Category Weather & Climate

Can India experience heat waves beyond human survival?

India could experience heat waves beyond human survival limit, says World Bank report. And this impact would be felt in several ways. A look at the report in five brief points

1. HOTTEST ON RECORD: The World Bank report titled “Climate Investment Opportunities in India’s Cooling Sector” said that the country is experiencing higher temperatures that arrive earlier and stay far longer. “In April 2022, India was plunged into the grip of a punishing early spring heat wave that brought the country to a standstill, with temperatures in the capital. New Delhi, topping 46 degrees Celsius. The month of March, which witnessed extraordinary spikes in temperatures, was the hottest ever recorded,” said the report.

2. INTENSE HEAT WAVES: Predicting that heat waves situation in India could break the human survivability limit, the study noted that the recent heat wave supports what many climate scientists have long cautioned about with reference to rising temperatures across South Asia. It added that in August 2021, the Sixth Assessment Report of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that the Indian subcontinent would suffer more frequent and intense heat waves over the coming decade. The G20 Climate Risk Atlas also warned in 2021 that heat waves across India were likely to last 25 times longer by 2036-65 if carbon emissions remain high, as in the IPCC’s worst-case emission scenario.

3. IMPACT ON ECONOMY: The report warned that rising heat across India can jeopardise economic productivity. “Up to 75 per cent of India’s workforce, or 380 million people, depend on heat-exposed labor, at times working in potentially life-threatening temperatures….By 2030, India may account for 34 million of the projected 80 million global job losses from heat stress associated productivity decline,” the report stated.

4. HEAT AND COLD CHAINS: Transporting food and pharmaceutical goods across India requires a system of cold chain refrigeration that works every step of the way. “A single temperature lapse in the journey can break the cold chain, spoiling fresh produce and weakening the potency of vaccines. With only 4 per cent of fresh produce in India covered by cold chain facilities, annual estimated food losses total USD 13 billion,” it said. It also observed that the third largest producer of pharmaceuticals in the world, pre-COVID-19, India lost approximately 20 per cent of temperature-sensitive medical products and 25 per cent of vaccines due to broken cold chains, leading to losses of USD 313 million a year.

5. THE POOR ARE VULNERABLE: According to analysis presented in the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP), only eight per cent of Indian households own air-conditioning units. “Indoor and electric fans can help to maintain thermal comfort, but these too are expensive to buy and inefficient. As a result, many poor and marginalised communities across India are more vulnerable to extreme heat, living in inadequately ventilated, hot and crowded homes without proper access to cooling,” the report warned.

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Are heatwaves Present in the ocean?

High temperatures and heatwaves across the globe saw records broken in July 2023 on land and in the oceans. The oceans serve as the Earth’s heat reservoir, absorbing substantial amounts of thermal energy as a result of their continuous interaction with the atmosphere. Under specific conditions prolonged periods of unusually high temperatures in the oceans are called marine heatwaves much like their atmospheric counterparts.These higher temperatures could be driven by increased heat input from the atmosphere. decreased heat losses from the ocean or the transfer of warmer water masses through currents Over the past two decades these events have become more prevalent and widespread, having been observed in various areas of the global ocean, in both regional and large scales, at the surface of the ocean and at depth

In particular, recent data shows the occurrence of marine heatwaves surged by 34 percent between 1925 and 2016. While the exact mechanisms triggering marine heatwaves vary from region to region. There are two primary factors. In some instances, the atmospheric conditions themselves play a pivotal role. During such episodes, stagnant air masses and prolonged high temperatures in the atmosphere conspire to heat the ocean’s surface setting the stage for a marine heatwave event. This pattern was notably evident during a 2012 North Atlantic event, which saw one of the highest sea surface temperatures ever recorded.

In other cases, the main driver is the movement of ocean currents, which transport relatively warm water masses to new areas. When these warm masses converge in specific regions, they cause a rapid and abrupt increase in the sea’s surface temperature. This was witnessed in the 2015 Tasman Sea (situated between Australia and New Zealand) event.

