Monday, 18 May 2020
Tuesday, 1 May 2018
Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier Might Be Unstable
•Eight research teams will be part of a massive five-year project to study an Antarctic glacier that's in rapid retreat.
•If it happens, the Thwaites Glacier's collapse would cause a dramatic rise in sea levels.
•The researchers are hoping to find out how dire the situation is, and what additional impacts this collapse would have.
•If it happens, the Thwaites Glacier's collapse would cause a dramatic rise in sea levels.
•The researchers are hoping to find out how dire the situation is, and what additional impacts this collapse would have.
•They'll be focused on the Thwaites Glacier, located on the western side of Antarctica. It has lost a huge amount of ice recently – enough to contribute about 4 percent of overall sea level rise – and a complete collapse of the Florida-sized glacier would push sea levels up as much as 3 feet, according to Public Radio International.
The new study will be an attempt to learn more about the glacier in hopes that it'll lead to better modeling and a more exact projection of what might happen in the future.
"Really, the whole program is about understanding that extra uncertainty attached to sea level rise and doing what we can to remove it, allowing people to protect their coastal environments and to prepare property to protect their populations," David Vaughan, the director of science at the British Antarctic Survey,
One reason why we know relatively little about Thwaites is because few researchers have made expeditions to West Antarctica to study it since the first trip in the 1950s, PRI also said. The glacier is some 1,000 miles from the closest research station, and weather conditions are not friendly to those who venture into the region, the report added.
But this time, eight research teams will join together for the project, and they plan to study everything from the bedrock under the ice sheet to the climate above it in hopes of finding out as much as they can about the glacier, PRI added. They want to know the history of this ice sheet so they can understand how it has behaved in the past, and if there's any hope to save it during the rapid retreat period currently taking place.
"There is still a question in my view as to whether Thwaites has actually entered an irreversible retreat," Vaughan told BBC.com. "It assumes the melt rates we see today continue into the future and that's not guaranteed. Thwaites is clearly on the verge of an irreversible retreat, but to be sure we need 10 years more data."
About 100 scientists will be sent to West Antarctica as part of the study, according to BBC.com. It'll be the biggest collaboration between U.S. and U.K. scientists in Antarctica in at least 70 years, the report added.
Monday, 19 March 2018
Final Warning by Stephen Hawkings
Stephen Hawking's final warning to humanity by legendary physicist believed we must leave Earth in the next 200 years or face EXTINCTION. Humans must leave Earth in the next 200 years if we want to survive. That was the stark warning issued by Professor Stephen Hawking in the months before his death today at the age of 76. The legendary physicists believed that life on Earth could be wiped out by a disaster such as an asteroid strike, AI or an alien invasion. He also warned over-population, human aggression and climate change could cause humanity to self-destruct. He believed, if our species had any hope of survival, future generations would need to forge a new life in space.
One of Hawking's main fears for the planet was global warming. 'Our physical resources are being drained, at an alarming rate. We have given our planet the disastrous gift of climate change,' Hawking warned in July. Moreover, rising temperatures and reduction of the polar ice caps, deforestation, and decimation of animal species. We can be an ignorant, unthinking lot.' Hawking said that Earth will one day look like the 460°C (860°F) planet Venus if we don't cut greenhouse gas emissions. Next time you meet a climate change denier, tell them to take a trip to Venus. I will pay the fare,' Hawking quipped. The physicist also believed President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement has doomed our planet. He warned Trump's decision would cause avoidable damage to our 'beautiful planet' for generations to come. 'We are close to the tipping point where global warming becomes irreversible,' the celebrated scientist told BBC last year.
If global warming doesn't wipe us out, Hawking believed Earth would be destroyed by an asteroid strike. 'This is not science fiction. It is guaranteed by the laws of physics and probability,' he said. 'To stay risks being annihilated. 'Spreading out into space will completely change the future of humanity. It may also determine whether we have any future at all.' Hawking was working with Russian billionaire Yuri Milner's Breakthrough Starshot project to send a fleet of tiny 'nanocraft' carrying light sails on a four light-year journey to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to Earth. 'If we succeed we will send a probe to Alpha Centauri within the lifetime of some of you alive today,' he said. Astronomers estimate that there is a reasonable chance of an Earth-like planet existing in the 'habitable zones' of Alpha Centauri's three-star system. 'It is clear we are entering a new space age. We are standing at the threshold of a new era', said Hawking. 'Human colonisation and other planets is no longer science fiction, it can be science fact.'
Hawking believed that In the long run the human race should not have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet. 'I just hope we can avoid dropping the basket until then', he said. AI could replace humans. Hawking claimed that AI will soon reach a level where it will be a 'new form of life that will outperform humans.' He even went so far as to say that AI may replace humans altogether, although he didn't specify a timeline for his predictions. The chilling comments during a recent interview with Wired. He said: 'The genie is out of the bottle. I fear that AI may replace humans altogether.
