Calibration of Land Surface Model Using Remotely Sensed Evapotranspiration and Soil Moisture Predictions

Abstract: Calibration is the process of estimating the optimal parameters for a model to accurately reflect the real system, using historical records of system data. The model calibration, however, is frequently limited by availability, quality, quantity and the nature of the ground observations. Lack of streamflow observations in the vast majority of the world, for example, constrains the calibration of hydrologic and land surface models. In this study, an attempt is made to calibrate a land surface model by using satellite retrievals of soil moisture and evapotranspiration (ET), without relying on streamflow measurements. This paper examines the capability of using satellite measurements for the calibration of hydrologic/land surface models for ungauged locations. The Australian Water Resources Assessment Landscape model (AWRA-L) modified to have single hydrological response unit (HRU) per each grid cell is chosen, as a simple land surface model that requires minimum forcing variables. Initial parameters for the control case are generated based on the fraction of trees and the Budyko's dryness index. Microwave soil moisture retrievals from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E) and daily estimates of ET from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are adopted to calibrate a selection of the AWRA-L parameters. Shuffled complex evolution uncertainty algorithm (SCE-UA) is employed to perform local calibration at 25-km grid cell in the Kyeamba catchment, southeastern Australia. The results show that the calibration of AWRA-L using remotely sensed evapotranspiration and soil moisture can improve the predictions of evapotranspiration and runoff. Validation conducted in a separate period also exhibit improvements in the prediction of evapotranspiration, whereas the improvement in soil moisture is trivial during both calibration and validation periods. The monthly runoff ratio estimated after calibration is improved compared to the runoff ratio in the control case. This indicates the potential of calibration with evapotranspiration and soil moisture in improving streamflow predictions. Further research is warranted to increase efficiency in prediction of runoff ratio, so that the calibration scheme can be applied in the regions with sparse or no gauging stations

Janathana Sarkar (people’s government): rebel governance and agency of the poor in India’s Maoist guerrilla zones

This article focuses on the agency of the poor in the context of rebel governance in rural India. During its five-decade-long armed agrarian struggle, the Maoist movement has established in several villages an alternative structure of governance called Janathana Sarkar (people’s government) with Adivasis and Dalits as the primary agents of social transformation. Drawing on the author’s long-term ethnographic fieldwork in the Maoist guerrilla zones, this article explores the insurgent consciousness of Dalits and Adivasis by engaging with two interrelated questions. First, how does Janathana Sarkar function as a platform for radical democracy by the marginalised? Second, is violence inherent in the emergence and manifestation of this agency? These questions, although primarily focused on the agency of Dalits and Adivasis in Janathana Sarkar, have a wider relevance to the study of transformative politics of the poor and radical democracy, which have received inadequate attention in the scholarship on rebel governance

From the mud houses of Magadh : Dalits, Naxalites and the making of a revolution in Bihar, India

Since its inception in the 1960s, the Naxalite movement, a Maoist inspired peasant struggle, has become a platform for Dalit militant assertions against caste and class oppression in many states of India. In Bihar, especially in Bhojpur and Magadh regions, Dalits took up arms against the upper caste landowners. In retaliation, however, the landlords formed their own private armies and the state unleashed a repressive police regime creating a climate of violence in Bihar, and especially Jehanabad district, which has led to the region becoming known as 'the killing fields'. In this thesis I examine the everyday world of Dalits - their articulations of self and community - shaped in the midst of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary violence. Focusing mainly on one village in Jehanabad district from where the Maoist movement began to spread its influence in the Magadh region, I examine the dynamic nature of Dalit response to deeply-felt structural cleavages, which involved a movement from relative quiescence to mobilization and armed resistance, and to demobilization. This study of Dalit participation in the Maoist movement engages with and builds on three key areas of anthropological debate. First, it offers a different perspective from that of conceptualizing radical movements narrowly in 'structure versus agency' terms. In drawing on Bourdieu's notion of 'social fields', my thesis makes a case for a more nuanced explanation of peasant revolutions, by integrating notions of social structure and human agency. Second, in engaging with Tarrow's concept of 'protest cycle', I examine the dynamic nature of Datit participation in the Maoist movement which involved a cycle of mobilizations and demobilizations. My works thus provides a historical sensitivity to the study of social movements. Third, drawing on my methodological closeness to the everyday Dalit world, my thesis highlights the significance of close experience and the relational nature of anthropological knowledge.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A Brief Report on Telerehabilitation During COVID-19 Outbreak at a Tertiary Care Center in Kerala, India

The unanticipated lockdown following the COVID-19 outbreak significantly impacted the field of rehabilitation, compelling the professionals to switch to tele-mode to continue providing their service without interruption. This article aims to highlight the steps taken to overcome the various challenges that were encountered in this period and to strengthen the opportunities in telerehabilitation services at a tertiary care center in Kerala, India. An average of 1000 clients were served monthly through telerehabilitation in various units at the selected institute during the COVID-19 pandemic. The telerehabilitation services included assessments, intervention, and counseling for clients of all ages with various types of disabilities. A high literacy rate and better access to technology among the general population in Kerala, India were identified as advantages for the rapid implementation of telerehabilitation as a viable form of service delivery