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  • Migrants and COVID

    In this Article, we highlight some facts about migration in India, summarize key relief measures announced by the government and directives issued by the Supreme Court for the migrant population in relation to the lockdown.
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    Reference source: https://www.prsindia.org/theprsblog/migration-india-and-impact-lockdown-migrants

  • Lonar Lake colour changes to pink

    The colour of water in Maharashtra’s Lonar Lake, formed after a meteorite hit the Earth some 50,000 years ago, has changed to glaring.

    Make a note of all saltwater lakes in India. Few of them are Pulicat, Pangong Tso, Chilika, and Sambhar Lakes etc.

    About Lonar Lake

    • Lonar Lake, also known as Lonar crater, is a notified National Geo-heritage Monument, saline (pH of 10.5), Soda Lake, located at Lonar in Buldhana district, Maharashtra.
    • It was created by an asteroid collision with earth impact during the Pleistocene Epoch.
    • It is one of the four known, hyper-velocity, impact craters in basaltic rock anywhere on Earth.
    • It sits inside the Deccan Plateau—a massive plain of volcanic basalt rock created by eruptions some 65 million years ago.
    • Its location in this basalt field suggested to some geologists that it was a volcanic crater.

    Why there’s a color change?

    • The salinity and algae can be responsible for this change.
    • There is no oxygen below one meter of the lake’s water surface.
    • There is an example of a lake in Iran, where water becomes reddish due to increase in salinity.
    • The level of water in the Lonar Lake is currently low as compared to the few past years and there is no rain to pour fresh water in it.
    • The low level of water may lead to increased salinity and change in the behaviour of algae because of atmospheric changes.

  • Crisis of today should not blind us to the crisis of tomorrow

    Covid-19 pandemic has overwhelmed the governments across the world. And the destruction caused by it would impact not only our present but the future as well. So, what this means to our climate future? First and foremost, it will leave the governments with less fund to invest for the greener outcomes. What would be the other impacts? And how can we avoid turning blind eye to the crises waiting for us in the near future? Read the article to know…

    Cyclones amid pandemic-what do it signal?

    • The very language used to describe the effects of climate change is now being deployed, correctly, to shape our understanding of a covid-ravaged near future: poverty, the failure of markets, uncertainty, and an overwhelmed government.
    • In less than a month, we have been given a glimpse of how the climate crisis can yank at the seams of a state already undone.
    • We saw Cyclone Amphan transform from a tropical storm to one of the largest cyclones South Asia has ever seen in a matter of hours, aided by warmer than usual waters in the Bay of Bengal.
    • We also saw Cyclone Nisarga barrel down on Maharashtra, the second pre-monsoon cyclone to hit the west coast in 127 years.
    • Governments would have been hard-pressed to deal with such extremes even in the best of times.

    So, how COVID-19 would impact response to climate change?

    •  There are two strands of opinion.
    • The optimistic one sees this as a moment to remake our states and societies in a measured response.
    • This includes directing economic packages to areas that increase our resilience to natural disasters and technologies that reduce our emissions.
    • This could be an opportunity to reinforce sustainable behaviour — fewer morning commutes and less air travel, for example.
    • The other strand is more dire, arguing that this will amount to a lost decade or two as our attention is focused on keeping the teetering ship of economy afloat.
    • In this reading, present concerns will trump preparations for an uncertain future.
    • Between these two strands there is consensus that we are at a critical juncture.
    • What we do now will determine the flow of events decades into the future.

    What our climate future holds?

    We will have to face the following 3 problems in the future owing to the Covid-19 pandemic today.

    1. Scarcity of funds

    • It has been two months since India’s lockdown, and we know enough to have a rational conversation about our climate future.
    • Perhaps the most important news relates to public and private debt.
    • The government has raised its borrowing limit, states will need to borrow more to tide over shortfalls and the private sector has seen returns from investments dry out.
    • All three are already heavily indebted, meaning the cost of capital for future borrowing will only grow.
    • That leaves limited fiscal room to finance the building blocks of resilience: everything from grain to health, employment schemes, irrigation, efficient water systems and river management infrastructure.
    • It could mean that efforts to reduce our energy emissions are left without patient pools of long-term capital.

