General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - December 2018

Dec 2018

Jul 02, 2021

Antarctica Logged Record Temperature of 18.3 Degrees Celsius

Antarctica logged a record high temperature of up to 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit) in the month of February last year, the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (UN WMO) report said. The UN agency attributed the high temperature to large high-pressure system which created "fohn conditions", downslope winds producing significant surface warming, which led to local warming both at the Esperanza station and at Seymour Island.
The Antarctic Peninsula is among the fastest-warming regions of the planet, almost 3°C over the last 50 years. This new temperature record is therefore consistent with the climate change we are observing. WMO is working in partnership with the Antarctic Treaty System to help conserve this pristine continent.

'Last Ice Area' in the Arctic May Not Survive Climate Change

According to a new study, the "Last Ice Area," an Arctic region known for its thick ice cover, may be more vulnerable to climate change than scientists suspected.
This frozen zone, which lies to the north of Greenland, earned its dramatic name because even though its ice grows and shrinks seasonally, much of the sea ice here was thought to be thick enough to persist through summer's warmth.
But during the summer of 2020, the Wandel Sea in the eastern part of the Last Ice Area lost 50% of its overlying ice, bringing coverage there to its lowest since record-keeping began. In the new study, researchers found that weather conditions were driving the decline, but climate change made that possible by gradually thinning the area's long-standing ice year after year. This hints that global warming may threaten the region more than prior climate models suggested.

Jul 01, 2021

Enormous Antarctic Lake Vanishes in 3 Days

An enormous, ice-covered lake in Antarctica vanished suddenly, and scientists are worried it could happen again.
In this disappearing act, which researchers say occurred during on the Amery Ice Shelf in East Antarctica, an estimated 21 billion to 26 billion cubic feet (600 million to 750 million cubic meters) of water, roughly twice the volume of San Diego Bay, drained into the ocean.
The scientists who used satellite observations to capture the shocking vanishing act say the lake drained in roughly three days after the ice shelf beneath it gave way.

Jun 29, 2021

Reports of LiDAR Survey of Water, Fodder Augmentation in Forest Areas

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar released detailed project reports of the light detection and ranging (LiDAR) based survey of forest areas in 10 states.
The technology was used to develop a three-dimensional digital elevation model and imagery for recommending different types of soil and water conservation structures, according to the ministry.
The reports of 10 states - Assam, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, and Tripura- were released at a virtual event.

Jun 28, 2021

Major Portions of 10 Lakshadweep Islands Might go under Water

A study conducted by ocean engineering scientists at IIT-Kharagpur shows that 10 islands among the 36 islands of Lakshadweep archipelago might have more than 60 per cent land loss in the next 30 years because of the continuous and extreme rise of sea water level in the last 15 years.
The study was conducted on the ten most vulnerable islands of the archipelago and shows that there will be 70 per cent to 80 per cent land loss in eight of the ten islands by 2035. The other two islands will also have a land loss close to 40 per cent.

Jun 25, 2021

New Type of Ancient Human Discovered in Israel

Researchers working in Israel have identified a previously unknown type of ancient human that lived alongside our species more than 100,000 years ago.
They believe that the remains uncovered near the city of Ramla represent one of the "last survivors" of a very ancient human group.
The finds consist of a partial skull and jaw from an individual who lived between 140,000 and 120,000 years ago.
The team members think the individual descended from an earlier species that may have spread out of the region hundreds of thousands of years ago and given rise to Neanderthals in Europe and their equivalents in Asia.

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