Category Science

What are the advantages and disadvantages of wildfires?

Wildfires are a natural phenomenon that have both advantages and disadvantages. Globally, they have played a crucial part in our ecosystems they wipe out creatures unfit for survival and help in the growth of resilient ones, they allow for the clearing of dead plants and ensure new plants grow instead, help a species move into a new territory and establish a population there, and so on. On the other hand, they can help invasive species flourish, push threatened species to the brink of extinction, cause irreversible damage to ecosystems, etc. And, over the last few years, it appears that across the world, the perils of wildfires have far outweighed the benefits they offer.

The Australian wildfire of 2019-2020 was in the news for the unprecendented destruction it left in its wake. It killed or displaced nearly three billion animals, making it one of the worst wildlife disasters in modern history. And now Canadian wildfires too are a cause for alarm. This wildfire season – the worst in Canada’s recorded history-has destroyed millions of acres in the region, turning the focus on the nearly 700 species at risk. Some of these are even more at risk. How so? The habitats of a few species are already small. For instance, the half-moon hairstreak butterfly. Found in just a few small patches in Canada, these butterflies lost a part of their population and habitat to a lightning strike in 2017. Scientists are worried that such species could be lost completely if their habitats are destroyed in wildfires. Another species of concern is the burrowing owl that nests in prairie grasslands – affected by wildfires. Captive breeding programmes are being considered for both these species in peril. Further, the fire season has “overlapped with the breeding season for many species, presenting a clear danger to newborns”. While adults and healthy individuals can move fast and find ways to escape, the same cannot be said of young ones. In addition, smoke from the wildfires travel far, with potential to harm many species, including migrating birds.

As mentioned earlier, wildfires have occurred naturally. But today, human-induced climate change and global warming have given way to changed rainfall cycles and drier conditions. This has pushed up the intensity and instances of wildfires. As a result, forests that once withstood wildfires are no longer able to do so, and this could eliminate or negatively alter ecosystems.

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What is a flash drought?

A flash drought is an extreme dry spell. Of late, it is becoming a big concern for farmers and water utilities in some countires, Flash droughts start and intensify quickly, over periods of weeks to months, compared to years or decades for conventional droughts. Still, they can cause substantial economic damage, since communities have less time to prepare for the impacts of a rapidly evolving drought.

Flash droughts also can increase wildfire risks, cause public water supply shortages and reduce stream flow, which harms fish and other aquatic life.

What causes them?

Flash droughts typically result from a combination of lower-than-normal precipitation and higher temperatures. Together, these factors reduce overall land surface moisture. Reduced moisture at the surface increases surface air temperatures, drying out the soil. Even moist regions can have flash droughts. In 2017, a flash drought in Montana and the Dakotas damaged crops and grasses that served as forage for cattle, causing U.S. $2.6 billion in agricultural losses.

Difficult to predict

Predicting flash drought events that occur on monthly to weekly time scales is much harder with current data and tools, largely due to the chaotic nature of weather and limitations in weather models. That’s why weather forecasters don’t typically make projections beyond 10 days there is a lot of variation in what can happen over longer time spans. And climate patterns can shift from year to year, adding to the challenge.

Early warnings

New monitoring tools that measure evaporative demand can, however, provide early warnings for regions experiencing abnormal conditions. Information from these systems can give farmers and utilities sufficient lead time to adjust their operations and minimise their risks.

The U.S. story

Flash droughts started receiving more attention in the U.S. after notable events in 2012, 2016 and 2017 that reduced crop yields and increased wildfire risks. In 2012, areas in the Midwest fell into severe drought conditions in June and July, causing more than $30 billion in damages. New England, typically one of the wetter U.S. regions too experienced a flash drought in the summer of 2022.

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What is the affect of light pollution on plants?

One of the less discussed types of pollution is light pollution of even less is the focus on how it affects plants since conversations on light pollution invariably revolve around humans, animals and migratory birds. So, how does it impact plants? Come, let’s find out. 

Most plants are dependent on natural light because it’s an important ingredient to prepare their food through the process called photosynthesis But they need light for more than just food. Just the humans, plants to have a circadian rhythm .  (This rhythm refers to the changes each living being experiences primarily with regard to light and dark) Continued exposure to artifical light during dark hours can cause health issues in humans. And its not vastly different for plants Plants too need a sleep cycle to process staff and what they do is they gust attention on different activities at different ties of the day so they need to know the time of day But when they come under the harsh brightness of streetlights and artifical lights from buildings and vehicles, it becomes difficult for them to understand if its daytime or nighttime. This affects how they live their life.

They continue to photosynthesise at night, which forces them to use their energy and puts enormous stress on them. They are already suffering the effects of climate change such as warmer winters and longer summers”. All of these factors alter their natural rhythm to disastrous results, such as change in flowering patterns. leaf-shedding patterns, etc. Any change in plant reproduction and growth pattern impacts all the wildlife such as insects and birds dependent on it. That’s not all Light pollution affecting plants could impact humans too.