Friday, 13 October 2017
Yellowstone Supervolcano May Erupt Quickly
The supervolcano lie in wait for beneath Yellowstone National
Park could be getting ready to explode, an eruption that could be shattering to
life on Earth. It could take as little as a human lifetime for a dormant
volcano to wake up and make itself for an immense eruption, scientists say. As
far as Yellowstone, such super-eruption last happened more than 600,000 years
ago, after magma filled the empty chambers below the Earth’s surface some decades
before it blew. Earlier it was supposed that this build up took thousands of
years, but the new research suggests the timeframe was much tighter. The
Yellowstone supervolcano, if it erupts, likely transforms the Earth’s weather
into a volcanic winter. Even more concerning is the fact that we might not be
given enough time to prepare for such a disaster. The latest findings were the
result of a study carried out by a team from Arizona State University.
Researchers believed, such Yellowstone supervolcano is
capable of unleashing abundant ash and rock into hundreds of cubic miles at one
time into an eruption radius large enough to cover most of the united states in
a thick fog and affect the environment of the entire planet. However, it’s not
the only supervolcano there is. In Italy the “Campi Flegrei” is another example
of one of these natural monsters that could be devastating if it were to erupt.
In 1538, the Campi Flegrei, last blew, has experienced earthquakes and ground
uplifting that has made room for magma to build up beneath it. The top level
indicates that an eruption released 250 cubic miles of magma.
However, it is predicting a volcanic eruption is difficult, though
volcanologists are trying to crack the code. This latest research, the
scientists found during an analysis of material that after magma filled up the
area beneath Yellowstone all those thousands of years ago, temperatures and
other conditions changed quickly, over the course of just decades, leading to
an eruption. Therefore, it is really shocking how little time is required to
take a volcanic system from being quiet and sitting there to the edge of an
eruption. Moreover in the recent times, Yellowstone has experienced ground
uplifting, a major sign of activity that could possibly warn of an eruption
because of the magma buildup that takes place beneath the swelling surface.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the last eruption at
Yellowstone was 640,000 years ago. Yellowstone National Park doesn’t hold a
classic image of a volcano, with a mountain looming high in the sky, but it is
still home to a gigantic volcano structure. The most of park is within the
Yellowstone caldera, the crater created when the magma from the supervolcano
erupted and the Earth’s crust collapsed into the empty space it left behind. Thus,
some of its main attractions, including the geyser Old Faithful and the Grand
Prismatic Spring are signs of the site’s volcanic activity. However, according
to new research, it would only take decades, considerably reducing the expected
preparation time that we would have for the disaster.
Wednesday, 7 December 2016
NASA Dramatic Photographs Shows How Our Planet Earth is Changing Over the Time
The below incredible NASA images
showing incredible changes have been observed over 100 years or so. If you
compare the images, you will know the difference clearly. These pictures are
can found on NASA website. The human activities are changing the entire world
into cemented skyscrapers and destroying natural resources. The ever changing
technologies are playing a big part in increasing human greediness to control
natural resources to make a big money. This is incredible stuff and everyone
would feel sadness of losing planet earth. No one sure, where would we stand
after 100 years? Can our generation see any kind of natural resources or not? Source: Charismatic Planet
Wednesday, 27 July 2016
The world's hottest day EVER is recorded in Kuwait as temperature soars to 54C
Temperatures in Kuwait reached 54C this week, making Thursday the hottest day EVER recorded. The blistering temperature was recorded in Mitribah, Kuwait, on Thursday. And yesterday, Iraq was nearly as hot, as the mercury soared to 53.9C (129.0 degrees Fahrenheit). Weather forecaster Nagham Mohammed expected temperatures Saturday to hover around 49 degrees Celsius (120.2 Fahrenheit) in Basra and to decline in the coming days. Mohammed added that temperatures in Baghdad are expected to reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit). And weather historian, Christopher C. Burt said the temperatures made them the hottest "ever reliably measured on Earth". On Wednesday, temperatures soared up to 51C (123.8 Fahrenheit) in Baghdad and as much as 53C (127.4 Fahrenheit) in Basra.
Tuesday, 19 July 2016
What You Need to Know About the World's Water Wars
Underground water is being pumped so aggressively around the globe that land is sinking, civil wars are being waged, and agriculture is being transformed. In some neighborhoods, the ground is giving way at a rate of four inches a year as water in the giant aquifer below it is pumped.
The groundwater has been so
depleted that China’s capital city, home to more than 20 million people, could
face serious disruptions in its rail system, roadways, and building
foundations, an international team of scientists concluded earlier this year.
Beijing, despite tapping into the gigantic North China Plain aquifer, is the
world’s fifth most water-stressed city and its water problems are likely to get
even worse.
Beijing isn’t the only place
experiencing subsidence, or sinking, as soil collapses into space created as
groundwater is depleted. Parts of Shanghai, Mexico City, and other cities are
sinking, too. Sections of California’s Central Valley have dropped by a foot,
and in some localized areas, by as much as 28 feet.
