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.
A one-to-one conversation with the moon helps Piu understand why the celestial object is so important for our planet
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.
Researchers say that global warming is a cause of frequent and high-intensity thunderstorms
Rising temperature has made heatwaves more severe and common.
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This year (2018), even before the summers had begun, the India Meteorological Department warned the districts of Raigad, Ratnagiri and Mumbai in Maharashtra about heatwave-like conditions. Temperatures in these districts are expected to touch 38°C. This is 6°C above the normal temperature for the summer months.
Farmers and daily wage labourers are the worst-hit...
Our weather is a result of many factors: the rotation of Earth on its axis, its revolution around the sun and the unequal distribution of sunlight. Areas around the equator where the sunrays fall directly are hotter than the areas around the poles, where the sunrays reach at an angle. The hot air in the areas around the equator swirl in a downward pattern, creating a high pressure. Heatwaves are the result of the trapped air in these areas. The sinking air also acts like a cap, trapping the warm ground air in place...
Human-induced climate change has led to several extreme weather events, including excessive rainfall which causes disease pathogens to transmit easily and more rapidly through the floodwaters
The season of festivals is here. But something feels different. My mother tells me that about 25 years ago, the winters would make a precise entry on Dussehra, which usually falls between September and October. A week before Dussehra, we would take the warm clothes out of an old trunk. "Now, it is late November when the weather becomes cold. Only a few days in December are cold enough to wear warm clothes," says my mother.
We read in books that India has six distinct seasons—Grishma seasons (summer), Varsha (monsoon), Sharata (autumn), Hemanta (pre-winter), Shishira (winter) and Basanta (spring)...
The sun's heat is the most important factor in the weather patterns around the globe. Warmer ocean temperatures due to human-made activities give storms a bigger battery which not only increases the intensity but also the frequency of hurricanes and cyclones.
Given the hurricane of catastrophic climate events that took place around the world, August and September should be renamed as tropical cyclone months. For the first time in seven years, the Atlantic Basin faced more than three hurricanes consecutively in the year 2017...
