Environment-Indian Express Explained @IASEC

18 February 2023 19:31

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Topic Article Link Notes

AQI https://indianexpress.com/artic • The colour-coded AQI index was launched in India in 2014
le/explained/everyday- as part of the Swachh Bharat campaign
explainers/what-is-aqi-delhi- • There are six categories of AQI
air-pollution-8253034/ • The pollutants measured include PM 10, PM 2.5, Nitrogen
Dioxide, Ozone, Carbon, etc
• GRAP has specifically been instituted for emergency
measures
Zombie Ice https://indianexpress.com/article/ • It is also known as dead or doomed ice.
explained/everyday- • It is ice that is not receiving fresh snow even while
explainers/what-is-zombie-ice- continuing to be part of the parent ice sheet.
how-it-threatens-to-raise-global-
• There is an equilibrium state where the snow falling from
sea-levels-by-over-10-inches-
8121152/ higher altitudes of the ice cap flows down to recharge the
glaciers’ edges, thereby thickening them.
• Zombie ice melts away from the ice cap and blends into the
ocean.
• In the last few decades, more melting and less
replenishment have been seen.
• Without replenishment, the doomed ice is melting from
climate change and will inevitably raise seas.
Flash Floods https://indianexpress.com/article/e • Flash floods refer to flood like situation, but occurring in a
xplained/everyday- much shorter span of time
explainers/flash-floods-why-may- • Flash floods have been commonly witnessed in cities
increase-next-few-years-8102023/ like Chennai and Mumbai.
• Depression and cyclonic storms in the coastal areas of
Orissa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and others also
cause flash floods.
• one of the reasons for flood situations occurring so
frequently, is that nearly 75 per cent of the total Indian
rainfall is concentrated over a short monsoon season of four
months
• Flash floods may in the future, begin to take place after
wildfires
Drecho https://indianexpress.com/article/ • A derecho, is “a widespread, long-lived, straight-line
explained/everyday- windstorm” that is associated with a “band of rapidly
explainers/what-is-derecho- moving showers or thunderstorms”
storm-that-turned-the-sky-green- • Straight-line storms are those in which thunderstorm winds
in-the-us-8015503/
have no rotation unlike a tornado
• Being a warm-weather phenomenon they are a rare
occurrence
• Severe thunderstorms result in a ‘green sky’ due to light
interacting with the huge amount of water they hold
• They mostly occur across central and eastern parts of the

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Nano Urea https://indianexpress.com/article/e • Narendra Modi officially inaugurated the country’s first
xplained/everyday-explainers/pm- liquid nano urea plant at Kalol. It is patented product
modi-gujarat-visit-india-first-
nano-urea-plant-kalol-farms-
iffco-7946163/
Urban Heat https://indianexpress.com/article/e
Island xplained/everyday-
explainers/india-heatwave-urban-
heat-islands-explained-7921454/
Environment- https://indianexpress.com/article/e
Budget 23 xplained/explained-
climate/mishti-amrit-dharohar-
pm-pranam-governments-new-
conservation-initiatives-8417929/
LNG https://indianexpress.com/article/ • LNG is natural gas reduced to a liquid state (liquefaction)
explained/explained-
climate/what-is-liquified-natural-
gas-impact-climate-8397534/
United States.
developed by IFFCO
• Advantages of liquid nano urea:
• Cheap & no subsidy burden
• increase crop productivity
• reduce soil, water, and air pollution.
• About nano urea:
• in the form of a nanoparticle
• sprayed directly on the leaves and gets absorbed by
the plant
• has a shelf life of a year
An urban heat island is a local and temporary phenomenon
experienced when certain pockets within a city experience
higher heat load than surrounding or neighbouring areas on
the same day
Ecostress is an instrument with a radiometer which was sent
onto the International Space Station in 2018. It can measure
temperatures on the ground, as opposed to the air
temperature
MISHTI (Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats
& Tangible Incomes)
MISHTI is a new programme that will facilitate mangrove
plantation along India’s coastline and on salt pan lands.
The programme will operate through “convergence
between MGNREGS, Campa Fund and other sources
• Sundarbans in Bengal being one of the largest
mangrove forests on the planet.
• Mangroves can sequester up to four times more
carbon than tropical rainforests.
PM PRANAM (Prime Minister Programme for
Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment and
Amelioration of Mother Earth)
This programme will seek to incentivise states and union
territories promoting alternative fertilisers and the
balanced use of chemical fertilisers
Amrit Dharohar (Wetlands)
This is a scheme that will be implemented over the next
three years to encourage optimal use of wetlands, and
enhance bio-diversity, carbon stock, eco-tourism
opportunities and income generation for local
communities.
Amrit Dharohar will emphasise on the importance of
wetlands and their preservation, with an outlook that is
inclusive of local communities as caretakers of the
ecosystem
through intense cooling to around -161 degrees Celsius
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 (-259 Fahrenheit). This liquid gas is 600 times smaller than
the original volume and is half the weight of water.
• The compressed fossil fuel, which is constituted almost
wholly of methane — a potent greenhouse gas —, can be
transported around the world by ship
• processing LNG is so energy- and carbon-intensive that it
can create almost 10 times more carbon emissions than
piped gas.
Tropical https://indianexpress.com/article/e The study observed that while intact or unlogged forests are
forest emit xplained/explained-climate/new- generally carbon-neutral (they release and absorb roughly the same
carbon study-logged-tropical-forests- amount of carbon), logged or degraded forests remain a “net source
emit-carbon-8379480/ of carbon” for up to a decade