Around the world, alarms are
being sounded about the depletion of underground water supplies. The United
Nations predicts a global shortfall in water by 2030. About 30 percent of the
planet’s available freshwater is in the aquifers that underlie every continent.
More than two-thirds of the
groundwater consumed around the world irrigates agriculture, while the rest
supplies drinking water to cities. These aquifers long have served as a backup
to carry regions and countries through droughts and warm winters lacking enough
snowmelt to replenish rivers and streams. Now, the world’s largest underground
water reserves in Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas are under stress. Many of
them are being drawn down at unsustainable rates. Nearly two billion people
rely on groundwater that is considered under threat.
Richard Damania, a lead economist
at the World Bank, predicts that without adequate water supplies, economic growth
in the most stressed parts of the world could decline by six percent of GDP.
His findings conclude that the most severe impacts of climate change will
deplete water supplies.
“If you are in a dry area, you
are going to get a lot less rainfall. Run-off is declining,” he says. “People
are turning to groundwater in a very, very big way.”
But few things are more difficult
to control than groundwater pumping, Damania says. In the United States,
farmers are withdrawing water at unsustainable rates from the High Plains, or
Ogallala Aquifer, even though they have been aware of the threat for six
decades.
“What you have in developing
countries is a large number of small farmers pumping. Given that these guys are
earning so little, there is very little you can do to control it,” Damania
says. “And you are, literally, in a race to the bottom.”Over the past three
decades, Saudi Arabia has been drilling for a resource more precious than oil.
Engineers and farmers have tapped hidden reserves of water to grow grains,
fruits, and vegetables in the one of the driest places in the world. They are
tapping into the aquifer at unsustainable rates. On these NASA satellite images
of the Wadi As-Sirhan Basin, green indicates crops, contrasting with the pink
and yellow of dry, barren land.
As regions and nations run short
of water, Damania says, economic growth will decline and food prices will
spike, raising the risk of violent conflict and waves of large migrations.
Unrest in Yemen, which heavily taps into groundwater and which experienced
water riots in 2009, is rooted in a water crisis. Experts say water scarcity
also helped destabilize Syria and launch its civil war. Jordan, which relies on
aquifers as its only source of water, is even more water-stressed now that more
than a half-million Syrian refugees arrived.
Jay Famiglietti, lead scientist
on a 2015 study using NASA satellites to record changes in the world’s 37
largest aquifers, says that the ones under the greatest threat are in the most
heavily populated areas.
"Without sustainable
groundwater reserves, global security is at far greater risk,” he says. “As the
dry parts are getting drier, we will rely on groundwater even more heavily. The
implications are just staggering and really need to be discussed at the international
level.”
Below are answers to your key
questions.
Where is groundwater the most
threatened?
The most over-stressed is the
Arabian Aquifer System, which supplies water to 60 million people in Saudi
Arabia and Yemen. The Indus Basin aquifer in northwest India and Pakistan is
the second-most threatened, and the Murzuk-Djado Basin in northern Africa the
third.
How did these giant basins become
so depleted?
Drought, bad management of
pumping, leaky pipes in big-city municipal water systems, aging infrastructure,
inadequate technology, population growth, and the demand for more food
production all put increasing demand on pumping more groundwater. Flood
irrigation, which is inefficient, remains the dominant irrigation method
worldwide. In India, the world’s largest consumer of groundwater, the
government subsidizes electricity – an incentive to farmers to keep pumping.
How has irrigation changed
farming?
Irrigation has enabled
water-intensive crops to be grown in dry places, which in turn created local
economies that are now difficult to undo. These include sugar cane and rice in
India, winter wheat in China, and corn in the southern High Plains of North
America. Aquaculture has boomed in the land-locked Ararat Basin, which lies
along the border between Armenia and Turkey. Groundwater is cold enough to
raise cold-water fish, such as trout and sturgeon. In less than two decades,
the aquifer there has been drawn down so severely for fish ponds that municipal
water supplies in more than two dozen communities are now threatened.
How much water remains?
More is known about oil reserves
than water. Calculating what remains in aquifers is extraordinarily difficult.
In 2015, scientists at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada
concluded that less than six percent of groundwater above one-and-a-half miles
(two kilometers) in the Earth’s landmass is renewable within a human lifetime.
But other hydrologists caution that measurements of stores can mislead. More
important is how the water is distributed throughout the aquifer. When water
levels drop below to 50 feet or less, it is often not economically practical to
pump water to the surface, and much of that water is brackish or contains so
many minerals that it is unusable.
Is there any good news?
Depleted groundwater is a
slow-speed crisis, scientists say, so there's time to develop new technologies
and water efficiencies. In Western Australia, desalinated water has been
injected to recharge the large aquifer that Perth, Australia's driest city,
taps for drinking water. China is working to regulate pumping. In west Texas,
the city of Abernathy is drilling into a deeper aquifer that lies beneath the
High Plains aquifer and mixing the two to supplement the municipal water
supply. Source: National Geographic
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