As the impacts of marine heatwaves reverberate across the globe, understanding the complex interplay between the oceans and the atmosphere is crucial for predicting the Occurrence of these extreme events. In the face of climate change, conserving and protecting our oceans becomes ever more critical. Therefore improving marine heatwave predictability is crucial to empower communities and ecosystems alike to adapt and build resilience. By better understanding the science behind marine heatwaves and taking collective action, people can work towards a more resilient and sustainable future for the oceans. (With inputs from agencies).

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What’s a living fossil?

Living fossils are those species that have retained the same form over millions of years. They have few or no living relatives. Most of these animals have changed relatively little since their origins.

Did you know that some archaic species that lived millions of years ago have survived for a long time and still live alongside us? The anatomy of these species has remained unchanged and these relics of the past are called living fossils.

The term “living fossil” refers to those species that have retained the same form over millions of years. They have few or no living relatives. Most of these animals have changed relatively little since their origins. They have often survived several mass extinctions.

It was English naturalist Charles Darwin who introduced the concept of a “living fossil”. He coined the term in his book On the Origin of Species (1859). He described them as species that are still in existence but belonging to an old lineage. While most species have been evolving, these underwent slow rates of evolution. The appearance of these are mostly unchanged from their extinct fossil relatives.

They have survived from an earlier period or in a primitive form, have long-enduring lineages and also belong to a group with low diversity. Their DNA has hardly changed in millions of years.

Some examples of living fossils include coelacanths, horseshoe crabs, tuataras, komodo dragon, aardvark, red panda, nautilus and purple frog. The tree Ginkgo biloba is the only living species of its group. It dates back almost 300 million years in the fossil record.

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Can hydrogen really become a climate solution?

 

Hydrogen or H is getting a lot of attention lately as governments in the U.S., Canada and Europe push to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. But what exactly is H2 and is it really a clean power source?

Here are some key facts about this versatile chemical that could play a much larger role in our lives in the future.

SO, WHAT IS HYDROGEN?

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but because its so reactive, it isn’t found on its own in nature. Instead, it is typically bound to other atoms and molecules in water, natural gas, coal and even biological matter like plants and human bodies.

Hydrogen can be isolated, however on its own, the H2 molecule packs a heavy punch as a highly effective energy carrier. It is already used in industry to manufacture ammonia, methanol and steel and in refining crude oil.

HYDROGEN AS AN ENERGY SOURCE

As a fuel, hydrogen can store energy and reduce emissions from vehicles, including buses and cargo ships. Hydrogen can also be used to generate electricity with lower greenhouse gas emissions than coal or natural gas power plants. Because it can be stored, H2 could help overcome intermittency issues associated with renewable power sources like wind and solar. It can also be blended with natural gas in existing power plants to reduce the plants emissions. Using hydrogen in power plants can reduce carbon dioxide emissions when either blended or alone in specialised turbines, or in fuel cells, which consume H2 and oxygen, or Oz, to produce electricity, heat and water. But it’s typically not entirely CO-free. That’s in part because isolating Hz from water or natural gas takes a lot of energy.

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How are snow rollers formed?

Snow rollers are freak weather phenomena that require the combination of many factors to occur: the snow on the ground must be icy and crusty to prevent falling snow from sticking to it; temperature should be around o degree Celsius and the wind speed should be just right to gently scoop the fresh layer of loose snow into a roll. It helps if the area has a natural slope.

As chunks of snow break loose from the icy ground, they start rolling and pick up additional snow along the way to form cylindrical rolls sometimes as – large as 1 metre in diameter. As the inner layer of the snow roller is usually loose and less compact, it gets easily blown away by the wind to form a hollow roll which looks like a snow doughnut. While most snow rollers are delicate and may crumble when touched, some are icy enough to play with! Snow rollers are a rare sight and therefore make headlines whenever they occur.

What is a sting operation?

