General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - August 2019

Aug 2019

Jul 12, 2020

India's 2018 Tiger Census Sets New Guinness Record

The fourth cycle of the All India Tiger Estimation 2018, results of which were declared to the nation on Global Tiger Day last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has now entered the Guinness World Record for being the world's largest camera trap wildlife survey.
The Environment Minister said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has fulfilled its resolve to double the tiger numbers four years before the target. The country now has an estimated 2,967 tigers as per the latest census.
With this number, India is home to nearly 75 per cent of the global tiger population and has already fulfilled its resolve of doubling tiger numbers, made at St. Petersburg in 2010, much before the target year of 2022.
The citation at the Guinness World Record website reads: "The fourth iteration of the survey -- conducted in 2018-19 -- was the most comprehensive to date, in terms of both resource and data amassed. Camera traps were placed in 26,838 locations across 141 different sites and surveyed an effective area of 121,337 square kilometres.

Jul 10, 2020

UN: World Could Hit 1.5-degree Warming Threshold in 5 Years

According to the UN weather agency, the world could see average global temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average for the first time in the coming five years.
The 1.5-C mark is the level to which countries have agreed to try to limit global warming. Scientists say average temperatures around the world are already at least 1 C higher now than during the period from 1850-1900 because of man-made greenhouse emissions.
The World Meteorological Organisation said there is a 20% chance that the 1.5 C level will be reached in at least one year between 2020 and 2024. The period is expected to see annual average temperatures that are 0.91 C to 1.59 C higher than pre-industrial averages.

Jul 09, 2020

New Species of a Fan-Throated Lizard, 'Sitana Dharwarensis' Discovered

A team has discovered a new species of a fan-throated lizard, Sitana dharwarensis, from the barren lands of northern Karnataka's Bagalkot district.
The species belongs to the genus Sitana and derives its name from the Dharwar craton, a piece of the Earth's crust formed 3.6-2.5 billion years ago.
Though it is similar to a fan-throated lizard species, Sitana laticeps, it bears a much larger throat fan or dewlap. Its distinctness was confirmed after comparing the DNA sequences and micro-CT-scans of the two species.
Compared to other fan-throated lizards, it is larger in size.
It is restricted to the area surrounded by two major rivers namely Krishna and Dungapatra, which likely acts as biogeographic barriers for terrestrial lizards.

Golden Birdwing Surpasses Southern Birdwing to Become India's Largest Butterfly after 88 Years

The Himalayan butterfly named "Golden Birdwing (Troides aeacus)" surpassed the "Southern Birdwing (Troides minos)" after 88 years and became the largest butterfly in India. The female species of the Golden Birdwing has a wingspan of 194 mm that is 4 mm larger than that of the Southern Birdwing with 190 mm wingspan while the largest wingspan in the male species of the Golden Birdwing is 106 mm. The largest female Golden Birdwing's forewing length is 90 mm.
The female Golden Birdwing was recorded from Didihat in Uttarakhand, the largest male was from the Wankhar Butterfly Museum in Meghalaya capital Shillong.
Golden Birdwing is followed by Common Windmill (Byasa polyeuctes) at 98 mm, Great Windmill (Byasa dasarada) at 96 mm, and Common Peacock (Papilio bianor) at 78 mm- all from Uttarakhand.

Jul 08, 2020

ESA and NASA Line up Satellites to Measure Antarctic Sea-ice

US and European scientists are about to get a unique view of polar ice as their respective space agencies line up two satellites in the sky.
Authorisation was given for Europe's Cryosat-2 spacecraft to raise its orbit by just under one kilometre.
This will hugely increase the number of coincident observations it can make with the Americans' Icesat-2 mission.
One outcome from this new strategy will be the first ever reliable maps of Antarctic sea-ice thickness.
Currently, the floes in the far south befuddle efforts to measure their vertical dimension.
Heavy snow can pile on top of the floating ice, hiding its true thickness. Indeed, significant loading can even push Antarctic sea-ice under the water.
But researchers believe the different instruments on the two satellites working in tandem can help them tease apart this complexity.
NASA's Icesat-2, which orbits the globe at about 500 km in altitude, uses a laser to measure the distance to the Earth's surface - and hence the height of objects. This light beam reflects directly off the top of the snow.
ESA's Cryosat-2, on the other hand, at around 720 km in altitude, uses radar as its height tool, and this penetrates much more deeply into the snow cover before bouncing back.

Jul 04, 2020

Germany to Become First Major Economy to Phase Out Coal, Nuclear Power

German lawmakers have finalised the country's long-awaited phase-out of coal as an energy source, backing a plan that environmental groups say is not ambitious enough and free marketeers criticise as a waste of taxpayers' money.
Bills approved by both houses of parliament envision shutting down the last coal-fired power plant by 2038 and spending some 40 billion euros ($45 billion) to help affected regions cope with the transition.
The plan is part of Germany's 'energy transition' - an effort to wean Europe's biggest economy off planet-warming fossil fuels and generate all of the country's considerable energy needs from renewable sources. Achieving that goal is made harder than in comparable countries such as France and Britain because of Germany's existing commitment to also phase out nuclear power by the end of 2022.

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