Near real-time estimation of soil loss from river catchments is crucial for minimizing environmental degradation of complex river basins. The Chenab river is one of the most complex river basins of the world and is facing severe soil loss due to extreme hydrometeorological conditions, unpredictable hydrologic response, and complex orography. Resultantly, huge soil erosion and sediment yield (SY) not only cause irreversible environmental degradation in the Chenab river catchment but also deteriorate the downstream water resources. In this study, potential soil erosion (PSE) is estimated from the transboundary Chenab river catchment using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), coupled with remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS). Land Use of the European Space Agency (ESA), Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS) data, and world soil map of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization were incorporated into the study. The SY was estimated on monthly, quarterly, seasonal, and annual time-scales using sediment delivery ratio (SDR) estimated through the area, slope, and curve number (CN)-based approaches. The 30-year average PSE from the Chenab river catchment was estimated as 177.8, 61.5, 310.3, 39.5, 26.9, 47.1, and 99.1 tons/ha for annual, rabi, kharif, fall, winter, spring, and summer time scales, respectively. The 30-year average annual SY from the Chenab river catchment was estimated as 4.086, 6.163, and 7.502 million tons based on area, slope, and CN approaches. The time series trends analysis of SY indicated an increase of 0.0895, 0.1387, and 0.1698 million tons per year for area, slope, and CN-based approaches, respectively. It is recommended that the areas, except for slight erosion intensity, should be focused on framing strategies for control and mitigation of soil erosion in the Chenab river catchment.

Thermo-mechanical loads induce stresses in photovoltaic (PV) modules, leading to crack formation.In this context, the understanding of module's thermo-mechanical behavior is important. To investigate the thermo-mechanical behavior of smart wire connected technology (SWCT) and busbar PV modules throughout their entire life, the present study is conducted that probes the stress distribution and deformation during production, transportation, and subsequent mechanical and thermal loading stages in a consecutive step-by-step manner using finite element modelling approach.Pre-stresses and non-linearities are considered in simulation models. Stresses and displacements experienced by different parts/layers are examined, and crack sensitive regions are identified. In addition, the SWCT and busbar modules are compared, and it is found that SWCT interconnection is relatively a less stress inducing process and less susceptible to thermal and dynamic affects. During production stage, stresses of 39.3 MPa and 40.4 MPa are generated in SWCT cells and copper wires ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 2 respectively; while, stresses of 60 MPa and 87 MPa are generated in busbar cells and busbar respectively. Similarly, lower stresses are induced in SWCT PV modules during subsequent stages.The comparison results show advantages of SWCT module in terms of mechanical stability which can lead to improve the performance and reliability of PV modules.

The Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) is a useful tool for evaluating irrigation scheduling and achieving water conservation and crop yield goals. This study examined the CWSI under different water stress conditions for the scheduling of wheat crop irrigation and developed indices using the leaf canopy temperature in Faisalabad, Pakistan. The experiments were conducted using a randomized, complete block design and four irrigation treatments with deficit levels of D0%, D20%, and D40% from the field capacity (FC) and D100% (100% deficit level). The CWSI was determined at pre-heading and post-heading stages through the lower baseline (fully watered crop) and upper limit (maximum stress). These baselines were computed using the air temperature and canopy temperature of plant leaves and the vapor pressure deficit (VPD). The CWSI for each irrigation treatment was calculated and the average seasonal CWSI value for the whole season was used to develop the empirical relationships for scheduling irrigation. The relationships between the air canopy temperatures and the VPD resulted in slope (x) = −0.735 and interception (c) = −0.8731 as well as x = −0.5143 and c = −1.273 at the pre- and post-heading stages, respectively. The values of the CWSI for the treatment at deficit levels of Do%, D20%, D40%, and D100% were found to be 0.08, 0.61, 0.20, and 0.64, respectively. The CWSI values developed in this study can be effectively used to promote better the monitoring of irrigated wheat crops in the region.

The live water storage of the reservoirs is decreasing by the sedimentation, which is affecting the reservoir’s capacity and cause a severe problem for the irrigation system at the downstream side. Floods occur at the downstream by the poor management at upstream due to the heavy rainfall and snow melting. For annual accumulations of sediment load and estimation of the peak flow at Tarbela reservoir near Besham Qila station having area of 170,000 km2 was selected. Estimation of the peak flow and sediment yield at the Tarbela reservoir, SWAT (distributed hydrological model) was used. The expected decrease in reservoir storage capacity was also estimated with the SWAT model. For runoff modelling, calibration was done for three years (2004-2006) and validation was also done for three years (2007-2009). Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) and Standard Error of Estimate existed the statistical indices to evaluate the results. Coefficient of determination (R2) was found as 0.75 for the calibration period and 0.80 for the validation. Whereas, NSE for calibration was observed 0.69 and 0.70 for the validation. Monthly mean sediment yield was about 0.13 BCM estimated at the Tarbela reservoir near Besham Qila.