Moths are usually active at night, and artificial lights attract moths in the process, taking them away from flowering plants Studies have shown that this reduces pollen transfer (and pollination) through moths. When the number of new plants growing this way declines it denies pollen to bees an important pollinator crucial for food crops. The end of pollination could mean the eventual collapse of global ecosystems.

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What is the mission of Helios 2?

On April 16-17, 1976, Helios-B made its closest approach to the sun, thereby setting a record for the closest flyby of the sun.

April is here and with it comes searing heat as the sun beats down heavily on most parts of India. You must be aware, however, that the sun, with its entire mass of glowing, boiling heat, is the source of all life on Earth. Our sun, in fact, influences how every object in the solar system is shaped and behaves.

Studying solar processes

This means that learning more about the sun and understanding it better has always been a priority. Apart from studying it from here on Earth, which is what we did for most of our history, we have also started sending spacecraft to explore its secrets. The Helios mission was one such mission, sending out a pair of probes into heliocentric orbit (an orbit around the sun) to study solar processes.

Following the success of the Pioneer probes, which formed a ring of solar weather stations along Earth’s orbit to measure solar wind and predict solar storms, the Helios mission was planned. While the Pioneer probes orbited within 0.8 AU (astronomical unit, mean distance between Earth and sun) of the sun, the Helios probes shattered that record within years.

A joint German-American deep-space mission to study solar-terrestrial relationships and many solar processes, it was NASA’s largest bilateral project up until then. The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) paid around $180 million of the total $260 million cost and provided the spacecraft, while NASA provided the launch vehicles.

Named Helios-A and Helios-B and equipped with state-of-the-art thermal control systems, the pair of probes were renamed Helios 1 and Helios 2 after their launches. Launched late in 1974, Helios 1 passed within 47 million km (0.31 AU) of the sun at a speed of 2,38,000 km per hour on March 15, 1975. While this was clearly the closest any human-made object had ever been to the sun, the record was broken again in a little over a year by its twin probe.

Even though Helios-B was very similar to Helios-A, the second spacecraft had improvements in terms of system design in order to help it survive longer in the harsh conditions it was heading for. Launched early in 1976, Helios 2 was also put into heliocentric orbit like its twin.

Achieves perihelion

Helios 2, however, flew 3 million km closer to the sun when compared to Helios 1. On April 16-17, 1976, Helios 2 achieved its perihelion or closest approach to the sun at a distance of 0.29 AU or 43.432 million km. At that distance, Helios 2 took the record for the closest flyby of the sun, a record that it didn’t relinquish for over four decades. It also set a new speed record for a spacecraft in the process, reaching a maximum velocity of 68.6 km/s (2.46.960 km/h).

Helios 2’s position relative to the sun meant that it was exposed to 10% more heat or 20 degrees Celsius more heat when compared to Helios 1. In addition to providing information on solar plasma, solar wind, cosmic rays, and cosmic dust, Helios 2 also performed magnetic field and electrical field experiments.

Apart from studying these parameters about the sun and its environment, both Helios 1 and Helios 2 also had the opportunity to observe the dust and ion tails of at least three comets. While data from Helios 1 was received until late 1982, Helios 2’s downlink transmitter failed on March 3, 1980. No further usable data was received from Helios 2 and ground controllers shut down the spacecraft on January 7, 1981.

This was done to avoid any possible radio interference with other spacecraft in the future as both probes continue to orbit the sun.

Parker Solar Probe gets closer and faster

After enjoying its position for over 40 years, Helios 2’s records were finally broken by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. Launched on August 12, 2018 to study the sun in unprecedented detail, the probe became the first to “touch” the sun during its eighth flyby on April 28, 2021 when it swooped inside the sun’s outer atmosphere. Already holding both the distance and speed records, it is expected to further break them both during its 24 orbits of the sun over its seven-year lifespan. When it completed its 15th closest approach to the sun a month ago on March 17, it came within 8.5 million km of the sun’s surface.

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What is sustainable transport?

As the UN observes World Sustainable Transport Day on November 26, we take a look at what it means for Indian cities

All of us hate traffic jams. A person living in Mumbai spends an average of 9 days every year just being stuck in traffic, according to the India Traffic Report. 2019. There is a lot that citizens, like you and me, can do to change this Sustainable transport, according to the United Nations, can ease the pain of commuting through cities for everyone, including those with special needs.

Public transport

There are over 34 crore motor vehicles on Indian roads now, compared to a mere 14 crore in 2011 While the number of vehicles keeps growing meterorically, there aren’t enough roads and parking spaces to accommodate all of them. The result -long winding traffic craints, parking problem , and a spike in road accidents.

