Journal of Climate Change - Volume 2, issue 1

Authors: Tri, Doan Quang | Tuyet, Quach Thi Thanh

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Climate change and global warming are expected to have significant effects on water resources planning and management, especially in estuary areas. One-dimensional model was established and applied to the Ca River Basin. The model was calibrated and validated with available hydrographical measured data in 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000. The results of calibration and validation water level showed a high conformity about phase and water amplitude between calculated and observed data. The effect of global warming on salinity intrusion in estuarine areas was simulated in this study. The results of current state scenario (2010) and climate change scenario in 2030, …2050 and 2100 showed an overall effect of salinity intrusion process on precipitation and sea level rise. The distance of salinity intrusion in the river is increasing and this could be detrimental to the economic development, especially for the agriculture sector. The rise in sea level due to global warming will not significantly affect the situation of salinity intrusion for Ca River in 2030. However, comparing the results of scenario (2100) and the current state scenario (2010), the impact on salinity intrusion process in the Lam-Ca River system is found to be significant. Show more

Keywords: Hydrodynamic, Advection-dispersion, Salinity intrusion, Climate change, Ca River

DOI: 10.3233/JCC-160010

Citation: Journal of Climate Change, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 91-101, 2016

Authors: Bakke, Jostein | Vasskog, Kristian | Ramanathan, AL. | Mandal, Arindan | Kumar, Om | Nesje, Atle

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Here we present the first results from the project “Water Related Effects of Changes in Glacier Mass balance and River Runoff in Western Himalaya, India: Past, Present and Future” (GLACINDIA) project, aiming to reconstruct Holocene glacier variability as documented through physical sediment properties analysed on sediments from the former distal glacier-fed lake Chandra Tal (4300 m a.s.l.) combined with direct dating of marginal moraines using cosmogenic isotopes proximal to Chandra Tal and in front of the glaciers Batal and Chhota Shigri, located in Himachal Pradesh, western Himalaya, India. GLACINDIA is a multi-disciplinary project and unique, not only due to the …participating institutions bringing together scientists from Norway and India, but also for the logistical challenges and the state-of-the-art science. In this particular case, we aim for detailed reconstructions of past glacier activity over the Holocene time scale (last ~11,700 years) emphasising different sediment parameters by means of statistical methods as well as integrating chronological uncertainties along with uncertainties of reconstructed glacier variability. We also aim to do oxygen isotope measurements on the pore water in addition to extracting lipids for leaf wax analysis in the sediment cores. A multi-proxy data set of lake sediments consisting of sedimentological, physical and geochemical analyses reflects all types of processes in the lake catchment that delivers sediments to the lake. By means of principal component analysis (PCA), it is possible to extract the main process(es) driving the sediment variability in distal glacier-fed lakes. The common signal extracted from the sediment data is indicative of the main process in the catchment and is interpreted to vary in concert with the changing glacier equilibrium-line altitude over the region. Lake Chandra Tal has, based on earlier retrieved results from cosmogenic isotope dating, the potential to contain sediments deposited over the last 13,000 years, continuously deposited since the deglaciation after the glaciers retreated during the Late Glacial period. We, therefore, aim to do continuous reconstruction of climate with high temporal resolution for a better dynamical understanding of past climate. Understanding the controls of decadal, multi-decadal and century scale climate variability is crucial for many aspects of climate predictability. Climate reconstructions are important in order to validate Earth system modelling scenarios for the future; but there is at present a scarcity of consistent observational records from the Himalayas that can be used to understand and validate the existence of climate dynamics in this region. Show more

Keywords: Water tower, 13,000 years climate, Himalayas, Palaeo-glaciation, High altitude lakes, Sediment core

DOI: 10.3233/JCC-160011

Citation: Journal of Climate Change, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 103-112, 2016

Authors: Yadava, Madhusudan G. | Ramesh, Rengaswamy | Narayana, Allu C. | Jani, Rashmikant A.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: We report here the first δ18 O and δD measurements of cave drip water collected during 2007-2009 and 2011 CE from the Belum Cave, peninsular India. Stalagmites found here have a great potential for providing monsoon reconstruction for hundreds of thousands of years. Rain samples were also collected from the top of the Belum Cave from May 2010 to Jan 2011 CE; their δ18 O values indeed exhibit a significant negative correlation with the amount of rain recorded at a nearby (<10 km) meteorological station. Changes in δ18 O and δD values of drip water samples confirm that the cave …drip water do respond to the amount-dependent isotopic changes in local precipitation. The d -excess values of the rain water samples shift from ~10‰ during the initial phase to ~30‰ during the final phase of the southwest monsoon, indicating varying humidity at the surface boundary layer of the Northern Indian Ocean, and also a significant mixing of evapo-transpired vapour with the incoming marine vapour in the latter phase. Show more

Keywords: Belum cave, Drip water, Rainwater, Speleothem, Monsoon

DOI: 10.3233/JCC-160012

Citation: Journal of Climate Change, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 113-122, 2016