http://nopr.niscpr.res.in/handle/123456789/62015 2026-10-09T20:50:04Z http://nopr.niscpr.res.in/handle/123456789/62023 Title: Spatial distribution of radar bright band intensity Authors: Jaiswal, R S; Fredrick, S R; Lakshmi, K T; Rasheed, M; Dobal, R Abstract: A radar bright band is a region of enhanced reflectivity in the radar echo. During precipitation, the falling snowflakes start melting when they encounter a warmer layer below freezing. The snowflakes' refractive index and diameter are higher than the snow above. Below the melting layer, where the melting is over, these snowflakes become raindrops that fall faster. So, the number of drops/volume reduces. Since the back-scattered power from the target is directly proportional to the refractive index of the target and the 6th power of its diameter, the reflectivity in the melting region is higher than above and below it. The paper investigates Bright Band Intensity (BBI) derived from 2A23 V6 of the Precipitation Radar (PR) onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring (TRMM) in 35N-35S and 180E – 180W from 1999-2002, 2007, and 2008. The study shows that the bright band's occurrence is more over the ocean (mainly the Pacific) than on the continent. Thus, the Pacific Ocean plays a crucial role in weather and climate. It shows substantial seasonal variations. The BBI minima, in particular, show prominent belts across the two hemispheres and show North-South migration with the season in a direction opposite to the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the solar movement. The longitudinally averaged BBI minima occur in the higher latitudes in both hemispheres. The longitudinally averaged BBI maxima in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) occur at low latitudes, and in the Southern Hemisphere (SH), at high latitudes. The BBI (rainfall) maxima are higher in the winter (summer) hemisphere. The BBI maxima and minima, as also the rainfall maxima and minima, occur in opposite hemispheres. Over a location, the daily BBI maximum does not necessarily correspond to the maximum rainfall. But the maxima of longitudinally averaged BBI and rainfall occur in the same hemisphere, so also the minima. Page(s): 733-744 2023-06-01T00:00:00Z http://nopr.niscpr.res.in/handle/123456789/62022 Title: The cytotoxic activity of Sponges and Tunicates from Turkish Aegean Sea Authors: Uras, İ S; Mutlu, B; Koç, R Ç; Konuklugil, B Abstract: The enormous bioactive components of different species from marine habitats make them attractive candidates for the discovery of new therapeutic active substances in several diseases such as cancer. Sea sponge and tunicate materials are the ideal sources of new chemotherapeutics for various cancers due to their rich metabolites. The fundamental purpose of the current study is to investigate the cytotoxic activity of methanolic crude extracts of sponges (Agelas oroides and Cladocora caespitosa) and tunicates (Ascidiella aspersa and Styela clava) collected from the Aegean Sea. The cytotoxic activity and the anti-cancer activity of the extracts was carried out by sodium 3´- [1- (diphenyl aminocarbonyl)-3,4-tetrazolium] -bis (4- methoxy 6-nitro) benzene sulfonic acid hydrate (XTT) on gastric adenocarcinoma cell line AGS, prostate cancer cell line PC-3, neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y, and mouse fibroblast cell line L929. The extracts of sponge and tunicate were found to cause different cytotoxic effects on different cancer cells, largely in a concentration-dependent manner. It is found that the extracts exhibited high anti-cancer activities in neuroblastoma and prostate cancer cell lines at concentrations of 3 and 5 mg/ml. No significant cytotoxic activity was found in L929 cells. In addition, the microscopic examination of cells treated with the extracts shows that the extracts cause morphological changes with cellular rounding, which could be associated with apoptosis. Page(s): 745-752 2023-06-01T00:00:00Z http://nopr.niscpr.res.in/handle/123456789/62021 Title: Decadal status of Acanthaster planci (Linnaeus, 1758) along the coral reef habitat of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Authors: Mondal, T; Raghunathan, C Abstract: The coral reef habitats have been facing insightful threats from natural and anthropogenic sources across the world; while natural threats are creating major ecological pressure with the maximum percentage of devastation to the entire ecosystems. The Acanthaster planci (L) or Crown-of-Thorns Sea star (CoTS) is known as potential natural predator of corals and can disrupt the entire reef ecosystem with their outbreaks within the much-stipulated time. CoTS are reported from all the reef areas of Andaman and Nicobar Islands with a mean density of 0.71/ hectare within the range of 1.08±0.33 to 0.40±0.18 per hectare between North & Middle Andaman and Nicobar respectively. The distributional pattern of CoTS signifies that the reef crest represents maximum occurrence in comparison with reef slop and reef top; while an inversely proportional relationship can be seen between the occurrence of individuals and depth gradients. Maximum association of the CoTS is recorded with acroporidae corals while corallivorous impacts of CoTS are also recorded with poritidae corals which are not much reported across the world. No observation on the population outbreaks of CoTS was made during the decadal study period from Andaman and Nicobar Islands while the density is intrinsically noted within the limit of the natural population level of CoTS. The presence of natural predators like CoTS in Andaman and Nicobar Islands used to take a leading role in the balancing of reef ecology which denotes the healthy reef ecosystem of this archipelago. Page(s): 753-759 2023-06-01T00:00:00Z http://nopr.niscpr.res.in/handle/123456789/62020 Title: Relationship between fish length and otolith dimensions of Yellow striped goatfish, Upeneus vittatus (Forsskal, 1775) along the Indian coast Authors: Nama, S; Bhushan, S; Jaiswar, A K; Ramteke, K; Pathak, V Abstract: Otoliths are widely used to estimate the age and growth of fishes and to identify fish species. This information plays a vital role in fisheries management and population dynamics studies. The information about fish length and otolith dimensions relationship of Upeneus vittatus is lacking from the Indian water. In this study, a total of 237 numbers of individuals were collected from October 2018 to March 2019 and left otolith was studied since there were no significant differences between right and left otoliths. The relationships between total length and otolith dimensions were estimated by linear regression analysis and found a strong positive correlation. The maximum correlation was found between fish length and otolith length for Mumbai populations (R² = 0.9342). In contrast, Kakinada populations had the maximum correlation between fish length and otolith width (R² = 0.8957), and Puri populations had the maximum correlation between fish length and otolith weight (R² = 0.9101). Present study found a strong positive correlation between fish length and otolith dimensions of U. vittatus. This finding provides new insights into the field and can be used for the growth study, fish population assessment, and fisheries management. Page(s): 760-765 2023-06-01T00:00:00Z