    2. Underdeveloped knowledge infrastructure

    • The knowledge infrastructure needed to react to climate change might be left similarly underdeveloped.
    • Climate change distinguishes itself from other policy fields in the wide range of analytical tasks it demands, from predicting weather trends to understanding how specific seed varieties react to droughts.
    • Thinking about climate change requires a lot of people exploring varied questions simultaneously.
    • That involves funding an ecosystem of thinkers from diverse disciplines.
    • Only the state can provide for multi-year studies, institutional support and the like.
    • These are inherently long-term investments and only really start paying off over decades.
    • It means that hamstrung investment in coming years will leave a knowledge vacuum in the future.

    3. Impact on the psychology of the government

    • The Indian government, reacting to a million crises erupting across the economy, will be hard-pressed to plan for a hazy but sinister future.
    • Promises of a greener, less turbulent future will falter against the turbulence of today.
    • This instinct will be shared by governments across the world.
    • This might well numb the effects of the global climate negotiation architecture.

    Way forward

    • Crafting a response that carefully balances present and future will take a great deal of collective effort.
    • Foremost, it will require policy ideas that deliberately marry employment and industrial priorities with green outcomes.
    • Ideas such as pushing to manufacture solar equipment or electric vehicles in India should, at some point, coalesce into something that looks like a climate plan for the country.
    • This task will fall to universities, NGOs, think tanks and individuals working together in disciplined debate.

    Consider the question “Do you agree with the view that the corona crisis would adversely impact our efforts towards mitigating the impact of climate change? Giver reasons in support of your argument.”

    Conclusion

    We should be careful not to drag ourselves through one crisis only to emerge into another longer, less predictable, and unstoppable one. So, balancing the present problems and their solutions with an eye on a certain and stable future is the need of the hour.

  • Challenger Deep: the deepest spot in the ocean

    On June 7, astronaut and oceanographer Kathy Sullivan, who was the first American woman to walk in space in 1984, became the first woman and the fifth person in history to descend to the deepest known spot in the world’s oceans, called the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench.

    The ocean relief can be divided into various parts such as Continental Shelf, Continental Slope, Continental Rise or Foot, Deep Ocean basins, Abyssal plains & Abyssal Hills, Oceanic Trenches, Seamounts and Guyots.

    Revise these ocean bottom relief  features from your basic references.

    Also revise India’s Deep Ocean Mission.

    What is Challenger Deep?

    • The Challenger Deep is the deepest known point in the Earth’s seabed hydrosphere (the oceans), with a depth of 10,902 to 10,929 m.
    • The deepest part is called the Challenger Deep, which is located below the surface of the western Pacific Ocean.
    • The first dive at Challenger Deep was made in 1960 by Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss scientist Jacques Piccard on a submersible called ‘Trieste’.
    • The British Ship HMS Challenger discovered Challenger Deep between 1872-1876.
    • In 2012, film director James Cameron reached the bottom of the Mariana trench after a descent that lasted 2 hours and 36 minutes.
    • Cameron reached a depth of about 10,908 metres on a dive in his submersible called the ‘Deepsea Challenger’ and became the first to complete a solo submarine dive to this spot.

    Why explore deep oceans?

    • Ocean exploration, however, is not randomly wandering in hopes of finding something new.
    • It is disciplined and organized and includes rigorous observations and documentation of biological, chemical, physical, geological, and archaeological aspects of the ocean.
    • Most of the existing knowledge of the oceans comes from shallower waters, while deeper waters remain relatively unexplored, even as humans are relying more on these areas for food, energy and other resources.
    • Further, finding out more about the deep ocean areas can potentially reveal new sources for medical drugs, food, energy resources and other products.
    • Significantly, information from the deep oceans can also help to predict earthquakes and tsunamis, and help us understand how we are affecting and getting affected by the Earth’s environment.

