1,697 people killed in India after being struck by lightning between March 2020 and April 2021. Lightning strikes kill more people than cyclones, earthquakes and floods every year. As the Earth heats up, the number of extreme weather events like heat waves and thunderstorms are also increasing. Warming adds to moisture levels in the atmosphere not just in coastal areas but also the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
On July 1, 2021, Delhi experienced a heatwave, when the maximum temperature rose to 43.5°C. At the same time, Ganganagar, in west Rajasthan, reported India's highest temperature of 44.5°C. Some pockets of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, north Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh still continue to face heatwave conditions. This issue is now prevalent world over. But the world is not only getting hotter but also wetter or more humid.
IPCC’s* sixth assessment report (AR6) has bad news for the future. The warming beyond 1.5°C or 2°C will be breached much earlier. Average global temperatures will continue to rise and could increase by 5.7 °C by the end of this century compared to 1850–1900.Consequently, the land surface will continue to warm more than the ocean surface. The Arctic will continue to warm more than global surface temperature. Extreme changes become larger with every addition to global warming.
China’s central Henan province witnesses its heaviest rainfall in 1,000 years. At least 25 people, including 12 subway passengers, have been killed in the rainstorm so far.
After days of heavy rainfall in northern and eastern states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, rivers have risen above the danger mark affecting more than 50,000 people.
Climate change has made the Indian Ocean more unpredictable than ever. On one hand, there are more cyclones emerging out of this ocean, and on the other hand, they are intensifying very rapidly, gaining more power in a very short time. This is called rapid intensification.
The Arctic is warming three times faster than the global average, says a new report by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP). The report is based on 40 years of observations, between 1979 and 2019. The report says that there has been an increase in extremely high temperatures and a decline in extreme cold events due to climate change.
The healthy human body maintains its core temperature roughly at 37°C or 98.6°F, optimum for us to function. Whatever be the outside temperature, the internal thermostat located in the brain ensures that this core body temperature is maintained. However, very hot environments can overwhelm the body's coping mechanisms and lead to serious, possibly fatal, conditions.
Hailstorms are common in India during the pre-monsoon season but a rise in their frequency is worrisome.
Bacteria provide food to the plants by breaking complex organic compounds into simpler forms. This decomposition, part of a larger process called carbon cycle, is crucial for maintaining a stable climate on Earth.
A tiny-sized organism has recently been identified as a major warrior against environmental pollution and global warming. This warrior is a new species of soil bacteria called the Paraburkholderia madseniana and has been discovered by the researchers from the Cornell University of US. But how do they exactly help us in our fight? Let us find out.
In 1883, Anak Krakatau volcano erupted and spewed large amounts of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. This brought down the global average temperature by 1.2°C.
Anak Krakatau, which in the Indonesian language means the “Child of Krakatau”, in the Lampung province is one of the world’s most famous volcanoes. On April 11, 2020, it erupted. The first eruption, which lasted for one minute and 12 seconds, took place at 9:58 pm, according to the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation’s (PVMBG) magma volcanic activity report.It spewed out ash and smoke that went up to 200 metres. The second eruption, reported at 10:35 pm, lasted for more than half an hour and spewed out a 500-metre high column of ash.
Volcanic eruption is not an unusual phenomenon but this one was a little different. How? Let us find out.
West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh were among the six states that received rainfall exceeding their long-term averages between March 1 and March 12, 2020.
Holi, famously known as the festival of colours, is celebrated in the month of March every year. Typically the day involves playing with dry and wet colours to mark the beginning of the spring season. In 2020, however, things were different. Instead of a bright, sunny day that we are used to during Holi, we woke up to a morning that was cold and breezy. In some parts of the country, there was even fog! Winter had not ended.
Earth’s climate worsened in the last year, said the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
WMO’s Statement on the State of the Global Climate (2019) revealed 2019 was the second-hottest year on record. The mercury was 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels in 2019. 2016 remains the hottest year recorded but the rise in temperature then was due to El-Nino 2010-2019 was the hottest decade on record. Since 1980 each decade has been hotter than the previous.
Extreme heat days caused by rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere would adversely affect labour productivity and economic growth, particularly in developing countries like India.
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The gross domestic product (GDP) stands for the net value of all goods and services produced in the country. It usually indicates the health of an economy. A healthy GDP growth rate is considered to be a good sign as it indicates the creation of jobs and increased income. Also, businesses tend to invest more in a country where the GDP growth rate is high...
In August 2019, a funeral was held for the last patch of ice atop the Ok volcano in western Iceland. The ice patch belonged to Okjökull.
It was a Friday of August 2018. The people of Stockholm saw a little girl sitting outside the Riksdagen, the Swedish Parliament, holding a hand-painted banner with "skolstrejk för klimatet" or "school strike for climate" written over it.
Rising sea level is the biggest threat to the world's largest coastal mangrove forests located in India and Bangladesh
As per the World Bank, changes in average temperature and precipitation would impact 600 million lives in India.
There is scientific evidence that global warming is leading to more moisture loading in the atmosphere, which, in turn, is causing more extreme precipitation events. Raghu Murtugudde, a professor at Maryland University, US, recently said that there is a clear link between extreme rainfall events and global warming.
We eagerly wait for the monsoons, but without the Continental Drift, we may have never had this season
On World Environment Day, let’s find out what the Conference of the Parties (COP) is and its role in saving our environment.
