The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
As carbon dioxide continues to enter out Earth's atmosphere, the ocean is continuing to acidify. Now, scientists have developed a new way to measure how this acidification is affecting marine ecosystems over an entire oceanic basin. When CO2 enters our atmosphere, it also mixes with seawater. This accumulation of CO2 …
Of the many processes contributing to long-term sea-level change, little attention has been paid to the large-scale contributions of salinity-driven halosteric changes. We evaluate observed and simulated estimates of long-term (1950-present) halosteric patterns and compare these to corresponding thermosteric changes. Spatially coherent halosteric patterns are visible in the historical record, …
Daily rainfall totals are analyzed for the main agro-climatic zones of Sri Lanka for the period 1976–2006. The emphasis is on daily rainfall rather than on longer-period totals, in particular the number of daily falls exceeding given threshold totals. For one station (Mapalana), where a complete daily series is available …
Recent studies have pointed out an increased warming over the Indian Ocean warm pool (the central-eastern Indian Ocean characterized by sea surface temperatures greater than 28.08C) during the past half-century, although the reasons behind this monotonous warming are still debated. The results here reveal a larger picture—namely, that the western …
The Indian summer monsoons of 2013 and 2014 had contrasting onset and progression phases. The onset was timely and the progression of 2013 monsoon was the fastest in the last 70 years, whereas 2014 had a delayed onset and a very lethargic progression phase compared to 2013. The initial monsoon …
El Nino conditions are easing in the central and eastern tropical Pacific in the latest available indications that the Indian monsoon might just be able to shrug off its feared adverse impact on seasonal rains. The ocean waters in the ‘suspect area’ in the Pacific have cooled over the last …
The 2014 Human Development Report—Sustaining Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience—looks at two concepts which are both interconnected and immensely important. This year's Report show that overall global trends are positive and that progress is continuing. Yet, lives are being lost, and livelihoods and development undermined, by natural or human-induced …
The El Nino is not the only factor that tripped monsoon rains in India during June, according to a lead scientist with a research group Japanese national forecaster Jamstec. This is the latest in a series of expert voices which has shared the view that local factors have played no …
Globally, sea levels have risen faster than at any time during the previous two millennia – and the effects are felt in South Asia. Changing patterns of rainfall or melting snow and ice are altering freshwater systems, affecting the quantity and quality of water available in many regions, including South …
There is a rising concern regarding the accumulation of floating plastic debris in the open ocean. However, the magnitude and the fate of this pollution are still open questions. Using data from the Malaspina 2010 circumnavigation, regional surveys, and previously published reports, we show a worldwide distribution of plastic on …
5921–5941One seventh of the world's population lives in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) and the fertile region sustains agricultural food crop production for much of South Asia, yet it remains one the most under-studied regions of the world in terms of atmospheric composition and chemistry. In particular, the emissions and chemistry …
Shifting climate patterns in the Indian Ocean driven by global warming are likely to increase the frequency of “devastating” weather events for much of Australia, Indonesia and eastern Africa, a study led by Australian researchers has found. While attention has focused on the prospect of an El Nino forming in …
The South Asian summer monsoon directly affects the lives of more than 1/6th of the world’s population. There is substantial variability within the monsoon season, including fluctuations between periods of heavy rainfall (wet spells) and low rainfall (dry spells). These fluctuations can cause extreme wet and dry regional conditions that …
The paper approaches the question of disconnect between El Nino and Indian droughts by exploring the timing of El Nino developments in a year and its relation with monsoon rains. The researchers connect an India specific El Nino (ISEL), based on tracking temperature anomalies of three months moving averages for …
The Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) during the boreal summer has shown a significant warming of 0.3°C in the recent decade (2001–2010) compared to a former decade (1979–1988), and it is most pronounced in the central tropical Indian Ocean. By using reanalysis and satellite‐derived data sets, we investigated how …
The fifth session of the SASCOF (SASCOF-5), convened to generate the climate outlook for the summer monsoon season of 2014, was held at Pune, India, from 22-23 April 2014 with the participation of eight South Asian countries. It was preceded by a capacity building training workshop on seasonal prediction for …
The Olive Ridley Project was initiated in response to large numbers of olive ridleys turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) found entangled in fishing nets in the Maldives. This species of sea turtle is rarely observed in the Maldives; however, since 2011 marine biologists, dive masters and boat captains have recorded 47 olive …
The spread of harmful algal blooms and marine pollution are a serious threat to the fishery resources of the Indian Ocean RIM countries. The expansion of these algal blooms in the past 25 years is responsible for losses to the tune of $100 million a year in the region, N.R. …
In this paper we investigate how well residents of the Andaman coast in Phang Nga province, Thailand, are prepared for earthquakes and tsunami. It is hypothesized that formal education can promote disaster preparedness because education enhances individual cognitive and learning skills, as well as access to information. A survey was …