    What does it take to reach the deep ocean?

    • Vehicles called Human Occupied Vehicles (HOVs) may be used that carry scientists to the deep sea.
    • Alternatively, there are unmanned Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) that are linked to ships using cables and can be steered by scientists remotely.
    • Even so, it is difficult for most private citizens to travel more than 100 feet below the surface of the ocean.
    • Further, technical divers can go as deep as 500 feet or more, but with an array of tanks filled with different gas blends.

    Why is it so difficult to explore deep oceans?

    • Most recreational divers can’t explore more than about 120 feet down due to the amount of air needed to keep lungs pressurized at depth.
    • Such depths could lead to nitrogen narcosis, the intoxication by nitrogen that starts to set in around that depth (most of our atmosphere is nitrogen, not oxygen).
    • Waters at such depths of several kilometres exert tremendous pressure which human bodies cannot sustain.

  • Permafrost and the hazards of its Thawing

    The principal reason that led to the recent 20,000-tonne oil leak at an Arctic region power plant in Russia that is now being recognised is the sinking of ground surface due to permafrost thaw.

    Try this question from Mains 2017:
    Q. What is Cryosphere? How does the Cryosphere affect global climate?

    What is Permafrost?

    • Permafrost is ground that remains completely frozen at 0 degrees Celsius or below for at least two years.
    • It is defined solely based on temperature and duration.
    • The permanently frozen ground, consisting of soil, sand, and rock held together by ice, is believed to have formed during glacial periods dating several millennia.

    Where are they found?

    • These grounds are known to be below 22 per cent of the land surface on Earth, mostly in polar zones and regions with high mountains.
    • They are spread across 55 per cent of the landmass in Russia and Canada, 85 per cent in the US state of Alaska, and possibly the entirety of Antarctica.
    • In northern Siberia, it forms a layer that is 1,500 m thick; 740 m in northern Alaska.
    • At lower latitudes, permafrost is found at high altitude locations such as the Alps and the Tibetian plateau.

    How climate change is eating away at these grounds?

    • The Earth’s polar and high altitude regions — its principal permafrost reservoirs — are the most threatened by climate change.
    • Arctic regions are warming twice as fast compared to the rest of the planet, its current rate of temperature change being the highest in 2,000 years.
    • In 2016, Arctic permafrost temperatures were 3.5 degrees Celsius higher than at the beginning of the 20th century.
    • A study has shown that every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature can degrade up to 39 lakh square kilometre due to thawing.
    • This degradation is expected to further aggravate as the climate gets warmer, putting at risk 40 per cent of the world’s permafrost towards the end of the century– causing disastrous effects.

    The threat to infrastructure

    • Thawing permafrost is also ominous for man-made structures overhead.
    • The Russian oil leak occurred recorded temperatures in Siberia at more than 10 degrees Celsius above average, and called them “highly anomalous” for the region where the power plant is located.
    • As temperatures rise, the binding ice in permafrost melts, making the ground unstable and leading to massive potholes, landslides, and floods.
    • The sinking effect causes damage to key infrastructure such as roads, railway lines, buildings, power lines and pipelines.
    • These changes also threaten the survival of indigenous people, as well as Arctic animals.

    A ticking time bomb

    • Beneath its surface, permafrost contains large quantities of organic leftover from thousands of years prior — dead remains of plants, animals, and microorganisms that got frozen before they could rot.
    • It also holds a massive trove of pathogens.
    • When permafrost thaws, microbes start decomposing this carbon matter, releasing greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide.
    • Researchers have estimated that for every 1 degree Celsius rise in temperature, these grounds could release GHGs to the tune of 4-6 years’ of emissions from coal, oil, and natural gas.
    • Along with greenhouse houses, these grounds could also release ancient bacteria and viruses into the atmosphere as they unfreeze.

