Seasonal variation of daily total column ozone (TCO) and role of its depletion and formation rate on surface temperature over Dumdum at Kolkata, India

The purpose of the paper is to present the variation of total ozone concentration over Dumdum at Kolkata, India during different seasons. It is concluded that the trend of ozone concentration during different seasons are different. A critical analysis is done and following important results are obtained.

Effect of cloud on atmospheric ozone formation over Kolkata (22°34′N, 88°24′E), India

The paper presents the nature of variations of clouds and total ozone over Kolkata (22°34′N, 88°24′E), India. The low-level cloud over Kolkata has been noticed to occur for many days and nights, particularly in the months from June to September. The low level cloud occurrences were minimum in winter months. The effect of cloud occurrence on ozone concentration has been critically analyzed and explained. It has been observed that the concentration of ozone increased with the increase of cloud occurrence. The related possible chemical explanation for ozone production processes has been offered.     

Effect of microheterogeneous environments of CTAB,Triton X-100, and Tween 20 on the oxidative degradation of d-fructose by nanoparticles of MnO2

The kinetics of the oxidative degradation of d -fructose by nanoparticles of MnO₂ has been studied in dilute sulfuric acid medium and also in the presence of surfactants of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), Triton X-100 (TX-100), and Tween 20. Amorphous nanoparticles of MnO₂ in the form of spherical particulates of size 50–200 nm, as detected by a transmission electron microscope, have been found to exist, supported on two-dimensional gum acacia sheets. The reaction is first order in MnO₂ but complex order with respect to fructose and H⁺. The reaction is inhibited due to adsorption of reaction products on the surface of MnO₂ nanoparticles. The reaction takes place through an intermediate complex formation between β-d -fructopyranose and protonated MnO₂. A one-step two-electron transfer reaction ultimately leads to the formation of an aldonic acid and formic acid. The entropy of activation plays the key role for the reaction in the absence of surfactants. In the surfactant-mediated reaction, partitioning of both the reactants takes place between the aqueous and micellar pseudophases and reaction occurs following Berezin's model. Binding of fructose with the surfactants in the Stern/palisade layer takes place through the ion–dipole interaction and H-bonding while protonated MnO₂ remains at the outer side of the Stern/palisade layer within the micelle. Both the enthalpy and entropy changes associated with the fructose–water interaction, fructose–micelle interaction, and micelle–water interaction finally control the fructose–micelle binding.     

Sharp depletion of attenuation of 22.235 GHz associated with Nor’wester over Kolkata, India and possible method of forecasting Nor’wester

The sharp depletion of attenuation of 22.235 GHz signal before the onset of Nor’wester over Kolkata, India is observed and possible explanation of such type of variation is presented. It is concluded that this may be taken as one possible method of forecasting severe thunderstorm associated with Nor’wester. Physical explanations based on the formation and dissipation mechanisms of thunderstorm are also presented.     

Effects of nonionic micellar aggregates on the electron transfer reaction between l‐glutamic acid and gold(III) complexes

The effect of nonionic micelles of Triton X‐100 on the oxidative decarboxylation of l ‐glutamic acid by chloroaurate(III) complexes has been investigated in acetate buffer medium. The reaction is first order with respect to Au(III), but a complex order with respect to glutamate. H⁺ ion has both accelerating and retarding effects in the pH range 3.72–4.80, whereas a Cl^? ion has an inhibiting effect in the range 0.02–0.56 mol dm^?3. Under the experimental conditions, AuCl^?₄ and AuCl₃(OH)^? are the predominant and effective oxidizing species, whereas the zwitterion (H₂A) and mononegative anion (HA^?) are the predominant reducing species of the amino acid. The reaction involves a one‐step two‐electron transfer process and passes through the intermediate formation of iminic cation. In the presence of surfactant, the reaction passes through a maximum and it appears to follow Berezin's model, where both the oxidant and the substrate are partitioned between the aqueous and the micellar phase and then react. The binding constants between the reactants and the surfactant have been evaluated at different temperatures. Compensation between substrate–water interaction and substrate–micelle interaction plays an important role in such redox reactions in the presence of a surfactant. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 44: 482–493, 2012     

