Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere hit new record highs in 2022, with no end in sight to the rising trend, according to this new report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). This Bulletin represents the latest analysis of observations from the WMO GAW Programme. It shows globally averaged surface …
SWELLING concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are threatening the diversity of tree life on Earth, say 2 US ecologists (Science, Vol 263, No 5149). O L Phillips of the Missouri Botanical Garden, USA, and the late A H Gentry (1945-1993) analysed independent surveys of tropical forests worldwide and …
Terre! Terre! (Earth! Earth!), an exhibition held in New Delhi in October, seemed to draw more children than adults. As is evident from its name, the exhibition aimed at a better understanding of the Earth's environment and its social, biological and physical dimensions. Experiments, visuals and complementary video films served …
Even as the Uttar Pradesh government faces a barrage of criticism for its otherwise lacklustre performance, it has undertaken an impressive afforestation programme that state forest secretary Mohinder Singh says is aimed at reducing environmental pollution in urban settlements. During 1993-94, 400 million saplings will be planted in select towns …
Human-induced changes in the composition of the atmosphere has lent urgency to the task of understanding their effect on the earth's climate, which is crucial to life on the planet. Atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas found in abundance on earth, has increased by more than 25 per …
PALAEOCLIMATIC data -- geological evidence of climatic change contained in fossils, rocks, sediments and ice -- play a crucial role in studies of atmospheric changes and their effect on climate because it is the only empirical evidence of what happened in the past. Such data serve as a yardstick to …
COMPARISONS between planets in the Solar System, which have distinct atmospheres, especially Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, cast light on the massive interactions that determine the evolution of climates. Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, has an extremely tenuous atmosphere, consisting mainly of hydrogen, helium and nitrogen, which are …
TRADITIONALLY associated with young lovers and new life, spring may soon become a time of worry because new data shows winter depletion of the protective ozone layer over Antarctica begins much earlier than was believed. The data also shows ozone levels over the Northern Hemisphere are falling rapidly. Both findings …
IN SPITE of receiving 150 bids, the response to the first-ever auction of pollution rights, organised recently by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is termed poor. The 150 bids are a benchmark in the US agency's market-based strategy to reduce acid rain. Most of the allowances offered by private …
A VOLCANIC explosion does not affect only those living in the vicinity -- it's impact can be global and it may be felt for years afterwards. A volcanic eruption can cause unexpected changes in the earth's climate and environment and the onset of the Ice Age, global cooling, depletion of …
MOTIVATED by the need for a holistic understanding of the impact of human activity on the earth's natural phenomena, scientists in the last decade have been studying the earth as an entire system, focussing their attention on large-scale physical and biotic (related to living things) interactions. The pursuit of this …
TWO RECENT climate studies have found that while changes in solar radiation do contribute to global warming, this effect is small as compared to that of human-made greenhouse gases. The increase in the annual average global temperature at the earth's surface was as much as 0.8o C between 1880 and …
AFTER the English cricket team lost the first Test match against. India in Calcutta last month, it resorted to "smogscreens" to defend its performance. The ball was figuratively set rolling by Ted Dexter, chairman of the English cricket selection committee, who reportedly blamed the defeat on ecological problems in the …
WESTERN scientists report the burning of fossil fuels is steadily depleting the oxygen content of the atmosphere. And, because the level of oxygen varies inversely with that of carbon dioxide, the new techniques of oxygen measurement provide them also with clues to the carbon cycle. But the scientists are struggling …
SCIENTISTS at the University of Delaware have produced an accurate satellite image of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, enabling weather experts to track the deadly El Nino, the warm current in the Pacific which brings in its wake droughts to India, Africa and other parts of the world. …
ANXIETY over ozone-layer depletion and global warming have inspired numerous studies into the changing nature of the earth's atmosphere. Indications are that increasing air pollution has not just dirtied the air, its graver effect has been its influence on the capacity of the various atmospheric constituents to oxidise or burn …
IT WAS no mean task to iron out differences to get an agreement on the atmosphere chapter in Agenda 21, the whole of which was bracketed at the last prepcom by Yemen on behalf of the Arab group. As the use of oil was singled out as one of the …
BIG PROBLEMS cannot be solved without a big vision. And big visions do not come without big dreams. The Rio conference, which will bring together more heads of state and government than any conference ever before, could have made it big if it was born out of a big dream. …
THOUGH a great deal of fuss has been raised in scientific circles over methane production by rice paddies and cattle in the developing world, which is likely to heat up the earth, the atmospheric chemistry of methane is still a grey area. Scientists-are finding that it is quite possible that …
IF it were not for the widespread pollution caused by human beings, global warming caused by green- house gases like carbon dioxide and methane would have made the earth a lot warmer than it is. The world is thus in a bind: reduce pollution and save the ozone layer, but …
Hot aluminium THE aluminium industry is responsible for spewing out two potent greenhouse gases - CFC-14 (tetrafluoromethane) and CFC-116 (hexafluoroethane). In terms of their global warming potential, they are over 8,000 times more effective than carbon dioxide, their atmospheric lifetime being over 10,000 years, according to Dean Abrahamson of the …