    Back2Basics
    https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/thawing-of-permafrost/

    Also read:

    Ambarnaya River Oil spill in Russia

  • Environment Performance Index 2020

    India has secured 168 ranks in the 12th edition of the biennial Environment Performance Index (EPI Index 2020).

    CSP 2019 has been a year with two questions based on rankings and indices viz. the EoDB index and Global Competitiveness Index.  Note all such indices and their publishing agencies here at  [Prelims Spotlight] Important reports and indexes

    About EPI

    • The EPI measures the environmental performance of 180 countries.
    • It is biennially released by the Yale University.
    • It considers 32 indicators of environmental performance, giving a snapshot of the 10-year trends in environmental performance at the national and global levels.

    The performance on climate change was assessed based on the following indicators —

    • Adjusted emission growth rates;
    • Composed of growth rates of four greenhouse gases and one pollutant;
    • Growth rate in carbon dioxide emissions from land cover;
    • Greenhouse gas intensity growth rate; and
    • Greenhouse gas emissions per capita.

    Performance of the South Asian Region

    • The 11 countries lagging behind India were — Burundi, Haiti, Chad, Solomon Islands, Madagascar, Guinea, CĂ´te d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Liberia.
    • All South Asian countries, except Afghanistan, were ahead of India in the ranking.

    India’s performance

    • A ten-year comparison progress report in the index showed that India slipped on climate-related parameters.
    • India scored below the regional average score on all five key parameters on environmental health, including air quality, sanitation and drinking water, heavy metals and waste management.
    • It has also scored below the regional average on parameters related to biodiversity and ecosystem services too.
    • Among South Asian countries, India was at the second position (rank 106) after Pakistan on ‘climate change’. Pakistan’s score (50.6) was the highest under the category.

    Remarks for India

    • The report indicated that black carbon, carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse emissions per capita increased in 10 years.
    • India needs to re-double national sustainability efforts on all fronts, according to the index.
    • It needs to focus on a wide spectrum of sustainability issues, with a high-priority to critical issues such as air and water quality, biodiversity and climate change.

  • Aerosols Radiative Effects in the Himalayas

    Indian researchers have found that the effect of anthropogenic aerosols is much higher over the high altitudes of western trans-Himalayas.

    Try this question from CSP 2019:

    Q. In the context of which of the following do some scientists suggest the use of cirrus cloud thinning technique and the injection of sulphate aerosol into the stratosphere?

    (a) Creating the artificial rains in some regions

    (b) Reducing the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones

    (c) Reducing the adverse effects of solar wind on the Earth

    (d) Reducing the global warming

    What are Aerosols?

    • An aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in air or another gas.
    • They can be natural or anthropogenic.
    • Examples of natural aerosols are fog, mist, dust, forest exudates and geyser steam. Examples of anthropogenic aerosols are particulate air pollutants and smoke.
    • The liquid or solid particles have diameters typically less than 1 Îźm; larger particles with a significant settling speed make the mixture a suspension, but the distinction is not clear-cut.
    • Technological applications of aerosols include dispersal of pesticides, medical treatment of respiratory illnesses, and combustion technology.

    Heat pump over the Himalayas

    • The transport of light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols and dust from the polluted Indo-Gangetic Plain and desert areas over the Himalayas constitutes a major climatic issue due to severe impacts on atmospheric warming and glacier retreat.
    • This heating over the Himalayas facilitates the “elevated-hat pump” that strengthens the temperature gradient between land and ocean and modifies the atmospheric circulation and the monsoon rainfall.

    Findings of the research

    • The monthly-mean atmospheric radiative forcing of aerosols leads to heating rates of 0.04 to 0.13 C per day.
    • Further, the temperature over the Ladakh region is increasing 0.3 to 0.4 degrees Celsius per decades from the last 3 decades.

