Page 6 - Global Warming

Increasing turbulence: Why flights are facing more bumps in the sky

Fasten your seat belts: Experts believe that climate change is expected to make air travel bumpier than ever for air travellers. Learn about turbulence and safety precautions

One degree temperature rise could slash global GDP by 12%, warns new study

The study said that the new estimates are higher than previous ones due to the use of new datasets that more accurately reflect changes in global mean temperatures

India Greens Party's manifesto pitches for environment, social justice

The country's only 'green' party has fielded candidates for Lok Sabha polls from Delhi, Mumbai and Punjab

Rapid warming of Indian ocean could lead to catastrophic outcomes: Study

The Indian Ocean is expected to experience surface warming of 1.4 degrees Celsius to 3 degrees Celsius between 2020 and 2100, which will push it into a near-permanent heatwave state, intensify cyclones, affect the monsoon, and lead to a rise in sea levels, according to a new study. The study, led by Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), showed that marine heatwaves (periods of abnormally high ocean temperatures) are projected to increase from 20 days per year (during 1970-2000) to 220-250 days per year, pushing the tropical Indian Ocean into a basin-wide near-permanent heatwave state by the end of the 21st century. Marine heatwaves cause habitat destruction due to coral bleaching, seagrass destruction, and loss of kelp forests, affecting the fisheries sector adversely. They also lead to the rapid intensification of cyclones. The rapid warming in the Indian Ocean is not limited to the surface. The heat content of the

Global warming of 3 degrees Celsius may result in 10% GDP loss: ETH study

Warming of the planet by 3 degrees Celsius may cost the world up to 10 per cent of its GDP, a new research has found. It also found that poorer, tropical countries could see the worst effects -- up to 17 per cent GDP loss. The study -- led by ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and published in the Nature Climate Change journal -- suggested that roughly half of the predicted global economic damage could be related to extreme heat, with heat waves being the most impactful among the extreme events analysed. "Impacts are more severe in the Global South and highest in Africa and the Middle East, where higher initial temperatures make countries particularly vulnerable to additional warming," the authors wrote. The researchers further found that the cost of climate change increased around the world after accounting for changes in rainfall and temperatures occurring within a short span at a location. "If we take into account that warmer years also come with changes in rainfall and temperature ...

Australia should prepare for 'megadroughts' lasting 20 years, shows study

The study showed that megadroughts of 20 years or more were a natural feature of the Australian hydroclimate

As fix for global warming, US scientists try 'sun blocking' to cool Earth

The scientists tested a technique that involves reflecting sunlight back into space in order to cool the Earth

Major EU climate protection plan shelved following farmer protests

A major European Union plan to fight climate change and better protect nature in the 27-nation bloc has been indefinitely postponed Monday, underscoring how farmers' protests sweeping the continent influence politics ahead of the June EU parliamentary elections. The member states were supposed to give final approval to the bill on Monday following months of proceedings through the EU's institutional maze. But what was supposed to be a mere rubber stamp has now been possibly shelved forever. "(The plan) is in a very difficult position at the moment and with the upcoming European elections, it won't be easy to get out of this position, said Dutch Climate Minister Rob Jetten. The Nature Restoration plan is a key part of the EU's European Green Deal that seeks to establish the world's most ambitious climate and biodiversity targets and make the bloc the global point of reference on all climate issues. The bill aims for Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, ...

Climate change and desperate journeys

In any event, climate maps and projected patterns mainly "seed the imagination," as Lustgarten puts it, for what might transpire decades hence

Earth on brink: UN issues red alert on climate change after record heat

The UN weather agency is sounding a red alert about global warming, citing record-smashing increases last year in greenhouse gases, land and water temperatures and melting of glaciers and sea ice, and warning that the world's efforts to reverse the trend have been inadequate. The World Meteorological Organisation, in a State of the Global Climate report released Tuesday, ratcheted up concerns that a much-vaunted climate goal is increasingly in jeopardy: That the world can unite to limit planetary warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels. Never have we been so close albeit on a temporary basis at the moment to the 1.5 C lower limit of the Paris agreement on climate change, said Celeste Saulo, the agency's secretary-general. The WMO community is sounding the red alert to the world. The 12-month period from March 2023 to February 2024 pushed beyond that 1.5-degree limit, averaging 1.56 C (2.81 F) higher, according to the European

Humans have driven Earth's freshwater cycle out of stable state: Study

Human activity has pushed the Earth's freshwater resources far beyond the stable conditions that prevailed before industrialisation, a study has found. The findings, published in the journal Nature Water, show that the updated planetary boundary for freshwater change was surpassed by the mid-twentieth century. This is the first time that global water cycle change has been assessed over such a long timescale with an appropriate reference baseline, the researchers said. Human pressures, such as dam construction, large-scale irrigation and global warming, have altered freshwater resources to such an extent that their capacity to regulate vital ecological and climatic processes is at risk, they said. The international team calculated monthly streamflow and soil moisture at a spatial resolution of roughly 50x50 kilometers using data from hydrological models that combine all major human impacts on the freshwater cycle. The researchers determined the conditions during the pre-industrial

Climate change is fueling a different type of anxiety, say therapists

In her book A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety, Sarah Ray describes a student who had such severe "self-loathing eco-guilt" that she stopped consuming much at all, including food

