Greenhouse gases hit new high
Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new record in 2018, exceeding the average yearly increase of the last decade and reinforcing increasingly damaging weather patterns, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22108-greenhouse-gases-hit-new-high.html
#Greenhouse #WMO #gases #NDCs #UNEP #CO2
Maharashtra political crisis
While ordering floor test for Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, the Supreme Court on 26 November 2019 referred to its past decisions on Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand where it had ordered similar exercise in times of political crisis.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22107-maharashtra-political-crisis.html
#Maharashtra #DevendraFadnavis #PoliticalCrisis #MLAs #BJP
Red flags rising Mudra bad loans
Reserve Bank Deputy Governor MK Jain on 26 November 2019 raised concerns over the growing NPA levels in Mudra loans and asked banks to monitor these loans closely.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22106-red-flags-rising-mudra-bad-loans.html
#Redflags #NPA #PMMY #NarendraModi #Mudraloans #Kishore #PradhanMantriMUDRAYojana
Constitution Day
Constitution Day is being celebrated across the country to mark the adoption of the Indian Constitution by the Constituent Assembly on this day (26 November) in 1949. The Constitution Day is also known as Samvidhan diwas.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22105-constitution-day.html
#ConstitutionDay #Samvidhandiwas #NarendraModi #BhimRaoAmbedkar
Merger of UT Bill 2019 introduced
The government on 26 November 2019 introduced in the Lok Sabha a Bill to merge two Union Territories — Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli — into one.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22104-merger-of-ut-bill-2019-introduced.html
#UTBill2019 #Merger #LokSabha #JammuandKashmir #NagarHaveli
Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new record in 2018, exceeding the average yearly increase of the last decade and reinforcing increasingly damaging weather patterns, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22108-greenhouse-gases-hit-new-high.html
#Greenhouse #WMO #gases #NDCs #UNEP #CO2
Maharashtra political crisis
While ordering floor test for Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, the Supreme Court on 26 November 2019 referred to its past decisions on Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand where it had ordered similar exercise in times of political crisis.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22107-maharashtra-political-crisis.html
#Maharashtra #DevendraFadnavis #PoliticalCrisis #MLAs #BJP
Red flags rising Mudra bad loans
Reserve Bank Deputy Governor MK Jain on 26 November 2019 raised concerns over the growing NPA levels in Mudra loans and asked banks to monitor these loans closely.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22106-red-flags-rising-mudra-bad-loans.html
#Redflags #NPA #PMMY #NarendraModi #Mudraloans #Kishore #PradhanMantriMUDRAYojana
Constitution Day
Constitution Day is being celebrated across the country to mark the adoption of the Indian Constitution by the Constituent Assembly on this day (26 November) in 1949. The Constitution Day is also known as Samvidhan diwas.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22105-constitution-day.html
#ConstitutionDay #Samvidhandiwas #NarendraModi #BhimRaoAmbedkar
Merger of UT Bill 2019 introduced
The government on 26 November 2019 introduced in the Lok Sabha a Bill to merge two Union Territories — Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli — into one.
Read More: https://www.ksgindia.com/study-material/news-for-aspirants/22104-merger-of-ut-bill-2019-introduced.html
#UTBill2019 #Merger #LokSabha #JammuandKashmir #NagarHaveli
Ksgindia
Greenhouse gases hit new high | KSG India | Khan Study Group
Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new record in 2018, exceeding the average yearly increase of the last decade and reinforcing increasingly damaging weather patterns, the World Meteorological
Today's Headlines - 02 August 2023
Climate change is altering the colour of the oceans
GS Paper - 3 (Environment)
The colour of the Earth’s oceans has significantly altered over the past two decades, most likely due to human-induced climate change, according to a new study. Over 56 per cent of the oceans, more than the total land area on the planet, has experienced the shift in colour, it added. The study, ‘Global climate-change trends detected in indicators of ocean ecology’, was published in the journal Nature.
What makes the oceans colourful in the first place?
In most regions across the world, the oceans appear blue or navy blue for a reason. This happens due to “the absorption and scattering of light”.
When the sunlight falls on deep and clear water, colours with longer wavelengths, such as red, yellow and green, are absorbed by the water molecules but blue and violet, which have a much shorter wavelength, are reflected back.
When sunlight hits the ocean, some of the light is reflected back directly but most of it penetrates the ocean surface and interacts with the water molecules that it encounters.
The red, orange, yellow, and green wavelengths of light are absorbed so that the remaining light we see is composed of the shorter wavelength blues and violets.
But when the water isn’t deep or clean, an ocean can appear to be of a different colour.
For instance, along Argentina’s coastline, where major rivers merge into the Atlantic Ocean, the ocean exudes a brown tint because of dead leaves and sediments spewing from the rivers.
