Geography - Research Publications

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    Uncovering the hydro-meteorological drivers responsible for forest fires utilizing geospatial techniques
    (Springer, 2023-05-29T00:00:00) Gupta, Saurabh Kumar; Kanga, Shruti; Meraj, Gowhar; Kumar, Pankaj; Singh, Suraj Kumar
    Forest fires have become a growing concern worldwide, with climate change exacerbating their frequency and intensity. In the Simlipal region of India, forest fires are relatively rare; however, in 2021, significant damage occurred in the buffer area�s forests. Understanding the driving factors behind these events is essential for developing effective management strategies. This study investigates the impact of hydro-meteorological conditions on forest fire causes in the Simlipal region by analyzing Terra climatic data and geo-statistics for the period of 1984 to 2021. Long-term trends were determined using non-parametric tests on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud computing platform. Our findings reveal that the maximum burned area location has a decreasing trend in Land Surface Temperature (LST), with a small portion (<10%) showing an increasing trend (0.02 �C/year) near burned locations. Wind speed is decreasing at a rate of ?0.006 m/s/year. The sudden forest fires are caused by the combined effect of increasing LST and decreasing wind speed in some areas (<10% of the region). However, the major factor contributing to forest fires in the entire area is the rising trend of annual potential water deficit and actual evapotranspiration, as well as an increasing trend of minimum temperature. The soil moisture deficit during the summer season, especially between 2012 and 2021, contributed to forest fires in the burned area. The soil moisture deficit during the summer season, particularly from 2012 to 2021, played a significant role in the occurrence of forest fires in the affected area. The study emphasized the need for increased attention to this region in order to preserve biodiversity, which was assessed through an analysis of burned severity mapping in GEE (Google Earth Engine). These findings have important implications for future forest management strategies in the Simlipal region. Climate variability is likely to exacerbate the frequency and intensity of forest fires in the region, necessitating effective management strategies to mitigate their impact. Such strategies could involve improving fire prevention and control measures, such as creating fire breaks and increasing the availability of fire-fighting equipment, as well as enhancing forest monitoring systems to detect potential fires early. Additionally, efforts to address climate change, proper management of land use practices, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions could help to mitigate the future impacts of forest fires in the Simlipal region and elsewhere. � 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.
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    Reconstruction of post-little ice age glacier recession in the Lahaul Himalaya, north-west India
    (Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2022-12-13T00:00:00) Deswal, Sanjay; Sharma, Milap Chand; Saini, Rakesh; Chand, Pritam; Prakash, Satya; Kumar, Pawan; Barr, Iestyn David; Latief, Syed Umer; Dalal, Padma; Bahuguna, I.M.
    Understanding past glaciation and deglaciation is vital for assessing present-day glacier dynamics and response to climate change. We focus on reconstructing past glacier fluctuations in Lahaul, north-west India, a region located between arid Ladakh and the humid the Pir-Panjal range. We focus specifically on six glaciers in the Miyar and Thirot catchments of varying size, aspect and debris cover. To reconstruct past terminus fluctuations of these glaciers, we used repeat terrestrial photography and historical archives as data sets and mapped the terminus positions and latero-terminal moraines in the field along with glacier terminus mapping from high to medium resolution satellite images (e.g. Corona, Hexagon, Landsat and LISS IV). Results show that since the little ice age, all the studied glaciers have experienced terminus retreat and area loss, with average values of 1.46 and 0.9 km2, respectively. Precipitation data show a statistically significant decreasing trend during the last century with an increasing trend in annual average maximum (T max) and minimum (T min) temperature. This warming trend is more statistically significant for T min. Although total ice loss at the six studied glaciers is considerable (5.48 km2), this varies both spatially (i.e. from glacier to glacier) and temporally. We attribute this variability to topographic controls such as glacier hypsometry and another non-climatic factor, i.e. varying degree of debris cover. � 2022 Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography.