The report discusses the climate condition over Indian region during the year 2023. Notably, global temperatures soared to exceptionally high levels during this period (WMO.No.1347). The India Meteorological Department continuously monitors weather and climate over Indian region. The annual mean land surface air temperature averaged over India during 2023 was …
Kenya produces nearly 1.5 per cent of the world's coffee. However, coffee producers are struggling to overcome two burdens inclement weather and bureaucratic inertia. The first problem is short-lived as Kenya has received average rainfall since the 1960's. This year, more than 262 millimetres (mm) of rain fell in January, …
The incessant rains that walloped most of east and central Africa for most of the past five months have given way to soothing blue skies. Yet, the effects of the relentless precipitation, caused by now-notorious El Ni
it is a feeling that only Lazarus would be familiar with: coming back from death. Or Bhagirath, who brought the Ganga to this world. The rural folk in the villages of district Alwar, Rajasthan, have become the masters of their destiny. And one has to resort to mythology to find …
The forest fires in Indonesia that have been raging for more than two months are spreading further in the provinces of Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of the Borneo island) and Sulawesi. The National Coordination Centre for Ground Fire Control, Jakarta, was quoted by the state-run Antara news agency …
Torrential rains have caused destruction in many cities in Pakistan's central Punjab province, claiming 61 lives and rendering nearly 15,000 homeless. Nearly 1,000 houses have collapsed and about 16,000 partially damaged in the rain. According to Chaudhry Mohammad Azam, relief commissioner, several relief camps have been set up in the …
Concerted efforts have been launched to promote traditional water harvesting systems in the desert area of Kutch in Gujarat. Abdasa Development Forum, Saurashtra Trust, Kutch Mahila Vikas Sanga-than, Janvikas, Gandhi-dham Cham-ber of Commerce, Viveka-nand Training and Research Institute and a number of other NGOs from Kutch alongwith Kutch Mitra , …
Bruce Railsback of Georgia University, Athens, USA, has concluded that lightning increases the acidity in rain. This was discovered while studying the change in the acidity of rainfall during a storm. Railsback gathered 132 samples of falling rain at intervals of 90 seconds in north-eastern Georgia. Samples collected while thunder …
Speculation is rife that tea production in Nepal may decline as poor rainfall until this time of the year has resulted in the inadequate growth of tealeaves. Although tea estates located in the northern part of the country have not been affected much by the drought, those in the southern …
The Mexican state of Coahuila will be an experimental area to test a new rain-making technique. Until now, creating rain involved flying over a supercooled cloud at a high altitude and sprinkling it with silver iodide crystals, which have a structure similar to that of ice. However, this method increases …
The fallout of the much-debated phenomenon of global warming may not merely be a rise in temper- ature. it might result in devastating bouts of rainfall, say scientists at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Ashville, North Carolina, In a recent study. The days of "fight and moderate" rainfall …
IN THE depths of saline ground above a water layer that is blackish they store fresh water for their year's needs. They are the Maldharies inhabiting the vast expanse of undulating Banni porturelands located in the desert areas of the northern Kutch district of Gujarat. They are the descendents of …
ECOLOGISTS warn that largescale tree-felling may cause a drastic reduction in rainfall in Pakistan's Baluchistan and transform the beautiful orchard valleys into a barren landscape. According to some estimates, over 1 million trees in various jungles of the province were hacked down by the local populace. If there is no …
IT'S NOW almost taken for granted that if a flood occurs in the plains, then a forest must have disappeared in the mountains. However, this notion, which indicts the land-use practices of the mountain people, is fast losing its punch for lack of evidence. Two recent studies sponsored by the …
Scientists are exploiting the pitter-patter of rain to measure rainfall over oceans, till now an impossible task. Under a US Navy-sponsored research project, scientists are using underwater microphones to listen to the rhythm of the falling rain and measure rainfall as accurately as a rain gauge. When rain hits water, …
Drainage congestion and increased rainfall runoff over eight centuries are increasingly choking Dhaka, the "unplanned Capital of Bangladesh", and this is leading to internal flooding, reports Panos Features, citing a recent study by S Dara Shamsuddin and Rafique Ahmed. The two researchers used data collected by the Bangladesh Meteorological Department. …
THE AMOUNT of rain falling in various parts of India has changed over the years, decreasing in some places and increasing in others. K Rupa Kumar and his colleagues at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune report in a recent issue of the International Journal of Climatology …
The groundwater circulation is limited in Sri Lanka because nine tenth area of the island is underlain by metamorphic hard rocks which are generally very impermeable. Therefore to satisfy the water demand some other possibilities of water resources should be explored before starting a groundwater investigation programme for a given …
Every year, during monsoon, it is the same story for roads across India. Potholes, potholes and more potholes. It requires a small intervention to not only help reduce costs incurred in repairing a damaged stretch but also increase groundwater levels. Yet, the government has failed to do so. The potential …
The Doha climate conference stretched beyond deadline but ended in what can best be described a nail-biting finish. This was the 18th conference of parties (COP) to the climate convention, which meets once a year to push for action to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which are so intertwined with economic …
Rain, snow, hail, ice, and every slushy mix in between make up the precipitation that touches everyone on our planet. But not all places rain equally. Precipitation falls differently in different parts of the world, as you see in NASA's new video that captures every shower, every snow storm and …
