This is the 33rd issuance of the annual assessment now known as State of the Climate, published in the Bulletin since 1996. As a supplement to the Bulletin, its foremost function is to document the status and trajectory of many components of the climate system. However, as a series, the …
Ultraviolet rays penetrating through the protective ozone layer over Antarctica are damaging the DNA of higher animals. Scientists from the Northeastern University of Texas, US, found extensive DNA lesions in the eggs and larvae of ice fish - an Antarctic fish that lacks hacmoglobin - during the period when the …
penguins are not as harmless as they look. Recent research in Antarctica has revealed that they steal each other's eggs and may even peck each other to death to guard their territory at remote, windswept nesting sites. The aggressive behaviour of male penguins at nesting sites has been linked to …
A group from the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK has analysed the isotopic composition of samples from ALH84001, the original Martian meteorite and reported results that support claims of the existence of life on Mars. On the other hand, Jeffery Bada of the Scripps Institute of Oceanogrphy analysed the …
young emperor penguin chicks have been observed moving further away from their home in Antarctica to warmer waters of north. And therein lies the danger, for these waters are not bound by international treaties. The Antarctic Treaty primarily covers the Ross Sea, a frigid body of water where the penguins …
Antarctica, which till 1960 was considered an aseismic area, now supports seven seismic observatories. India will also set up an observatory near its permanent station Maitri during its 16th expedition to the continent towards the end of this year. The aim of the broad-band digital seismic observatory is to monitor …
David Vaughan and Chris Doake, glaciologists with the Bristish Antarctic Survey have published a paper which states that atmospheric warming has caused the disintegration of five ice shelves in the Antarctic peninsula, over the last 60 years. The breaking down of the shelves has taken place in the warmest part …
Antarctic krills, small shrimplike creatures, have adopted special mechanisms to avoid turbulence. According to Konard Welse, a zoologist at the University of Hamburg, Germany, their antennae pick up pressure waves from their neighbours for maintaining contact among themselves. After placing a small pressure sensor near the swimmerets of a krill, …
AIDED by radio and seismic waves, scientists have discovered more than 70 lakes that lie buried under thousands of feet of ice in this glacial continent. Of these, the largest lake is a body of seemingly fresh water 140 miles long and 30 miles wide, located next to Russia's Vostok …
A SURFEIT, of fat and urges to go on a diet? May be the sea -urchins living'in the icy waters of Antarctica could hold out clues on slimness. Scientists at the University of Southern California in the US believe that the answers -for reducing human obesity he in Antarctic sea …
RISING temperatures have left an indelible mark on the frozen continent - 8,000 sq km of ice sheets hundreds of metres thick have been lost in the past 50 years - as the mercury in this region has climbed by 2.5
For the 15th time since 1981, Indian scientists sailed from Goa for Antarctica in early December, 1995. "Our purpose of this expedition is not that scientists should repeat themselves year after year. The nation is watching us very closely. Whatever resources we put there are the resources of the people …
The largest and one of the most well preserved fossil specimens of an ammonite has been discovered on Seymour Island off Antarctica. Belonging to the class Molluscs, these animals have soft bodies like snails encased in calcareous shells (Discovery Vol 16, No 9). Called Diplomoceras ntsudmum, this animal belonged to …
EVEN as the un celebrated September 16 as the International Day for Preservation of the Ozone Layer, a report published by the World Metereological Organisation (wmo), considerably dampened the spirits of "save ozone" campaigners revealing that the hole in the stratospheric ozone layer -- which protects the earth from harmful …
• State-of-the-art technology worth Rs 15 billion will be employed by the Mathura oil refinery to reduce emission of sulphur dioxide and lower the pollution level in the sensitive Taj Mahal area of Agra, said the general manager of the refinery J L Raina in Mathura recently. • The World …
RECENT findings by a group of American researchers suggest that even the remote continent of Antarctica exhibits evidence of contamination, mainly due to scientific support activities, an ever increasing number of visitors, ship operations, atmospheric fallout and disposal practices. And all these pose a serious threat to the marine environment …
WHEN vegetation sprouts in a desert, it is a good sign; but when the ice in the Arctic and the Antarctic begins to turn green, there is something terribly wrong. There have been a spate of reports in recent weeks pointing towards a possible change in the shape of the …
HAVE you ever thought what prevents aquatic organisms living in and around the icy continent of Antarctica from freezing? Researchers believe that an enzyme -- lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) -- plays an important role in keeping these organisms metabolically active, and helps them survive even at sub-zero temperatures. S Shivaji, a …
AMSTERDAM, St Paul, Kerguelen and Crozet, the French-governed sub-Antarctic group of islands in the southern Indian Ocean, are crawling with some of the world's richest wildlife diversity. Now, biologists who have been camping in the islands to study the fauna are accusing the administration of the French Southern and Antarctic …
The ozone layer over the Antarctica was nearly as severely depleted in November last year as it was in 1993, when it reached a record low, reveal several airborne and space sensors. According to Richard Bevilacqua of the US Naval Research Laboratory, ozone levels began falling in May 1994, and …
THE ozone layer protects the earth's surface from the harmful effects of the sun's ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Ozone depletion would therefore imply an increase in UV radiation which, scientists fear, could lead to an increase in skin cancer and cataracts, and perhaps adversely affect agricultural systems. But now climatologists point …
