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In this paper, we present regional climate change projections for the Tamil Nadu state of India, simulated by the Met Office Hadley Centre regional climate model. The model is run at 25 km horizontal resolution driven by lateral boundary conditions generated by a perturbed physical ensemble of 17 simulations produced by a version of Hadley Centre coupled climate model, known as HadCM3Q under A1B scenario. The large scale features of these 17 simulations were evaluated for the target region to choose lateral boundary conditions from six members that represent a range of climate variations over the study region. The regional climate, known as PRECIS, was then run 130 years from 1970. The analyses primarily focus on maximum and minimum temperatures and rainfall over the region. For the Tamil Nadu as a whole, the projections of maximum temperature show an increase of 1.0, 2.2 and 3.1 °C for the periods 2020s (2005-2035), 2050s (2035-2065) and 2080s (2065-2095), respectively, with respect to baseline period (1970-2000). Similarly, the projections of minimum temperature show an increase of 1.1, 2.4 and 3.5 °C, respectively. This increasing trend is statistically significant (Mann-Kendall trend test). The annual rainfall projections for the same periods indicate a general decrease in rainfall of about 2-7, 1-4 and 4-9 %, respectively. However, significant exceptions are noticed over some pockets of western hilly areas and high rainfall areas where increases in rainfall are seen. There are also indications of increasing heavy rainfall events during the northeast monsoon season and a slight decrease during the southwest monsoon season. Such an approach of using climate models may maximize the utility of high-resolution climate change information for impact-adaptation-vulnerability assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Matiali fan is a coarse-grained, small alluvial fan in the eastern Himalayan foothills. It co-exists side by side with the large Tista megafan and other Quaternary fluvial deposits, and has been affected by a number of young thrust faults. It is generally believed that tectonics is the main control in the deposition of these proximal fan–terrace systems. In this paper, geomorphologic and sedimentologic study of the Matiali fan and associated river terraces are combined with five OSL dates from these deposits to understand the succession of events and the forcing mechanism that shaped the geomorphology in the study area during late Quaternary time. Two aggradational terraces (T1 and T2; T2 > T1) occur within the river valleys incised on the Matiali fan. Three E–W scarps cross the fan surface, and they represent the steeper limb of the asymmetric fault-propagation folds formed over blind thrusts. These folds have deformed the fan (T3) and T2 terrace sediments, but the youngest T1 terrace deposits have remained undeformed. Sedimentological studies indicate continuous gradation from the coarsening-upwards mass-flow megagravel in the proximal part to the traction transported finer sheetflood gravels in the distal part, implying a continuous sedimentation history across the fan, uninterrupted by any evidence of syn-depositional tectonic movement. Poorly consolidated sandy gravels of the terraces indicate deposition through braided fluvial processes during a later period of sediment aggradation that filled up the incised river valleys. Previously published 14 C dates indicate that deposition of the Matiali fan started around 34 ka coinciding with a period of the intensified Indian summer monsoon of MIS-3. It is suggested that the fan was abandoned and river valleys incised during the LGM between 24 and 18 ka when the discharge decreased substantially. Increased rainfall and sediment supply, with their inherent fluctuations, during wetter periods of MIS-2 and MIS-1 since 12 ka probably resulted in the aggradation of T2 and T1 as shown by our OSL dates. OSL dates from the top of deformed T2 and base of undeformed T1 indicate that the Chalsa fold formed between ~ 11 and ~ 6 ka. Succession of geomorphic and deformational events reconstructed from this study and available age data indicate that the Matiali fan and terrace aggradation coincides with periods of increased monsoonal precipitation, whereas tectonic movements along blind thrusts of Chalsa and Matiali took place later, deforming the fan and older terrace deposits. The evidence unequivocally indicates, contrary to the prevalent notion of tectonic control of geomorphic features in the proximal mountain-front setting, that the deposition of the fan–terrace system was primarily controlled by the fluctuation of the Asian summer monsoon rather than Himalayan tectonics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate change has numerous implications for members of mountain communities who feel the impacts in both physical and social dimensions. In the Western Himalayas of India, a majority of residents maintain a livelihood strategy that includes a combination of subsistence or small-scale agriculture, seasonal pastoral migration, male out-migration, and localized natural resource extraction. Particularly under conditions of heavy male outmigration, but throughout the region, mountain women play a key role in providing labor and knowledge related to the management of local natural resources, yet often lack authority in related political and economic decision-making processes. This gap has important implications for addressing the impacts of climate change: while warming temperatures, irregular patterns of precipitation and snowmelt, and changing biological systems present challenges to the viability of these traditional livelihood portfolios throughout the region, mountain women increasingly face new challenges in their roles as household managers that have not adequately been emphasized in larger scale planning for climate change adaptation and mitigation. These challenges are complex in nature, and are shaped not only by gender issues but also interacting factors such as class, caste, ethnicity, and age (among others). In this paper, we review the main arguments behind the discursive gender/climate change nexus, discuss the implications for gendered vulnerabilities and transformation of adaptive capacities in the region, and suggest ways that researchers and policymakers seeking to promote "climate justice" can benefit from the incorporation of gender-based perspectives and frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]