Role of the rate of change of Total Column Ozone during different seasons on the prediction of Indian summer monsoon rainfall over Gangetic West Bengal, India

A critical analysis of Total Column Ozone (TCO) over Dum Dum, West Bengal, India is done during different seasons for the period of 1997 to 2005. It is confirmed that pre-monsoon rate of change of TCO over Dum Dum is highly correlated with Gangetic West Bengal, India monsoon rainfall of same year and that of TCO during other seasons are independent of monsoon rainfall over Gangetic West Bengal. It is also concluded that pre-monsoon rate of change of TCO may play an important role to forecast monsoon rainfall of a particular year over Gangetic West Bengal. It is also showed that other parameters affecting monsoon rainfall are insignificant w.r.t. TCO variations. A possible explanation based on chemical kinetics of O₃ are also presented.     

Variation of seasonal values of 5893 Å and 5577 Å night airglow intensities and ozone concentration at Calcutta with solar quantities

The paper presents the covariation of seasonal intensity values of 5893 Å and 5577 Å lines of night airglow emissions and seasonal values of ozone concentration at Calcutta (Kolkata) with relative sunspot number, solar ultraviolet flux and solar 10.7 cm wavelength radio flux during the years 1984, 1985 and 1987. Various statistical parameters including coefficients of correlation between the atmospheric and solar quantities are computed. Possible explanation for the covariation of the quantities is provided invoking the excitation mechanisms and chemical reactions underlying them.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the reduction of gold(III) by glycine in acetate buffer

The kinetics of reduction of tetrachloroaurate(III) by glycine has been spectrophotometrically studied in NaOAc–AcOH buffer in the pH range 3.73–4.77. The reaction is first order with respect to both Au(III) and glycine. Both H⁺ and Cl⁻ ions have inhibiting effects on the reaction rate. The rate decreases with a decrease in the dielectric constant of the medium. AuCl₄⁻ and AuCl₃(OH)⁻ are presumed to be the predominant oxidizing species under the conditions of the experiment. The reaction of gold(III) and zwitterionic species of glycine proceeds with the intermediate formation of gold(I) and iminic cation and the latter subsequently hydrolyses in a fast step to produce formaldehyde and ammonium ion. Formaldehyde was identified as the only organic product by ¹H NMR spectroscopy.     

Scattering of water waves by inclined thin plate submerged in finite-depth water

Summary  The problem of water wave scattering by an inclined thin plate submerged in water of uniform finite depth is investigated here under the assumption of irrotational motion and linear theory. A hypersingular integral equation formulation of the problem is obtained by an appropriate use of Green's integral theorem followed by utilization of the boundary condition on the plate. This hypersingular integral equation involves the discontinuity in the potential function across the plate, which is approximated by a finite series involving Chebyshev polynomials. The coefficients of this finite series are obtained numerically by collocation method. The quantities of physical interest, namely the reflection and transmission coefficients, force and moment acting on the plate per unit width, are then obtained numerically for different values of various parameters, and are depicted graphically against the wavenumber. Effects of finite-depth water, angle of inclination of the plate with the vertical over the deep water and vertical plate results for these quantities are shown. It is observed that the deep-water results effectively hold good if the depth of the mid-point of the submerged plate below the free surface is of the order of one-tenth of the depth of the bottom. Received 30 November 2000; accepted for publication 26 June 2001     

Influences of suction and blowing on vortex shedding behind a square cylinder in a channel

The structure of confined wakes behind a square cylinder in a channel subject to a locally uniform suction or blowing at both the channel walls is presented. A pressure based finite-difference technique has been used to solve the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations. It is observed that the amplitude of the lift coefficient decreases with increase in the blowing velocity. Coefficients of drag also decrease for the application of uniform blowing and for a suitable value of the blowing parameter, the flow becomes steady and symmetric. The amplitude of the lift coefficients increases up to a certain limit of suction velocity and after that it suddenly decreases and flow becomes steady. Coefficients of drag also gives the same feature. Effects of the suction and blowing on the vortex-shedding region are analyzed in detail and presented graphically.