General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - December 2018

Dec 2018

Mar 27, 2022

Hot Poles: Antarctica, Arctic 70 and 50 Degrees above Normal

Earth's Poles are undergoing simultaneous freakish extreme heat with parts of Antarctica more than 70 degrees (40 degrees Celsius) warmer than average and areas of the Arctic more than 50 degrees (30 degrees Celsius) warmer than average.
Weather stations in Antarctica shattered records Friday as the region neared autumn. The two-mile high (3,234 meters) Concordia station was at 10 degrees (-12.2 degrees Celsius),which is about 70 degrees warmer than average, while the even higher Vostok station hit a shade above 0 degrees (-17.7 degrees Celsius), beating its all-time record by about 27 degrees (15 degrees Celsius), according to a tweet from extreme weather record tracker Maximiliano Herrera.
The coastal Terra Nova Base was far above freezing at 44.6 degrees (7 degrees Celsius).
It caught officials at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, by surprise because they were paying attention to the Arctic where it was 50 degrees warmer than average and areas around the North Pole were nearing or at the melting point, which is really unusual for mid-March, said center ice scientist Walt Meier.

Mar 26, 2022

Great Barrier Reef: Australia Confirms New Mass Bleaching Event

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is being devastated by another mass bleaching event, officials confirmed.
It is the fourth time in six years that such severe and widespread damage - caused by warm sea temperatures - has been detected.
Only two mass bleaching events had ever been recorded until 2016.
Scientists say urgent action on climate change is needed if the world's largest reef system is to survive.
There are particular concerns that this bleaching event has occurred in the same year as a La Niña weather phenomenon. Typically in Australia, a La Niña brings cooler temperatures.
Scientists are now fearful of the damage that could be caused by the next El Niño.

Mar 25, 2022

Bangladesh Most Polluted Country of the World

Bangladesh was the most polluted country in the world in 2021, says the World Air Quality Report prepared by the Swiss-based air quality technology company IQAir in its latest report released in March, 2022. In terms of particulate matter in the air, Bangladesh recorded an average PM2.5 level of 76.9 micrograms per cubic metre in 2021 against the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended maximum permissible level of 5 micrograms per cubic metre.
The data reveals that not a single country in the world managed to meet the WHO's air quality standard in 2021. All over the world, 93 cities reported PM 2.5 levels at 10 times the recommended level.

Mar 23, 2022

New Delhi World's Most Polluted Capital City

New Delhi was ranked the world's most polluted capital city for a second consecutive year followed by Dhaka (Bangladesh), N'Djamena (Chad), Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Muscat (Oman).
Of the 15 most polluted cities in Central and South Asia in 2021, 12 were in India.
The annual PM2.5 concentration averages in 48 per cent of India's cities exceeded 50 Ig/m3 or more than 10 times the World Health Organization's (WHO) air quality guidelines.
These startling facts came to light in the 2021 World Air Quality Report according to which, only three per cent of cities and no single country has met the latest WHO PM2.5 annual air quality guidelines.
IQAir's 2021 World Air Quality Report is the first major global air quality report based on updated annual WHO air quality guidelines for PM2.5.

Mar 22, 2022

How Cyclone Asani Got its Name and Sri Lanka's Role in Naming It

Cyclone Asani, which is expected to form over the north Andaman Sea, is the year's first cyclone and the first to form in the month of March in nearly two decades. Expected to bring heavy rainfall in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the cyclone was named 'Asani' by Sri Lanka. In Sinhala, which is one of the official languages, and the most widely-spoken in the country, 'Asani' translates to 'wrath.'
In all, there are six regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and five regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) authorised to issued advisories for and name tropical cyclones. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), is among the six RSMCs, and provides advisories to a dozen countries, besides India. These are: Bangladesh, Iran, Malvides, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen.
According to a list posted by the IMD in April 2020, there are 169 names that can be used for nomenclature of cyclones; each country has proposed 13 titles. These are listed country-wise, and the nations are arranged alphabetically. The names are picked sequentially in such a way that the countries, one after the other, get to decide names.
This time, it was Sri Lanka's pick, and hence Cyclone Asani came to be known as such. India allots names for cyclones developing over the north Indian Ocean, including the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

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