At least one road accident was reported within every three minutes in India in 2022. A total of 1.68 lakh lives were lost. Despite all the data, faster bikes and bigger SUVs continue to be the aspirational purchases for the indian public, encouraged by loans and regulatory easements provided by the government. Mobility experts say public transport is the one and only panacea to this problem. it will help reduce road accidents, reduce carbon emissions, and resolve the space crunch that we are facing on roads and parking lots. But in the current form, public transport in India is plagued by many challenges.

Challenges to public transport. While policymakers keep pushing us to use public transport regularly, the fact remains that most of our casting systems are already full and overburdened. The Mumbai local trains, for instance, carry a whopping 80 lakh passengers a day By comparison, the local trains in Chennai ferry about 25 lakh Cities invested heavily in metro mil to reduce the burden on existing systems, and provide connectivity to new areas. While the public uptake has been encouraging, last-mile connectivity remains a challenge Last-mile connectivity means ensuring passengers have a reliable mode of commute from metro stations to their final destination. Providing rental or free cycles, ensuring metro stations are located near bus stands, commercial junctions, providing shuttle bus services, are some options that are being explored for last-mile connectivity on a trial-and-error basis. While these efforts are yet to bear fruit, lessons are being learnt across cities for implementation on a wider scale.

Pedestrians ignored

 Indian cities are fast becoming a nightmare for pedestrians. The Indian Road Congress has clearly laid out guidelines on the size of footpaths to be laid based on the size and category of roads. However, these norms are constantly flouted. Houses cutting into footpaths to build driveways and shops and illegally parked vehicles encroaching walking spaces are a common sight across our cities today.

A long-term study by IIT Madras showed that between 2009 and 2017, 80% of road accidents in Chennai involved pedestrians on footpaths or at road crossings. Since then, Chennai has tried to popolarise the concept of pedestrian plazas, by promoting big, dedicated walkways in various parts of the city. The initiative has been reasonably successful.

Electric vehicles

After walking and public transport, electric vehicles are the next best bet. While they do not remote universal access, they do mitigate the impact of vehicular and public transport, electric vehicles are the next best bet. While they do not promote universal access, they do mitigate the impact of vehicular pollution on the environment. Still, concerns remain as most of the electricity generated today in the country comes from burning dirty coal. The disposal of EV batteries-which are toxic to the environment is also a concern.

Sustainable transport is about building systems that can be used by anybody and everybody. It has to be affordable for the poor, accessible for the disabled, and seamless for the busy office-goers. As citizens, it is our duty to push the envelope with policymakers to make sustainable transport a reality in our cities.

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How cow dung is very beneficial?

Cow dung has several uses – as fuel, mosquito repellent, thermal insulator, and even as a component in mud brick housing. But, its most common and popular use is perhaps as manure. As a natural agricultural fertilizer, such manure eliminates the use of harmful chemicals, keeping the soil healthy. You may also have heard of vermicomposting where the likes of earthworms consume organic waste and excrete what we can use as manure. But these aren’t the only creatures whose poop have their uses. Come, let’s find out more about this.

Whale poop

Whales are at the top of the food pyramid, meaning these large creatures play a huge role in keeping their marine ecosystem going. In fact, so huge that even their poop is important. Whales feed on deep sea creatures and move to the surface to breathe and And this poop is loaded with nutrients such as phosphorus. What whales do is essentially bring nutrients from the deep sea to the ocean surface. Phytoplankton and algae consume whale poop, and these organisms become food to zooplankton such as krill. Zooplankton, in turn, are food for the likes of fish and birds. And, through the latter, nutrients are carried from water to land.

Guano

The poop of birds (particularly seabirds) and bats is called guano. Just like whale poop, guano too is rich in nutrients – such as nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and potassium. Around the mid-19th Century, it was discovered that “nitrogen added to soil would drastically improve crop yields – particularly in the form of guano”. Gradually over the years, its popularity spread the world over. This organic fertilizer can be used for raising vegetables, nut- and fruit-bearing trees, and even for ornamental plants and lawns.

Frass

Frass is the poop of insect larvae. Frass deposits on soil are said to have a great impact on soil fertility due to their high nutrient and labile carbon (which breaks down easily and is nutritious) content. Frass also contains “small concentrations of micronutrients”, which may further be beneficial for crops. Since the world is contemplating ways to increase protein-rich insect consumption among humans, reports suggest that interest in increasing insect population is high. Which could also mean increase in frass availability.

Did you know?

Since there are “huge declines in whale, seabird and fish populations”, the movement of nutrients from water and land “has slowed”. Researchers “reckon that only a quarter as much phosphorus makes it to surface waters today compared with the past. And the flow of phosphorus to land has nearly stopped- at just 4 percent of historic levels”. But this scenario is still reversible if we focus on restoring species, learn to share the planet with them- rather than locking them up in zoos or even confining them to protected areas and let them roam the world.

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