Journal of Climate Change

Land surface temperature (LST) is one of the important factors in the physics of land surface processes to ensure the temperature change in the environment. Sumatra is one of the biggest islands in Indonesia that is suffering from deforestation. The objective of this study was to determine LST changes in Sumatra Island from 2000-2019. LST-day data for each region of Sumatra island were analyzed with cubic spline to see the seasonal pattern and get the LST changing value. The highest LST-day change was in the central region of Sumatra Island which was 0.3842 °C/decade (Z: 8.51, 95% CI: 0.296, 0.473). The lowest LST-day change was in the central north region of Sumatra Island which was –0.1574 °C/decade (Z: –3.022, 95% CI: –0.2596, –0.055). The overall LST-day change was 0.1621 °C/decade (Z: –3.022, 95% CI: –0.2596, –0.055).

Rainfall is one of the most important climatic components for Bangladesh. This study is an attempt to evaluate the spatial and temporal changing pattern of rainfall in all over the country. The analysis is based on the rainfall variations over 27 meteorological stations of Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD). Time series statistical tests were applied to examine the annual and seasonal trends for rainfall during the period of 1975–2013 respectively. The nonparametric Mann Kendall test was used to determine whether there was a positive or negative trend in rainfall data with their statistical significance and the Theil-Sen estimator was used to determine the trend magnitude. Overall the rainfall pattern showed a declining trend both annually and seasonally. Apart from the post-monsoon, rainfall had been decreased in all other seasons in most parts of the country. Comparatively the declining trend is higher in the north and northeastern regions. Increase of rainfall had only been observed in southeastern part of the country.

The present study examines the arsenic associated human health risk in Sri Lanka with due consideration to age and gender vulnerability. While the existing low-grade metamorphic rock carries less possibility of arsenic contamination, the usage of old generation arsenical pesticides may increase the future possibility of a catastrophe. Through a comprehensive Health Risk Index (HRI) it could be seen that the north part of the country carries higher risk for children below eight years of age to develop cancer in long run. Interestingly rainfall pattern correlates with arsenic vulnerable zones, denoting that high monsoon led recharge may prevent rapid anthropogenic fluctuations in anoxic zones thereby preventing vigorous formation of oxy-hydroxides. However, the possibility of sea-water intrusion due to excessive groundwater abstraction may change the major-ion chemistry soon which may impact the co-occurrence scenario of arsenic and fluoride. In this regard the study identifies the wetter regions and their shift from 1981 to 2018 to propose a more stable groundwater regime in terms of sea water intrusion. There exist few scientific literatures concerning the occurrence of arsenic in the groundwater of Sri Lanka but there exists no framework to provide a meaningful interpretation by combining all the available research outputs. The present study therefore provides a basis for understanding the existing groundwater arsenic contamination of Sri Lanka by providing a scientific framework to the studies done so far by various researchers in the past 30 years.

A continuous 3.6 m thick core from the water logged Dewar Lake at Chamoli (Uttarakhand) was retrieved to study its depositional history. The base of the sediment core is dated as ca. 30 ka BP. Based on the variation in the grain-size percentage, the core is dominated by silt over clay and sand. With a mean grain size of 5.38φ, the sediment shows very poor sorting, finely to symmetrically skewed and mesokurtic to leptokurtic kurtosis. Variation in the textural parameters throughout the core suggests climatically influenced deposition, hence five major litho-facies are reflected in the sediment core. During the phase 1, the lake water column was perhaps decreased gradually incorporating more silt to the lake through the presence of finer silt laminations indicating required energy conditions. The phase 2 is represented by somewhat raised water level compared to the phase 1. The minimum depth achieved by the lake is exposed in facies 1. The phase 3 shows fluctuating energy conditions, whereas, phase 4 reveals stable and high energy conditions. The litho-facies 5 shows the change in climatic conditions from humid to arid.

The subsurface sediment archives provide clues to the past climate of the Earth. To reconstruct the paleoclimate of Lower Baitarani Basin, a 1000 cm deep sediment core (JP) was collected from the flood plain located in Jhumpuri village of Jajpur, Odisha. A total number of eleven distinct layers were identified based on variations in the sediment colour and textural at varying depths. From each layer, a representative sample was collected and carried to the laboratory for further assessment. Each of these sub-samples was examined for particle size analysis, availability of total organic carbon (TOC), and elemental concentration. The physical and geochemical proxies as paleoproductivity, terrestrial flux, weathering, level of salinity, colour, and texture variations were utilised to examine the paleoclimate of the area. The colour variations of the subsurface sequences suggest that the deposition has occurred under both freshwater and stagnated/marshy conditions. The texture variations—clay, silty clay, and loamy fine sand—also indicate deviations in sediment supply and rate of sediment aggradation during climatic shift between warm-humid and cold-arid episodes.

With the help of geochemical proxies to illustrate the terrestrial flux: Fe₂O₃, Al₂O₃, TiO₂, MgO, CaO, Cu, Co, Ba, and Zn; paleoproductivity: TOC,CaO/Al₂O₃, Zn/Al₂O₃,Sr/Al₂O₃, Cu/Al₂O₃, and Ba/Al₂O₃; weathering: Fe₂O₃/Al₂O₃, TiO₂/Al₂O₃, and MgO/Al₂O₃; and the salinity index, a relatively cold-dry climate is inferred during the sedimentation of basal layers. Subsequently, a shift to the relatively warm-humid phase is suggested which again was followed by a cold-dry, and warm-humid phases. In the recent deposits, the proxies have not shown any considerable variation indicating prolongation of the existing warm-humid phase. However, some indications of a climatic shift to colder climate is also marked in the surface layer (JPL1).

Urban development and climate change are closely related. The concepts of resilience and urban ecological resilience have been proposed to mitigate and adapt to these negative impacts. In this research, urban ecological resilience, and especially, climate resilience, are considered.

Urban green infrastructure has been shown to be effective in reducing the effects of climate change in cities and enhancing the climate resilience. One of the greatest impacts of climate change can be found in cities, and especially, in neighbourhoods. It is necessary to provide solutions in the neighbourhood scale for dealing with the climate change.

This research attempts to answer the general question of: how to achieve a climate resilient neighbourhood, by studying and analyzing the existing urban green infrastructure. The overall objectives of this research include the investigation of the impact of quality, quantity and location of urban green infrastructure and their effect on climate resilience in neighbourhoods, finding and expanding the intervention principles, finding the strategies of adaptation to climate change in relation to green infrastructure and their impact on urban climate resilience and development of the ‘climate’ aspect of resilience through green infrastructure in the neighbourhood scale.

A qualitative-quantitative method was used here on Yousef Abad neighbourhood of Tehran, in Iran. Base and analytical maps were produced with GIS based on aerial photos and the data gathered from field survey. Finally a method of intervening in existing UGI to improve climate resilient in neighbourhoods, was defined in dry areas.

Climate change poses a serious threat worldwide including increase in temperature particularly in tropical countries and our country India is no exception to it. It has been also reported that the work performance of the human resources is also affected particularly those who were exposed to outdoor working environment. In this backdrop, the present study has been undertaken to assess the physiological strain in male food crop cultivators (age range 24-36 years) occupationally engaged in reaping tasks during food crop cultivation. Physical and physiological parameters are also recorded. Indicators of thermal environmental condition i.e. dry bulb temperature, and wet bulb temperature are also recorded during the working time. Results of the present study indicated unfavourable working environmental condition making the task more arduous for the human resources engaged in reaping task during ‘Boro’ type of paddy cultivation time as indicated from the indices of physiological strain.