    How are aerosols fuelling the heat?

    • The atmospheric aerosols play a key role in the regional/global climate system through scattering and absorption of incoming solar radiation and by modifying the cloud microphysics.

    Assessing the Aerosol potential

    • Despite the large progress in quantifying the impact of different aerosols on radiative forcing, it still remains one of the major uncertainties in the climate change assessment.
    • Precise measurements of aerosol properties are required to reduce the uncertainties, especially over the oceans and high altitude remote location in the Himalayas where they are scarce.
    • Researchers have analysed the variability of aerosol optical, physical and radiative properties and the role of fine and coarse particles in aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) assessment.
    • ARF is the effect of anthropogenic aerosols on the radiative fluxes at the top of the atmosphere and at the surface and on the absorption of radiation within the atmosphere.

    Significance of ARF study

    • A scientific study of aerosol generation, transport, and its properties has important implications in our understanding and mitigation of climate change via atmospheric warming.
    • Aerosols impact the snow and glacier dynamics over the trans-Himalayan region.
    • The results from the study can help better understanding of aerosol effects in view of aerosol-climate implications.

  • ‘Race to Zero’ campaign

    The UN has launched the “Race to Zero” campaign ahead of delayed COP 26 Climate Talks.

    Possible question for prelims:

    The ‘Race to Zero’ campaign often seen in news is related to zeroing: Global Hunger/Carbon Emission/HR violations/None of these.

     ‘Race to Zero’ campaign

    • The campaign aims to codify commitments made via the Climate Ambition Alliance (CAA), which launched ahead of last year’s COP25 in Madrid.
    • It encourages countries, companies, and other entities to deliver structured net-zero greenhouse-gas emission pledges by the time the talks begin.
    • This messaging for the campaign — carried out under the aegis of the UNFCCC— seeks to emphasise the potential for non-state actors to raise climate ambition.
    • The campaign refers to these as ‘real economy actors’, noting they “cover just over half the gross domestic product, a quarter of global CO2 emissions and over 2.6 billion people”.

    About the Climate Ambition Alliance

    • The CAA currently includes 120 nations and several other private players that have committed to achieving zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
    • Signatories are responsible for 23 per cent of current greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide and 53 per cent of global GDP.

    What Are the Criteria?

    • The minimum criteria for establishing a recognized pledge were developed through dialogues coordinated by Oxford University.
    • The pledges must include a clear net-zero target date no later than 2050, they must also begin immediately and include interim targets.
    • Much like the Paris Agreement itself, the criteria are designed to strengthen over time, but they begin at a level that reflects current best practices.

    Issue over offsetting

    • Offsets are emission-reductions generated outside a company’s own operations, and they are used in both compliance programs to meet mandated emission caps (“cap and trade”) and involuntary programs to reduce a company’s overall impact (voluntary carbon markets).
    • The Race to Zero criteria emphasizes that if offsets are ultimately recognized, they must only be used to neutralize residual emissions that can’t be eliminated internally – at least not immediately.

  • What is Lunar Eclipse?

    A penumbral lunar eclipse will be observed today midnight. The Earth will imperfectly align itself between the Sun and the moon, casting a shadow on the latter, marking the second lunar eclipse of the year.

    Solar and Lunar eclipse has been quite frequent this year. Mark the major differences between them.

    Lunar Eclipse

    • A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth’s shadow.
    • This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are exactly or very closely aligned with Earth between the other two.
    • A lunar eclipse can occur only on the night of a full moon. The type and length of a lunar eclipse depend on the Moon’s proximity to either node of its orbit.
    • Any object that obstructs light will produce two shadows: one which will be dark and dense, is called the umbra; and the other which is light and diffused is called the penumbra.
    • The only light reflected from the lunar surface has been refracted by Earth’s atmosphere.
    • This light appears reddish for the same reason that a sunset or sunrise does: the Rayleigh scattering of bluer light. Due to this reddish colour, a totally eclipsed Moon is sometimes called a blood moon.

