Strategic significance of Indo- Pacific

👉Indio-Pacific is a multipolar region, contributing more than half of the world’s GDP and population.

👉A stable, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific Region is an important pillar of India’s strategic partnership with the other countries, especially USA.

👉Maritime territories have also emerged as depositories of vital resources ranging from fish stocks to minerals and offshore oil and gas.

👉 The South China Sea, for instance, is estimated to hold some 10 percent of the global catch of fish as well as 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas.

👉According to a report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), countries in the Indo-Pacific produce over 60% of global GDP, making the region the largest single contributor to global growth.

👉The region consists of many of the world’s vital choke points for global commerce, including the Straits of Malacca which is very critical for the growth of the world economy.

👉The Indo-Pacific region also stands at the intersection of international trade, with around 32.2 million barrels of crude oil pass through annually and 40% of global exports come from the region.

👉 Pacific islands are strategically significant from New Delhi’s point of view as they sit astride important sea lines of communication through which important maritime trade is conducted.



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Cold wave in Northwest India

👉The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted a cold wave in parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh over the next few days.

👉The IMD records a cold wave when the minimum temperature is equal to or less than 10 degrees Celsius at a weather station in the plains and is 4.5 degrees to 6.4 degrees below the normal temperature for that period.

👉For hilly regions, a cold wave is declared when the minimum temperature is less than or equal to 0 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature is 4.5 degrees to 6.4 degrees below the normal.

👉Cold wave conditions form due to lack of western disturbances.

👉Western disturbances create precipitation and bring down day temperatures, but night temperatures remain steady.

👉Snowfall in the upper Himalayas creates a wind chill factor for the northern states of India

👉Subsiding air (from the upper Himalayas) further cools down creating low-temperature conditions over North India for a longer period.

👉La Nina increases the severity of cold conditions, also the frequency and area covered under the grip of a cold wave become larger e.g. winters of October 2020 were colder than usual (2 degrees Celsius, the lowest since 1962) due to the impact of La Nina in the pacific.

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Assam Meghalaya border dispute

👉Assam and Meghalaya share an 885-km-long border. Meghalaya was carved out of Assam under the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, a law that it challenged, leading to disputes.

👉As of now, there are 12 points of dispute along their borders. These include the areas of Upper Tarabari, Gazang reserve forest, Hahim, Langpih, Borduar, Boklapara, Nongwah, Matamur, Khanapara-Pilangkata, Deshdemoreah Block I and Block II, Khanduli and Retacherra.

👉The states of the Northeast were largely carved out of Assam, which has border disputes with several states.

👉Assam’s border disputes with Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland are pending in the Supreme Court.

👉Assam’s border disputes with Meghalaya and Mizoram are currently in the phase of resolution through negotiations.

👉The border dispute with Mizoram recently turned violent, leading to intervention from the Centre.

👉A major point of contention between Assam and Meghalaya is the district of Langpih in West Garo Hills bordering the Kamrup district of Assam.

👉Langpih was part of the Kamrup district during the British colonial period but post-Independence, it became part of the Garo Hills and Meghalaya.

👉Assam considers it to be part of the Mikir Hills in Assam. Meghalaya has questioned Blocks I and II of the Mikir Hills -now Karbi Anglong region – being part of Assam.

👉Meghalaya says these were parts of erstwhile United Khasi and Jaintia Hills districts.


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Meteorite (ALH) 84001

👉Meteorite named Alan Hills (ALH) 84001 was found in December, 1984 in the Far Western Icefield of Allan Hills in Antarctica by a US meteorite hunting expedition.

👉At the time of its discovery it was recognised as the most unusual rock collected.

👉In 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover collected the first sample of Martian rock.

👉It can be said with certainty that the meteorite did come from the Red planet because of the presence of traces of certain gases that are just like the Martian atmosphere.

👉Scientists are interested in studying meteorites as examining them offers clues about the beginning of the solar system and maybe even the Earth.

👉Space agencies have launched specific missions to asteroids to be able to study them.

👉One such example is NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission launched in 2018 with the aim of reaching asteroid Bennu and getting back a sample from the ancient asteroid.

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Tonga Islands

👉It is a volcanic island. It is located in Tonga. Tonga is a Polynesian country. It is an archipelago.

👉It consists of 169 islands. It is surrounded by New Caledonia and Vanuatu in the west, Fiji, Futuna and Wallis in the north west, Niue in the east and Kermadec (New Zealand) in the south west.

👉A volcano erupted in the southern Pacific Island of Tonga, which triggered Tsunami waves around the Pacific.

👉The Tonga Islands occur along the Ring of Fire—a perimeter of heightened volcanic and seismic activity that encircles the Pacific Ocean basin.


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La Niña effect

👉La Nina, the “cool phase” of ENSO, is a pattern that describes the unusual cooling of the tropical eastern Pacific.

👉La Nina events may last between one and three years, unlike El Nino, which usually lasts no more than a year.

👉Both phenomena tend to peak during the Northern Hemisphere winter.

👉La Nina means The Little Girl in Spanish. It is also sometimes called El Viejo, anti-El Nino, or simply "a cold event."

👉La Nina events represent periods of below-average sea surface temperatures across the east-central Equatorial Pacific.

👉It is indicated by sea-surface temperature decreased by more than 0.9℉ for at least five successive three-month seasons.

👉The La Nina event is observed when the water temperature in the Eastern Pacific gets comparatively colder than normal, as a consequence of which, there is a strong high pressure over the eastern equatorial Pacific.

👉La Nina is caused by a build-up of cooler-than-normal waters in the tropical Pacific, the area of the Pacific Ocean between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

👉La Nina is characterized by lower-than-normal air pressure over the western Pacific. These low-pressure zones contribute to increased rainfall.

👉La Nina events are also associated with rainier-than-normal conditions over southeastern Africa and northern Brazil.

👉However, strong La Nina events are associated with catastrophic floods in northern Australia.

👉La Nina is also characterized by higher-than-normal pressure over the central and eastern Pacific.

👉This results in decreased cloud production and rainfall in that region.

👉Drier-than-normal conditions are observed along the west coast of tropical South America, the Gulf Coast of the United States, and the pampas region of southern South America.

👉La Nina influences the Indian subcontinent by piping in cold air from Siberia and South China, which interacts with the tropical heating to produce a north-south low-pressure system.

👉The cold air of La Nina associated with this north-south trough tends to extend much further south into India.


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Marine Heatwaves

👉Marine heatwaves are periods of extremely high temperatures in the ocean.

👉These events are linked to coral bleaching, seagrass destruction, and loss of kelp forests, affecting the fisheries sector adversely.

👉The most common drivers of marine heatwaves include ocean currents which can build up areas of warm water and air-sea heat flux, or warming through the ocean surface from the atmosphere.

👉The most common cause of marine heat waves are ocean currents which can build up areas of warm water and air-sea heat flux, or warming through the ocean surface from the atmosphere.

👉Normally, sunlight passes through the atmosphere and heats the surface of the ocean. If there are weak winds this warm water doesn’t mix with the cooler waters below.

👉 It sits on top and continues to heat leading to marine heat waves.

👉According to a study, the Western Indian Ocean region experienced the largest increase in marine heatwaves at a rate of about 1.5 events per decade, followed by the north Bay of Bengal at a rate of 0.5 events per decade.

👉From 1982 to 2018, the Western Indian Ocean had a total of 66 events, while the Bay of Bengal had 94 events.

👉The marine heatwaves in the Western Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal increased drying conditions over the central Indian subcontinent.

👉Correspondingly, there is a significant increase in the rainfall over south peninsular India in response to the heatwaves in the north Bay of Bengal.


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