A sting operation is often carried out to expose corruption. A sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a criminal in the act Typically, the police lay a trap for the suspect wherein he/she is induced to commit a crime Usually the criminal act is recorded on a video camera so that the police can build a foolproof case against the offender. For example, an undercover police officer may approach a suspected drug dealer posing as a prospective buyer in order to catch him red-handed. Or the police may keep a bait car in an area where large-scale car theft is happening. Often a sting operation is carried out to expose corruption. It may, for example, expose a politician taking bribe, or a govemment official demanding money to do his duty.

In recent years many media houses have made effective use of stings to expose highly-placed corrupt persons. But sometimes the media is also accused of carrying out sensational sting operations in which innocent persons may be victimised.

Some people think it is unethical to tempt a person to commit a crime which he/she may not have otherwise committed.Sting operations in India were able to expose malpractices in the medical profession such as illegal sale of kidneys or pre-natal sex determination tests.

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What is it like to live underground?

Have you ever thought of living in underground homes? If not, we will soon have to, it looks like. Climate change air pollution, shrinking spaces and overcrowding may one day force us to burrow underground like moles! What is it like to live underground? Come, let’s find out from modern-day troglodytes.

From the time of the Neanderthals around 1.00.000 years ago, human beings have lived in caves. A cave is a hollow area in the earth that has formed naturally. It may consist of a single chamber that is not very far from the surface, or a network of passages and chambers that may descend deep under the ground and nun for many miles.

Troglodyte tales

A human cave-dweller is called a troglodyte Are there any modern-day troglodytes? Yes and they are found in a number of countries, ranging from Tunisia, Iran and China to Italy and Turkey!

In Tunisia’s  Matmata, located in the arid Djebel Dahar region, the Berbers have lived in underground homes for centuries. The houses protect them from the extreme desert cold and heat remaining cool in summer and cosy in winter. They are built by digging a deep circular pit in the soft sandstone. Then cave-like rooms are excavated around the edges of the pit. The main pit is a courtyard open to the sky.

In the 1960s, unexpectedly heavy downpours flooded the area, destroying or damaging the underground dwellings. The Tunisian government encouraged the Berbers to settle in towns and cities.

The houses became a tourist attraction after one of them featured as Luke Skywalkers home in a Star Wars film. Today, only a handful of families who are reluctant to move away from their land and homes, remain in Matmata.

Wherever people have constructed cave dwellings, whether it is Matmata, Iran’s Kandovan, Turkey’s Cappadocia, or Italy’s Matera, the landscape has lent itself to easy digging and excavation. Kandovan and Cappadocia both have caves hollowed out of volcanic ash and debris, while in Matera, it is pliable limestone. In China’s Shanxi province, the cave houses are built from loess, fine particles of soil.

Opal City

In Coober Pedy an Australian opal mining town, the residents went underground to escape the dust storms and searing summer heat (47°C). They cut into the sandstone mounds to make their dugouts. After tunnelling out the rooms, lacquer was applied to the walls and concrete floor  laid. All modern dugouts have wall-to-wall carpeting, furnishings running water and electricity

Underground, the temperature remains constant all year round at 24°C (controlled by air ventilation shafts). Except for the dim light, the faint echoes and the mild smell of salt from the earth, life is not much different from that above ground. The only drawback is the dust!

Mole people

Of course, in all these places, living underground is tolerable not only because electricity and water are available, but also because the inhabitants know they can come to the surface if they crave sunshine and fresh air Would humans adapt so well if they had to live entirely under the earth 24/7? The lack of sunlight is the biggest concern in living underground Sunlight is necessary for growing food crops and stimulating the production of Vitamin D in the human body Vitamin D is essential to maintain bone health.

Another danger is Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD which affects people in winter when the days are long and dark

When isolated in caves without light humans have been observed to sleep for 48 hours at a stretch! Artificial lights to regulate Circadian rhythms would be needed

Most humans have a natural fear of being buried alive in confined underground spaces. So going underground is physically possible and an ecologically sound idea, but it may cause psychological stress.

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