Nasa satellite blasts off to survey oceans, atmosphere of a warming Earth

NASA's newest climate satellite rocketed into orbit Thursday to survey the world's oceans and atmosphere in never-before-seen detail. SpaceX launched the Pace satellite on its USD 948 million mission before dawn, with the Falcon rocket heading south over the Atlantic to achieve a rare polar orbit. The satellite will spend at least three years studying the oceans from 420 miles (676 kilometres) up, as well as the atmosphere. It will scan the globe daily with two of the three science instruments. A third instrument will take monthly measurements. It's going to be an unprecedented view of our home planet," said project scientist Jeremy Werdell. The observations will help scientists improve hurricane and other severe weather forecasts, detail Earth's changes as temperatures rise and better predict when harmful algae blooms will happen. NASA already has more than two dozen Earth-observing satellites and instruments in orbit. But Pace should give better insights into how atmospheric ...

Global warming, not El Nino was primary cause of Amazon drought: Report

Human-induced global warming, and not El Nio, was the primary driver of last year's severe drought in the Amazon that sent rivers to record lows, required deliveries of food and drinking water to hundreds of river communities and killed dozens of endangered dolphins, researchers said on Wednesday. Both climate change and El Nio contributed about equally to a reduction in rainfall. But higher global temperatures were the biggest reason for the drought, according to World Weather Attribution, an initiative that brings together climate scientists to rapidly analyze extreme events and their possible connections to climate change. The drought was agricultural, combining reduced rainfall with hotter conditions that evaporated moisture from plants and soil. It was that heat-driven evaporation that was critical in the drought's severity, said study co-author Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at the Imperial College of London. What is now about a one-in-50-year event would have been much

Indian Navy chief inaugurates CO2-based AC plant at INS Shivaji in Pune

"This is a major step towards meeting the government's commitment to reduce global warming and emission of gases harmful to the environment," he added

2023 officially warmest year on record by huge margin, confirms WMO

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has officially confirmed that 2023 is the hottest year on record by a huge margin, smashing global temperature records. The yearly average global temperature approached 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, which is significant because the Paris Agreement on climate change aims to limit the long-term temperature increase to no more than the same amount. According to the agreement, the long-term increase is calculated as an average over decades rather than an individual year like 2023. Global temperatures in every month between June and December set new monthly records, with July and August registering as the hottest months on record, the UN agency said in a statement. Strictly, the WMO found that the annual average global temperature was 1.45 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels. They consolidated six leading datasets used for monitoring global temperatures, all of which ranked 2023 as the warmest year on record. T

ProClime commits Rs 450 crore investment in TN to drive carbon projects

ProClime, a unified service provider in the climate space across Singapore, Sri Lanka, and India has committed Rs 450 crore investment in Tamil Nadu for taking up carbon projects, the company said on Friday. The Chennai-headquartered firm signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tamil Nadu government during the recently held Global Investors Meet. "Over the next five years, ProClime will invest Rs 450 crore as climate investments in the state and aims to create employment opportunities through carbon projects. ProClime is poised to be the first unified climate service provider investing in Tamil Nadu for carbon projects that generate carbon credits to mitigate climate change," the company said in a statement. These credits would play a pivotal role in supporting the sustainable development goals across Tamil Nadu. Besides, it would also position itself as a front-runner in both Indian and Global Carbon markets. "Our MoU with the Government of Tamil Nadu marks a pivotal step ..

2023 recorded hottest year ever as Earth nears critical 1.5C limit

"This has been a very exceptional year, climate-wise... in a league of its own, even when compared to other very warm years," C3S Director Carlo Buontempo said

CMAI, UK-based VCMI partner to help stakeholders in carbon credit trading

The Carbon Markets Association of India (CMAI) has partnered with global body Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity Initiative (VCMI) to help stakeholders in carbon credit trading. The agreement with London-headquartered VCMI aims to guide industry players from the registration process for projects involved in the generation of carbon credits, monitoring of projects to trading of the carbon credits generated in a transparent manner, CMAI said in a statement. The partnership will seek to promote an enabling environment for high-integrity voluntary carbon market (VCMs) that attract private investment aligned with national and sub-national climate and socioeconomic policy priorities, the statement said. As part of the agreement, CMAI and VCMI will facilitate the stakeholders in scaling up carbon finance activities across priority sectors in India. VCMI is an international non-profit organization which works to enable high-integrity voluntary carbon markets (VCMs). The organization is alig

Climate change driving birds in mountains to higher elevations: Study

Logged forests and climate change are driving birds in tropical mountains to higher elevations due to rising temperatures, a research by the Indian Institute of Science has found. While smaller bird species are able to withstand higher temperatures, and thus colonise these logged forests better, the larger ones appeared to be increasing in the primary (undisturbed) forests, researchers found after analysing 10 years of data. Logged forests refer to the commercial cutting of trees for sale as timber or pulp. Such forests have higher average temperatures and lower humidity than primary forests, thus hastening the movement of birds to higher elevations, the researchers said. Logging can thus lead to the loss of large-bodied, old growth-dependent species, and decrease the overall biodiversity, they said. Further, logged forests also have fewer foliage-dwelling insects, reducing the available resources for the birds. As large species require more energy, this disproportionately reduces