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Volume XVII |

Mapping spatial urban growth and land use change using geoinformatics technique in Varanasi District, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract: Urban growth is a worldwide phenomenon, but the rate of urbanization is very fast in developing countries like India. It is mainly driven by unorganized expansion, increased immigration, rapidly increasing population. In this context, land use and land cover change are considered central components in current strategies for managing natural resources and monitoring environmental changes. Uncontrolled momentum of urban sprawl and land use change raises many issues which might have both positive and negative effects. This sprawl can be effectively monitored using remotely sensed data from different dates by digital analysis of the imagery using change detection techniques. The present study aims to examine the change in urban sprawl, land use/land cover (LU/LC) over a time point and assesses the pattern of sprawl through GIS technique. The geographical area of Varanasi district is 1535 sq.km including 1,371.22 km² rural area and 163.78 km² urban area, its population is 3,676,841 persons in 2011. It consists of eight blocks namely Baragaon, Pindra, Cholapur, Chiraigaon, Harahua, Sevapuri, Arajiline and Kashi Vidyapeeth. The spatio-temporal study of LU/LC as well as settlement is carried out for two time points 1990 and 2016. The data source used for analysis is Landsat MSS and Landsat OLI. The analysis mainly focused the urban growth along with landuse/landcover changes using digital image processing techniques like Maximum Likelihood Classifier algorithm for Supervised Classification and NDVI vegetation index. The trend of sprawl is notably higher in the urban centers than in the revenue villages.

Volume XVII |

An evaluation of the human resources potential of the Western Region (Romania)

Abstract: The data analysed in the present study show that the human resources potential of the Western Region is limited in nature and characterised by disparities that are multidimensional from both the quantitative and the qualitative point of view. When we consider the region in terms of its administrative sub-units, we find areas that have human resources that are surplus to requirements but insufficiently developed and structurally unbalanced (Hunedoara county), others with high-quality but numerically limited human resources and with great potential for attracting them from other areas (Arad and Timiş counties) and a case of an area whose human resources are both insufficiently developed and deficient from a quantitative point of view (Caraş-Severin county).

Volume XVI |

Preliminary results in assessing flood-prone areas using UAS System within the Ozana River Upper Basin (the Eastern Carpathians)

Abstract: The UAV technique, and more recently UAS systems, play an ever important role in various domains of research and practical activities. The increase in number of publications focusing on their applicability is spectacular. The objective of this study is to highlight the efficiency of an integrated command-overflight-taking photo system, in an area with obvious problems related to hydric hazards and risks. The quasi-circular shape, the petrography of the upper Ozana basin, its orientation and its opening to the air masses predominantly movement direction, represent just a few of the reasons why it was chosen as the case study. Also, the settlements are displayed on the valleys thread, and this confluence has a remuu potential, in case of isolated rains in the two related subbasins. The UAV Phantom 4 quadcopter, the UAS system, the DroneDeploy application, the UAVPhoto application, the Visual-SFM application, the Daisy algorithm, the micro triangulation network (mesh), the work surface textures, a hyper-resolution of orthophotoplan, DSM model with a 5 cm resolution etc. are the technical elements that made modelling at a very high detail possible. The probability flow rates that were used, were provided by the two hydrometric stations located very close to the study area. Theywere calculated using professional applications approved at the national gauging network level, using the established Krițki-Menkel and Pearson III statistical distributions. The cross-section profiles was performed in the 10.x ArcMap module, using the 3D Analyst extension, and the hydraulic calculation to obtain the average velocity was done using the Manning equation; subsequently, the floodable surfaces was delineated on these profiles. Using the same ESRI module, the flood prone area polygon interpolation and it overlapping over the terrain model and over the orthophotomap were achieved. Paradoxically, the analysis of the results indicates a low degree of the anthropogenic habitat damage, but this aspect is due, in large measure, to the intervention of technical teams in the recalibration of the minor riverbed, massively clogged by alluvial transport.

Volume XVI |

Assessment of groundwater quality and its suitability for irrigation in Dindigul Corporation of Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: The Habitat Directive (HD) is the main strategy for nature The main aim of the study is to evaluate ground water quality suitable for irrigation purpose in Dindigul Corporation, Tamil Nadu, India. Within the study area 30 water samples were collected to determine the physical and chemical parameters. Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR), Sodium percentage (SP), Potential Salinity (PS), Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC), Kelly’s Ratio and Soluble Sodium Percent (SSP) have been determined to analyze the irrigation water quality. The analysis results reveal that SAR value indicates 84% of excellent, 13% of good and 3% of unsuitable water category. Based on sodium percent, only 10% are good, 50% are permissible and 40% are unsuitable for irrigation. Based on PS and RSC ratio about 97% comes under unsuitable category and 3% are suitable water for irrigation. Kelly’s Ratio and SSP values indicate 27% of good quality and 73% are unsuitable irrigation water. The high concentration of salinity was found in the western part of the study area. The results show that most of the samples are not suitable for irrigation.

Volume XVI |

Monitoring drought status using precipitation factor: a case study of Jaisalmer Meteorological Station in Raja-sthan, India

Abstract: Drought is a climatic phenomenon induced by a deficiency in moisture due to the decrease in precipitation amount over of a region for a given time period. Thus for evaluating drought, long-time data series are necessary. In the present study on the basis of precipitation amounts registered at Jaisalmer station in Rajasthan state India, meteorological drought indices such as the Standard Index of Annual Precipi-tation (SIAP), Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), Precipi-tation Anomaly Index (RAI) and Deciles Index (DI) have been computed in order to monitor the drought status. Then Kol-mogorov-Smirnova and Shapiro-Wilk tests were applied to examine the normality of raw data. Sequential Mann–Kendall test (SQ-MK test) was applied for determining trends. The results show no statistically significant trend, but there were points of negative mutation in annual precipitation. Drought monitoring, based on the four mentioned indices, indicate SIAP index as the most appropriate for the study area as its coefficient of correlation is close to 1.