In other parts of the world, the oceans appear green, which happens due to the existence of phytoplankton on the upper surface of the water.
Phytoplanktons are microscopic marine algae that contain the green-coloured pigment chlorophyll.
The pigment helps them absorb sunlight, which they use to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into sugars. Moreover, chlorophyll absorbs the red and blue portions of the light spectrum — or photosynthesis — and reflects green light.
What methods were used to carry out the study?
To conduct the study, Cael and his team first analysed data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite, which has been monitoring ocean colour since 2002 — the measurements are taken in terms of the amount of light coming off the surface of the oceans, at all seven of the different wavelengths of light, from violet to red.
The examination of 20 years worth of data indicated that in more than 50 per cent of the world’s oceans, the colour has changed.
Then, to check if the phenomenon has occurred due to climate change, researchers used a climate model – a computer representation of the Earth.
This model simulated the planet’s oceans under two scenarios: one with the addition of greenhouse gases, and the other without it.
The greenhouse-gas model predicted that a significant trend should show up within 20 years and that this trend should cause changes to ocean colour in about 50 percent of the world’s surface oceans — almost exactly what Cael found in his analysis of real-world satellite data.
#upsc #news #headline #climate #colour #oceans #pigment #phytoplankton #chlorophyll #sediments #spewing #rivers #spectrum #methods #MODIS #NASA #Aqua #satellite #world #earth #wavelength #gases #greenhouse #data #planet
Climate change is altering the colour of the oceans
GS Paper - 3 (Environment)
The colour of the Earth’s oceans has significantly altered over the past two decades, most likely due to human-induced climate change, according to a new study. Over 56 per cent of the oceans, more than the total land area on the planet, has experienced the shift in colour, it added. The study, ‘Global climate-change trends detected in indicators of ocean ecology’, was published in the journal Nature.
What makes the oceans colourful in the first place?
In most regions across the world, the oceans appear blue or navy blue for a reason. This happens due to “the absorption and scattering of light”.
When the sunlight falls on deep and clear water, colours with longer wavelengths, such as red, yellow and green, are absorbed by the water molecules but blue and violet, which have a much shorter wavelength, are reflected back.
When sunlight hits the ocean, some of the light is reflected back directly but most of it penetrates the ocean surface and interacts with the water molecules that it encounters.
The red, orange, yellow, and green wavelengths of light are absorbed so that the remaining light we see is composed of the shorter wavelength blues and violets.
But when the water isn’t deep or clean, an ocean can appear to be of a different colour.
For instance, along Argentina’s coastline, where major rivers merge into the Atlantic Ocean, the ocean exudes a brown tint because of dead leaves and sediments spewing from the rivers.
In other parts of the world, the oceans appear green, which happens due to the existence of phytoplankton on the upper surface of the water.
Phytoplanktons are microscopic marine algae that contain the green-coloured pigment chlorophyll.
The pigment helps them absorb sunlight, which they use to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into sugars. Moreover, chlorophyll absorbs the red and blue portions of the light spectrum — or photosynthesis — and reflects green light.
What methods were used to carry out the study?
To conduct the study, Cael and his team first analysed data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite, which has been monitoring ocean colour since 2002 — the measurements are taken in terms of the amount of light coming off the surface of the oceans, at all seven of the different wavelengths of light, from violet to red.
The examination of 20 years worth of data indicated that in more than 50 per cent of the world’s oceans, the colour has changed.
Then, to check if the phenomenon has occurred due to climate change, researchers used a climate model – a computer representation of the Earth.
This model simulated the planet’s oceans under two scenarios: one with the addition of greenhouse gases, and the other without it.
The greenhouse-gas model predicted that a significant trend should show up within 20 years and that this trend should cause changes to ocean colour in about 50 percent of the world’s surface oceans — almost exactly what Cael found in his analysis of real-world satellite data.
#upsc #news #headline #climate #colour #oceans #pigment #phytoplankton #chlorophyll #sediments #spewing #rivers #spectrum #methods #MODIS #NASA #Aqua #satellite #world #earth #wavelength #gases #greenhouse #data #planet
Today's Headlines - 16 August 2023
Wildfires ravage Hawaii’s Maui Island
GS Paper - 3 (Environment)
The images of the aftermath of the devastating fire in Hawaii’s Maui Island have grabbed the world’s attention. The wildfires, which have already killed nearly 100 people and left thousands homeless, have become part of a wider global list of unusually intense blazes that have raged across Europe, Canada and the United States.
What happened in Hawaii
Hawaii is no stranger to fires, which burn on a smaller scale with some regularity, especially in the drier parts of the island.
