Browsing by Author "Ravi Shankar Maurya"

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The potential of Himalayan cedar tree rings to analyse crop productivity, river discharge and glacier mass balance from Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, western Himalaya, India
(SAGE Publications Ltd, 2025) Krishna G. Misra; Ravi Shankar Maurya; Vikram Singh; Sandhya Misra; Sadhana Vishwakarma
Precipitation in the Himalayas is vital in sustaining the region’s ecological and economic systems. Rainfall in river valleys supports agriculture, which is crucial for the livelihoods of both upstream and downstream populations. Snowfall at high altitudes contributes to glacier mass balance, ensuring the long-term availability of freshwater. It also affects water resources essential for drinking, irrigation, and hydroelectric projects in the mountainous and foothill regions. In the present study, using Himalayan cedar tree-ring samples 403 years long, extending back to ad 1615, a ring-width chronology was developed from the moisture-stressed site of Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, western Himalaya. Response function analysis showed a positive relationship with precipitation and a negative relationship with temperature. However, precipitation shows a significant relationship with tree growth in the previous year’s November, December and February to May months of the current year. Utilising this relationship between tree growth and precipitation, the tree-ring width data were compared with crop productivity and river discharge from the Chamba region and with the Chhota Shigri Glacier mass balance data to assess the potential of tree-ring chronology. The tree-ring chronology shows a significant positive correlation with Rabi crop production, particularly wheat (r = 0.50) and barley (r = 0.62) for the period 1970–2014 from the Chamba Himalayan region. Furthermore, it exhibits a relationship with Budhil River discharge (r = 0.33) for the period 1973–2001 in Chamba and with the mass balance of the Chhota Shigri Glacier (0.57) for the period 1970–2013 from the Lahaul-Spiti region. This correlation highlights the potential of tree-ring chronology for analysing long-term agro-climatic conditions and river and glacial dynamics from the region. © The Authors 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Tree-ring inferred natural hazards studies from western Himalaya, India: a review
(Springer Nature, 2025) Sadhana Vishwakarma; Krishna G. Misra; Vikram Singh; Ravi Shankar Maurya; Sandhya Misra; Nandita Ghoshal
Natural hazards increasingly threaten lives, settlements, and environments globally, with their frequency rising due to climate change driven by global warming and deforestation. High-altitude regions like the Himalayas face heightened risks of floods, droughts, and glacial lake outbursts. Observational records show reduction in rainy days but more intense precipitation events, alongside accelerated glacial retreat, driving rivers to dangerous levels. Tree-ring-based studies were conducted in the western Himalaya to comprehend the severity of past natural hazards and facilitate policy-making and community awareness. These studies utilized records of floods, snow avalanches, and glacial fluctuations. However, river flow reconstructions proved inadequate in identifying flash flood activities. Understanding natural hazards occurrence, frequency, and magnitude is crucial for effective hazard assessment and management. Tree rings, forming annually in trees, serve as invaluable records of historical environmental conditions. A high-resolution database from tree-ring analysis helps to understand historical events and suggests strategies to mitigate natural hazards. Analyzing tree-rings provides insights into the dynamics and recurrence of natural hazards. The review paper emphasizes the critical role of dendrogeomorphology and dendrochronology in reconstructing historical natural hazards and advancing scientific understanding, which can advise more effective risk mitigation and sustainable development strategies. © Indian National Science Academy 2025.