    Types

    • In a total eclipse of the moon, the inner part of Earth’s shadow, called the umbra, falls on the moon’s face. At mid-eclipse, the entire moon is in shadow, which may appear blood red.
    • In a partial lunar eclipse, the umbra takes a bite out of only a fraction of the moon. The dark bite grows larger and then recedes, never reaching the total phase.
    • In a penumbral lunar eclipse, only the more diffuse outer shadow of Earth – the penumbra – falls on the moon’s face. This third kind of lunar eclipse is much more subtle and much more difficult to observe than either a total or partial eclipse of the moon.

    How it is different from Solar Eclipse?

    • A solar eclipse happens when the moon passes in between the earth and the sun. A lunar eclipse happens when the earth passes in between the moon and the sun.
    • During a solar eclipse, the moon partially or fully hides the sun’s rays for a few minutes.
    • Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of Earth.
    • Also unlike solar eclipses, lunar eclipses are safe to view without any eye protection or special precautions, as they are dimmer than the full Moon.

    What’s special this time?

    • This eclipse is also called a strawberry moon eclipse — the term, interestingly, originates from an American concept and has little to do with the Euro-Asia region.
    • June’s full moon usually coincides with the harvesting season of wild strawberries in America and the phenomenon was often addressed in reference to that.
    • India had already witnessed an eclipse earlier this year, in January.
    • The strawberry moon eclipse is going to be its second and probably the last visible lunar one in 2020.

  • Tribes in news: Changpa Tribe

    The Chinese Army’s intrusion in Chumur and Demchok has left Ladakh’s nomadic herding Changpa community cut off from large parts of summer pastures.

    Pashmina shawl is a landmark product of the Kashmir Valley. But make a note here. It carries only a BIS certification and not a Geographical Indicator.

    Also try this PYQ from CSP 2014:

    Q. With reference to ‘Changpa’ community of India, consider the following statement:

    1. They live mainly in the State of Uttarakhand.
    2. They rear the Pashmina goats that yield fine wool.
    3. They are kept in the category of Scheduled Tribes.
    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    a) 1 only
    b) 2 and 3 only
    c) 3 only
    d) 1, 2 and 3

    Changpa Tribes

    • The Changpa of Ladakh is high altitude pastoralists, raising mainly yaks and goats.
    • Among the Ladakh Changpa, those who are still nomadic are known as Phalpa, and they take their herds from in the Hanley Valley to the village of Lato.
    • Hanley is home to six isolated settlements, where the sedentary Changpa, the Fangpa reside.
    • Despite their different lifestyles, both these groups intermarry.
    • The Changpa speak Changskhat, a dialect of Tibetan, and practice Tibetan Buddhism.

    What is the issue?

    • The Chinese Army has taken over 16 kanals (two acres) of cultivable land in Chumur and advanced around 15 km inside Demchok, taking over traditional grazing pastures and cultivable lowlands.
    • In a cascading effect, this has resulted in a sharp rise in deaths of young Pashmina goats this year in the Korzok-Chumur belt of Changthang plateau in Ladakh.
    • This incursion has destabilized the annual seasonal migration of livestocks, including yaks and Pashmina goats.

    Back2Basics: Pashmina

    • The Changthangi or Ladakh Pashmina is a breed of Cashmere goat native to the high plateau of Ladakh.
    • The much-valued wool from the Ladakh herds is essential for the prized Pashmina shawls woven in Kashmir and famous for their intricate handwork.
    • They survive on the grass in Ladakh, where temperatures plunge to as low as −20 °C.
    • These goats provide the wool for Kashmir’s famous pashmina shawls. Shawls made from Pashmina wool are considered very fine and are exported worldwide.
    • Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has recently published an Indian Standard for identification, marking and labelling of Pashmina products to certify its purity.