AKMNair blog

It was Tuesday night around 11 PM.   House owner came upstairs  ...... he was panic-stricken... ..!!  I was over phone with my friend Raghuraman (London). Uncle said breathlessly that a snake has come to  their backyard... I told Raghu, that 'OK boss! we shall talk later...... ... now let be go and find the snake.. !!! .... and try snake charming!!!" These are what the happenings were soon after........!!. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ah! ....Snake...?? I thought ... it may be  some silly, small one.... but....!!!             oh! No! .... a big, long one with beautifully designed dress...... ........... a 'Viper' probably...? .....coiled ... side of washing stone (not rosetta stone),  taking rest after a good dinner... We didn't want to hurt it... just wanted to drive it away...!!! took sticks, poured water...... then I moved him back and tried to push it ..... ..... lazily it uncoiled and crawled around the stone ...... All of a

My close friend Raghurama (as I call him often) , is flying above seas, going far off to London to take up an assignment for the 'comet catching' mission of the European Space Agency. He would be working with the Principal Investigator in the famous Imperial College, London. Dr.Susarla Raghuram has already completed 6 orbits around the Sun after joining SPL with Dr.Anil Bhradwaj for research on Comets and have proved to be a world class young scientist. This is a graphics specially dedicated to him.  Wishing him an active period ahead. Have a great time ahead Raghurama. ~~~~ Background image shows the April image of the Comet 67P-CG (red-circled) about which he is going to explore. Image courtesy:ESA

Ocean has the massive power of attraction. Sit in the seashore ....., walk in the sands ...., play with the surf ......  ....... one would certainly appreciate the magnificence of the majestic waters; ...... one would really adore the power of air-sea interaction; ...... one would enjoy beauty of the nature; ...... and one would realize how tiny are we in the Earth.

Have you heard of Cirrus cloud descending .........? What is it ......? Is it a frequent phenomenon .....? Does it have seasonal dependence ....? Where does it occur ......? Why do cirrus descend .....? What is it's impact .......? We have discovered the phenomenon using 3 years of lidar observations over Thiruvananthapuram, near southern tip of India that  Cirrus clouds frequently DESCEND.....! After analysing the data together with other observations and models, we have come up answers to the above questions.  The observations and results are now accepted by the scientific community and it finds a place in the  Journal of Geophysical Research - JGR (Atmosphere). Read more... Here is the link:  http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2011JD017406.shtml   Nair, A. K. M. , K. Rajeev, M. K. Mishra, B. V. Thampi, and K. Parameswaran  ( 2012 ),  Multiyear lidar observations of the descending nature of tropical cirrus clouds ,  J. Geophys. Res. ,  117 , D1

.........sad that our neighbour passed away due to a massive stroke. Was it his compound wall demolishing sounds & vibrations the culprit?  It was a sheer co-incidence that  today's newspaper front page had a report http://goo.gl/Fz5u0 'Noise Pollution kills. Says study'  in TOI, Thiriuvananthapuram Edn. Morning, I woke up hearing heavy thumps and demolishing sound nearby.... Saw that some masons were demolishing a strong  compound  wall of one of my neighbours .....  so as to make way for car to enter his compound..... Evening, when I returned, saw few people in and around his home ..... Came to know that he had collapsed while helping the masons demolish the wall ...... and was taken to hospital....... It was told that it was a case of heart attack/stroke. While paying  homage  to him saw the grief of the family in the air. I remember the first time I talked with him..... Hearing the sound of water overflowing since hours during night time, I could l

Today, my senior Dr.Meenu S has relieved her duties here in SPL and is getting ready to enter the noblest profession as a teacher to kindle the light of knowledge to  many pupils. It is heartening to know that she is supposed to stand in the podium very familiar to her....., ......campus very familiar to her..... ....... in the same college,  .......... in the same class, ............... where she graduated.  As a Gem of SPL, she has evolved into a sought after person in the area of Cloud Remote Sensing using Satellites. Author of many important papers. An expert with simplicity and hard working nature often made her popular.   .... Wishing my wonderful Senior   Dr.Meenu great times ahead in her new assignment as a Lecturer in our Alma mater  Click on COMMENTS below to read comments and make an entry.