Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Ground Surface Warming in Peninsular India:Evidence from Geothermal Records


Affiliations
1 Ministry of Earth Sciences, Borehole Geophysics Research Laboratory, Karad 415 114, India
2 CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007, India
3 Department of Geophysics, IIT (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad 826 004, India
 

Analyses of borehole temperature profiles provide useful information about regional climate change over a few centuries. Data from 146 borehole sites in the crystalline terrain of peninsular India were used to reconstruct surface ground temperature history. Depths of the boreholes ranged from 150 to 1522 m. The temperature profiles were characteristic of heat flow by conduction, being largely unaffected by perturbations due to groundwater flow. The profiles show temperature anomalies in the top few hundred metres that is consistent with changing surface temperature over the past two-three centuries. Analysis of individual profiles for a ramp change in temperature reveals predominant surface ground warming in peninsular India with a mean magnitude of 1.0 ± 0.2°C for 129 ± 18 years at 95% confidence level corresponding to onset ca 1860 a d for the change.

Keywords

Borehole Temperatures, Ground Temperature History, Peninsular India, Surface Air Temperature.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Jones, P. D., Lister, D. H., Osborn, T. J., Harpham, C., Salmon, M. and Morice, C. P., Hemispheric and large-scale land surface air temperature variations: an extensive revision and an update to 2010. J. Geophys. Res., 2012, 117; doi: 10.1029/2011JD017139.

  • Vose, R. S. et al., NOAA’s merged land-ocean surface temperature analysis. Bull. Am. Meterorol. Soc., 2012, 93, 1677-1685; doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00241.1.

  • Mann, M. E., Bradley, R. S. and Hughes, M. K., Global-scale temperature patterns and climate forcing over the past six centuries. Nature, 1998, 392, 779-787.

  • Mann, M. E., Bradley, R. S. and Hughes, M. K., Northern Hemisphere temperature during the past millennium: inferences, uncertainties and limitations. Geophys. Res. Lett., 1999, 26, 759-762.

  • Crowley, T. J. and Lowery, T. S., How warm was the Medieval warm period? Ambio, 2000, 29, 51-54.

  • Esper, J., Schweingruber, F. H. and Winiger, M., 1300 years of climatic history for Western Central Asia inferred from tree-rings. Holocene, 2002, 12, 267-277.

  • Mann, M. E. and Jones, P. D., 2000-Year hemispheric multi-proxy temperature reconstructions. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series #2003-051.2003a, NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder, CO.

  • Moberg, A., Sonechkin, D. M., Holmgren, K., Datsenko, N. M. and Karlen, W., 2000-Year Northern Hemisphere Temperature Reconstruction. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data. Contribution Series #2005-019.2005a, NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder, CO.

  • Hegerl, G. C., Crowley, T. J., Hyde, W. T. and Frame, D. J., Climate sensitivity constrained by temperature reconstructions over the past seven centuries. Nature, 2006, 440, 1029-1032.

  • Oerlemans, J., Global Glacier Length Temperature Reconstruction. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology. Data Contribution Series #2005-059. 2005b, NOAA/NCDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder, CO.

  • National Research Council, Surface temperature reconstructions for the last 2000 years. In Report of the Committee on surface temperature reconstructions for the last 2000 years, Board on Atmospheric Sciences and climate, Division on Earth and Life Studies, National Research Council of the National Academies. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, USA, 2006, p. 145.

  • Lachenbruch, A. H. and Marshall, B. V., Changing climate: geothermal evidence from permafrost in the Alaskan Arctic. Science, 1986, 234, 689-696.

  • Chisholm, T. J. and Chapman, D. S., Climate change inferred from analysis of borehole temperatures: an example from Western Utah. J. Geophys. Res., 1992, 97, 14155-14176.

  • Huang, S., Pollack, H. N. and Shen, P. Y., Temperature trends over the past five centuries reconstructed from borehole temperatures. Nature, 2000, 403, 756-758.

  • Harris, R. N. and Chapman, D. S., Mid-latitude (30-60°N) climatic warming inferred by combining borehole temperatures with surface air temperatures. Geophys. Res. Lett., 2001, 28, 747-750.

  • Davis, M. G., Harris, R. N. and Chapman, D. S., Repeat temperature measurements in boreholes from northwestern Utah link ground and air temperature changes at the decadal time scale. J. Geophys. Res., 2010, 115, B05203; doi:10.1029/2009JB006875.

  • Roy, S., Harris, R. N., Rao, R. U. M. and Chapman, D. S., Climate change in India inferred from geothermal observations. J. Geophys. Res., 2002, 107; doi:10.1029/2001JB000536.

  • Hingane, L. S., Rupakumar, K. and Ramamurthy, B. V., Longterm trends of surface air temperature in India. Int. J. Climatol., 1986, 5, 521-528; doi:10.1002/joc.3370050505.

  • Akkiraju, V. V. and Roy, S., Geothermal climate change observatory in South India 1: borehole temperatures and inferred surface temperature histories. Phys. Chem. Earth, 2011, 36, 1419-1427.

  • Roy, S. and Chapman, D. S., Borehole temperatures and climate change: ground temperature change in south India over the past two centuries. J. Geophys. Res., 2012, 117; doi:10.1029/2011 JD017224.

  • Carslaw, H. S. and Jaeger, J. C., Conduction of Heat in Solids, Oxford University Press, New York, 2nd edn, 1959, p. 386.

  • Roy, S., Ray, L., Bhattacharya, A. and Srinivasan, R., Heat flow and crustal thermal structure in the Late Archaean Closepet Granite batholiths, South India. Int. J. Earth Sci., 2008, 97, 245-256; doi:10.1007/s00531-007-0239-2.


Abstract Views: 170

PDF Views: 72




  • Ground Surface Warming in Peninsular India:Evidence from Geothermal Records

Abstract Views: 170  |  PDF Views: 72

Authors

Vyasulu V. Akkiraju
Ministry of Earth Sciences, Borehole Geophysics Research Laboratory, Karad 415 114, India
Sukanta Roy
CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007, India
Shalivahan
Department of Geophysics, IIT (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad 826 004, India

Abstract


Analyses of borehole temperature profiles provide useful information about regional climate change over a few centuries. Data from 146 borehole sites in the crystalline terrain of peninsular India were used to reconstruct surface ground temperature history. Depths of the boreholes ranged from 150 to 1522 m. The temperature profiles were characteristic of heat flow by conduction, being largely unaffected by perturbations due to groundwater flow. The profiles show temperature anomalies in the top few hundred metres that is consistent with changing surface temperature over the past two-three centuries. Analysis of individual profiles for a ramp change in temperature reveals predominant surface ground warming in peninsular India with a mean magnitude of 1.0 ± 0.2°C for 129 ± 18 years at 95% confidence level corresponding to onset ca 1860 a d for the change.

Keywords


Borehole Temperatures, Ground Temperature History, Peninsular India, Surface Air Temperature.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv115%2Fi8%2F1567-1571