According to a NASA study, warming of the tropical oceans due to climate change may lead to a substantial increase in the frequency of extreme rain storms by the end of the century.
The study led by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the U.S. combed through 15 years of data acquired by the space agency's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument over the tropical oceans to determine the relationship between the average sea surface temperature and the onset of severe storms.
The researchers found that extreme storms - those producing at least three millimetres of rain per hour over a 25-kilometre area - formed when the sea surface temperature was higher than about 28 degrees Celsius.
The study also found that, based on the data, 21 per cent more storms form for every one degree Celsius that ocean surface temperatures rise.
Jan 29, 2019
India's Tiger Action Plan 2012-2018
Protecting tiger habitat and tiger corridors is a priority for the country, according to India's tiger action plan (2012 to 2018).
The latter is especially important because, while the country has seen an increase in total tiger population with numbers going up from 1,411 in 2006 to 1,706 in 2010 and 2,226 in 2014, it recorded a 12.6% decline in tiger occupancy in connecting tiger habitats outside tiger reserves between 2006 and 2010, the latest period for which this data is available.
Jan 24, 2019
Losses Caused to India Doubled in a Decade
Losses caused to India by extreme weather events more than doubled in the 10 years to 2017 from the previous decade (1998-2007), with the farm sector bearing the brunt, according to a new report published by Action on Climate Today (ACT), a UK-based initiative that works with South Asian governments to build resilience against climate change.
The report, titled 'Assessing India's Mounting Climate Losses to Financial Institutions',published on January 18, warned that the count of extreme weather events has been continuously increasing in India.
ACT used data from Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) which records natural disasters on a continuous basis, to suggest that economic losses to India from extreme weather events climbed to $45 billion in 2008-2017 from $20 billion between 1998 and 2007.
The decadal data shows that about 16 extreme climate events took place on average every year between 1998 and 2017 compared to 10 events annually between 1978 and 1997.
Among the 328 events listed in the EM-DAT database between 1998 and 2017, almost half were floods, which were responsible for the highest economic losses ($45.7 billion), more than losses resulting from storms, landslides, drought and natural disasters.
The agriculture sector bore a major share of the economic losses, according to the report, which said that despite the existence of crop insurance schemes, banks absorbed the brunt of the losses.
Jan 22, 2019
China to Cut Everest Climbers
China will cut the number of climbers attempting to scale Mount Everest from the north by one-third this year as part of plans for a major clean-up on the world's highest peak.
The total number of climbers seeking to summit the world's highest peak at 8,850 metres from the north will be limited to less than 300 and the climbing season restricted to spring.
The clean-up efforts will include the recovery of the bodies of climbers who died at more than 8,000 metres up the mountain.
China has set up stations to sort, recycle and break down garbage from the mountain, which includes cans, plastic bags, stove equipment, tents and oxygen tanks.
On the Nepalese side, mountaineering expedition organisers have begun sending huge trash bags with climbers during the spring climbing season to collect trash that then can be winched by helicopters back to the base camp.
Chaturangi Glacier Recedes due to Climate Variability
Chaturangi glacier, a tributary of the Gangotri glacier, is retreating at a "considerable rate" and may vanish in the future, according to a research paper accepted to be published in the Current Science journal's February edition.
The retreating glacier is another example of the impact of climate change and, according to one of the study's contributors, affects water flow in the Ganga, fed by the Gangotri.
The study by scientists from GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development and the Centre for Earth Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) uses satellite data from 1989 to 2016 and kinematic GPS, to arrive at the retreating rate of the glacier.
Jan 19, 2019
Better not to be in Delhi, it's like 'gas chamber': Supreme CourtÂ
It is better not to be in Delhi, the Supreme Court said on January 18, 2019, expressing its despair over the lack of implementation of measures to curb air pollution and traffic congestion in the capital which, it added, has become like a "gas chamber".
A bench of justices Mishra and Deepak Gupta said these problems affect the right to life.
The court asked the Delhi police what action they have taken to remove unclaimed vehicles — that are no longer required in legal cases — from police stations. It also asked the Delhi government why they have not appointed district 'nazir' (record keeper of record-room).
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