The current fires – active in Lahaina, Upcountry and Pūlehu/Kīhei – are believed to have started with the one in Lahaina spreading quickly across the town.
The exact cause of the fires is still under investigation, but experts agree that the fires were bolstered by strong winds from Category-4 Hurricane Dora, which was passing through the Pacific Ocean – far to the southwest of the island.
Low humidity and dry vegetation too precipitated the issue. Initial reports suggest that the changing land-use patterns in Hawaii, which has seen farm and forest lands being replaced by flammable non-native species of grasses like Guinea grass, are a likely cause for the easy spread of the fire.
Over the past few decades, wildfire has been increasing in Hawaii as a result of changing climate, as a result of increases in invasive species, and a lot of our active agriculture going out… and becoming fallow.
What is the link between wildfires and climate change?
Wildfires have been a part of life on Earth, usually following a seasonal pattern during the June-August period.
Be it natural or human-made, the phenomenon is a critical part of the ecosystem. A healthy fire is key to ensuring that forests remain robust and resilient.
It also aids the natural replenishment of nutrients in the soil, helps sunlight reach the forest floors, and encourages the germination of seeds.
It is the increasingly intense nature of the wildfires – aided by the warming weather, dry conditions and change in rain cycles – that is now becoming a source of worry.
Experts have compared it akin to the difference between throwing a lighted matchstick on a pile of wet, green wood and on dry kindling. And increasingly, climate change is determining the degree of dryness of the latter.
Besides the destruction of lives and livelihoods, these catastrophic wildfires also release an immense amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
There is also one immediate issue – these immense fires contribute adversely to air pollution, leading to long-term and short-term respiratory issues, heart disease and lung cancer.
#upsc #news #headline #wildfires #hawaiimaui #island #enviroment #worldattention #europe #US #fires #pulehu #kihei #lahaina #pacific #ocean #humidity #category #guinea #forest #ecosystem #natural #peroid #seeds #catastrophic #greenhouse #gases #cancer #airpollution #respiratory #heart #disease
Wildfires ravage Hawaii’s Maui Island
GS Paper - 3 (Environment)
The images of the aftermath of the devastating fire in Hawaii’s Maui Island have grabbed the world’s attention. The wildfires, which have already killed nearly 100 people and left thousands homeless, have become part of a wider global list of unusually intense blazes that have raged across Europe, Canada and the United States.
What happened in Hawaii
Hawaii is no stranger to fires, which burn on a smaller scale with some regularity, especially in the drier parts of the island.
The current fires – active in Lahaina, Upcountry and Pūlehu/Kīhei – are believed to have started with the one in Lahaina spreading quickly across the town.
The exact cause of the fires is still under investigation, but experts agree that the fires were bolstered by strong winds from Category-4 Hurricane Dora, which was passing through the Pacific Ocean – far to the southwest of the island.
Low humidity and dry vegetation too precipitated the issue. Initial reports suggest that the changing land-use patterns in Hawaii, which has seen farm and forest lands being replaced by flammable non-native species of grasses like Guinea grass, are a likely cause for the easy spread of the fire.
Over the past few decades, wildfire has been increasing in Hawaii as a result of changing climate, as a result of increases in invasive species, and a lot of our active agriculture going out… and becoming fallow.
What is the link between wildfires and climate change?
Wildfires have been a part of life on Earth, usually following a seasonal pattern during the June-August period.
Be it natural or human-made, the phenomenon is a critical part of the ecosystem. A healthy fire is key to ensuring that forests remain robust and resilient.
It also aids the natural replenishment of nutrients in the soil, helps sunlight reach the forest floors, and encourages the germination of seeds.
It is the increasingly intense nature of the wildfires – aided by the warming weather, dry conditions and change in rain cycles – that is now becoming a source of worry.
Experts have compared it akin to the difference between throwing a lighted matchstick on a pile of wet, green wood and on dry kindling. And increasingly, climate change is determining the degree of dryness of the latter.
Besides the destruction of lives and livelihoods, these catastrophic wildfires also release an immense amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
There is also one immediate issue – these immense fires contribute adversely to air pollution, leading to long-term and short-term respiratory issues, heart disease and lung cancer.
#upsc #news #headline #wildfires #hawaiimaui #island #enviroment #worldattention #europe #US #fires #pulehu #kihei #lahaina #pacific #ocean #humidity #category #guinea #forest #ecosystem #natural #peroid #seeds #catastrophic #greenhouse #gases #cancer #airpollution #respiratory #heart #disease
Today's Headlines - 23 August 2023
The vegetated canopies for creating green spaces
GS Paper - 3 (Environment)
As Europe battles scorching temperatures this summer and wildfires blaze across the continent from the Mediterranean to Spain, the role of climate change in making heatwaves hotter and more frequent has come into focus. At a broader level, greenhouse gas emissions from human activities have heated the planet by about 1.2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. These grim predictions have brought attention to a range of mitigation measures. One such initiative to bring greenery back to urban spaces in Spain involves installing vegetated awnings or canopies.
