moisture is discussed. We have investigated relationships of soil moisture with surface albedo and soil thermal diffusivity. The diurnal variation of surface albedo appears as a U-shaped curve on sunny days. Surface albedo decreases with the increase of solar elevation angle, and it tends to be a constant when solar elevation angle is greater than 40 • . So the daily average surface albedo was calculated using the data when solar elevation angle is greater than 40 • . The results indicate that the mean daily surface albedo decreases with increases in soil moisture content, showing a typical exponential relation between the surface albedo and the soil moisture. Soil thermal diffusivity increases firstly and then decreases with the increase of soil moisture.

Soil moisture is an important parameter of the earth's climate system. Regression model for estimation of soil moisture at various depths has been developed using the amount of moisture near the surface layer. The estimated values of soil moisture are tested with the measured moisture values and it is found that the estimations are comparable with the observations. The variation of soil thermal properties with the amount of moisture in isohyperthermic ultisols has been investigated at a tropical site in south Kerala for the year 2008. The soil temperatures at 0.05, 0.10, 0.20, 0.30, and 0.50 m depths and soil moisture at 0.05 and 0.10 m are measured using the hydrometeorological data acquisition system installed at the observational site. For soil water contents ranging between 11 and 42% in the soil layer of depth 0.05-0.10 m, the mean values of the heat capacity, thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity, and thermal admittance obtained were 2.

Half hourly data of soil moisture content, soil temperature, solar irradiance, and reflectance are measured during April 2010 to March 2011 at a tropical station, viz., Astronomical Observatory, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India (76 • 59'E longitude and 8 • 29'N latitude). The monthly, seasonal and seasonal mean diurnal variation of soil moisture content is analyzed in detail and is correlated with the rainfall measured at the same site during the period of study. The large variability in the soil moisture content is attributed to the rainfall during all the seasons and also to the evaporation/movement of water to deeper layers. The relationship of surface albedo on soil moisture content on different time scales are studied and the influence of solar elevation angle and cloud cover are also investigated. Surface albedo is found to fall exponentially with increase in soil moisture content. Soil thermal diffusivity and soil thermal conductivity are also estimated from the subsoil temperature profile. Log normal dependence of thermal diffusivity and power law dependence of thermal conductivity on soil moisture content are confirmed.