News and Articles

The report attempts drought characterization in arid and semi-arid climatic regions of India. Drought frequency and intensity are a function of the dimensionless climatic parameter derived as a ratio of mean annual potential evapotranspiration to mean annual precipitation (Ep/Pa).

The report presents a study on the Sagar lake wherein the various water balance components like inputs and outputs have been quantified to visualize the influence of these parameters on the storage changes. Lakes play an important role in shaping the hydrological, ecological and environmental balance of the region by developing the flora, fauna and habitation of the aquatic biota. Like other lakes, Sagar lake too faces manifold problems of siltation and deterioration of water quality, thus threatening its survival.

The report presents an inventory of water bodies in the State of Jammu & Kashmir in the Western Himalayan region prepared using satellite data of IRS-1A (standard FCC, scale 1:250000) for 1988/ 99 and digital data of IRS-1C for 1998. Also, presented is a database developed with the help of Survey of India (SoI) topographic maps, which includes name and type of the water body, nearest place, district, river basin, geographical coordinates and elevation.

The report presents the status of the sediment studies carried out in the lower as well as higher altitude region of the Garhwal Himalayas. The processes associated with sediment production in the mountainous region have been described with an emphasis on the glaciarized region. Suspended sediment concentration and load observed in the Dokraini glacier melt stream near its snout has been computed.

In this study, regional flood frequency relationships have been developed using L-moments for South Bihar, in the alluvial plains of Indo-Gangetic basin and Kaimur-Chhotanagpur Santhal Pargana plateau. The annual maximum peak flood data of twenty-two gauging sites whose catchment areas vary from 11.7 to 3171 sqkm have been used. The mean annual peak floods of these sites vary from 29.15 cumec to 1293.2 cumec. Comparative regional flood frequency analysis studies have been carried out using some of the commonly used frequency distributions viz Extreme Value (EV1), General Extreme Value (GEV), Normal, Log Pareto (GPA) and Wakeby based on L-moments approach.

In this study, the mathematical model developed at the National Institute of Hydrology for estimation of the Clark model parameters using the geomorphological characteristics of an ungauged basin has been applied for simulation of the direct surface runoff (DSRO) hydrographs of the Ajay basin up to the Sarath gauging site of South Bihar.

In this study, a two dimensional numerical model in the vertical plane for simulating miscible transport of saltwater in a coastal aquifer has been developed. In order to simulate the variable density flow, the governing partial differential equation of flow and solute transport has been written in terms of pressure and concentration respectively.

Floods are common in most parts of India particularly during the monsoon season. Flood control and mitigation involves flood plain mapping, zoning, insuring and warning systems as floods cannot be avoided. These measures minimize damage and loss in terms of life and property. In this regard real-time data based decision supports systems (DSS) are crucial for effective flood management.

The Soil Conservation Services Curve Number (SCS-CN) method presented in this report has been applied to two large catchments in sub-humid regions of India and its performance evaluated. The variation of the curve number is examined and discussed and a critical evaluation of the employment of the single linear reservoir routing technique and linear regression technique presented.

This report is a compilation of the status of natural resources as well as of the hydrological problems & constraints being faced in the Kandi belt of Jammu region of Jammu & Kashmir. Suitable actions and methods are recommended to tackle these problems in the study area.