What are vegetated canopies?
Introduced in Santa Maria Street in Valladolid, Spain, the awnings are tensioned sail-like structures that have been anchored to the facades of surrounding buildings. They mimic natural canopies found in forests and various plant species.
The lightness and ease of installation of the ‘Greenshades’ allow for shade and the presence of greenery in commercial streets and public spaces, where trees or other vegetation are often absent.
Here is how they work:
The sails with anchors and supports are prepared by laying down the specific geotextile substrate or material. An irrigation system is installed at the highest side, from where the water falls by gravity, soaking the entire substrate.
In addition to water, fertilizer keeps the vegetation in perfect condition. The excess water is collected at the lowest point and into a connected drainage system.
The seed mixture is then projected onto the geotextile. After four months, the shade is expected to be completely covered with vegetation.
The awnings can be placed in streets, where planting trees may not be feasible owing to the lack of space. The plants grow hydroponically, with a water supply point and water outlet for draining purposes.
What are their advantages?
The plants chosen for these awnings belong to species that are optimised for the absorption of gases such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide.
The substrate also absorbs sound waves, reducing noise pollution. A square metre of a vegetated canopy generates the oxygen required by a person for the whole year, apart from filtering harmful gases, according to the company.
The hanging planter also allows for the centralisation of water and light installations.
This is meant to induce savings as the lights are equipped with movement sensors that illuminate the street according to its need.
The adoption of such canopies could eventually contribute to urban biodiversity, creating a healthier ecosystem that supports a variety of wildlife.
#upsc #news #headline #vegetated #canopies #greenspace #enviroment #europe #battle #temperature #wildfires #blaze #mediterranean #emissions #spain #climatechange #heatwaves #hotter #preindustrial #structures #forests #greenery #commercial #greenshades #mimic #natural #work #gravaity #planting #lackofspace #hydroponically #gases #species #carbonmonoxide #hangingplanter #wildlife #biodiversity #ecosystem #illuminate
The vegetated canopies for creating green spaces
GS Paper - 3 (Environment)
As Europe battles scorching temperatures this summer and wildfires blaze across the continent from the Mediterranean to Spain, the role of climate change in making heatwaves hotter and more frequent has come into focus. At a broader level, greenhouse gas emissions from human activities have heated the planet by about 1.2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times. These grim predictions have brought attention to a range of mitigation measures. One such initiative to bring greenery back to urban spaces in Spain involves installing vegetated awnings or canopies.
What are vegetated canopies?
Introduced in Santa Maria Street in Valladolid, Spain, the awnings are tensioned sail-like structures that have been anchored to the facades of surrounding buildings. They mimic natural canopies found in forests and various plant species.
The lightness and ease of installation of the ‘Greenshades’ allow for shade and the presence of greenery in commercial streets and public spaces, where trees or other vegetation are often absent.
Here is how they work:
The sails with anchors and supports are prepared by laying down the specific geotextile substrate or material. An irrigation system is installed at the highest side, from where the water falls by gravity, soaking the entire substrate.
In addition to water, fertilizer keeps the vegetation in perfect condition. The excess water is collected at the lowest point and into a connected drainage system.
The seed mixture is then projected onto the geotextile. After four months, the shade is expected to be completely covered with vegetation.
The awnings can be placed in streets, where planting trees may not be feasible owing to the lack of space. The plants grow hydroponically, with a water supply point and water outlet for draining purposes.
What are their advantages?
The plants chosen for these awnings belong to species that are optimised for the absorption of gases such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide.
The substrate also absorbs sound waves, reducing noise pollution. A square metre of a vegetated canopy generates the oxygen required by a person for the whole year, apart from filtering harmful gases, according to the company.
The hanging planter also allows for the centralisation of water and light installations.
This is meant to induce savings as the lights are equipped with movement sensors that illuminate the street according to its need.
The adoption of such canopies could eventually contribute to urban biodiversity, creating a healthier ecosystem that supports a variety of wildlife.
#upsc #news #headline #vegetated #canopies #greenspace #enviroment #europe #battle #temperature #wildfires #blaze #mediterranean #emissions #spain #climatechange #heatwaves #hotter #preindustrial #structures #forests #greenery #commercial #greenshades #mimic #natural #work #gravaity #planting #lackofspace #hydroponically #gases #species #carbonmonoxide #hangingplanter #wildlife #biodiversity #ecosystem #illuminate