Ozone hole https://indianexpress.com/article/ • Ozone concentration is measured in dobson

filling explained/explained-
climate/ozone-hole-filling-up-
now-antarctica-montreal-
protocol-greenhouse-gases-
climate-change-8374040/
Land https://indianexpress.com/article/ REFER PT 365 (Environment)
Subsidence- explained/explained-
Joshi Math climate/joshimath-what-is-land-
subsidence-and-why-does-it-
happen-8370817/
• Over the rest(apart from Antarctica) of the world, the ozone
layer is expected to be back to where it was in 1980 by
2040 itself
• The assessment has reported that nearly 99 per cent of the
substances banned by the Montreal Protocol have now been
eliminated from use
• The ozone hole over Antarctica is the biggest during the
months of September, October, and November.
• chief cause of ozone depletion was the use
of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, that were used
extensively in the airconditioning, refrigeration, paints, and
furniture industries.
• The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol seeks to
eliminate 80-90 per cent of the HFCs currently in use by
the year 2050

BomB https://indianexpress.com/article/
Cyclone explained/explained-
climate/what-is-a-bomb-cyclone-
an-intense-blizzard-currently-
sweeping-across-the-us-8345285/
Mangrove https://indianexpress.com/article/ REFER PT 365 (Environment)
Alliance explained/what-is-the-mangrove-
alliance-for-climate-which-india-
joined-at-cop27-8261674/
What defines a bomb cyclone is how rapidly the pressure
drops in the low-pressure mass — by at least 24 millibars in
24 hours. This quickly increases the pressure difference, or
gradient, between the two air masses, therefore making the
winds stronger. This process of rapid intensification has an
even more ferocious-sounding name: bombogenesis

Loss & https://indianexpress.com/article/ REFER PT 365 (Environment)

Damage explained/cop27-loss-and-
Funds damage-in-main-agenda-history-
debate-8254529/

Blue flag https://indianexpress.com/article/ REFER PT 365 (Environment)

beaches explained/explained-
climate/indian-beaches-blue-
flag-coveted-eco-label-8233731/
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Ocean https://indianexpress.com/article/ • Scientists point to sea-ice melt as the key mechanism to
Acidification explained/explained- explain this rapid pH decrease, because it changes surface
climate/arctic-ice-melting- water in 3 primary ways:
climate-change-8186502/ • The water under the sea ice, which had a deficit of carbon
dioxide, now is exposed to the atmospheric carbon dioxide
and can take it up freely.
• The seawater mixed with meltwater is light and can’t mix
easily into deeper waters, which means carbon dioxide is
concentrated at the surface.
• The meltwater dilutes the carbonate ion concentration in the
seawater, weakening its ability to neutralise the carbon
dioxide into bicarbonate.
Dvorak https://indianexpress.com/article/ • It is a Cloud Pattern Recognition Technique (CPRT) based
explained/explained- on a concept model of the development and decay of the
climate/dvorak-cyclone-intensity- tropical cyclone.
estimation-technique-explained- • It is a statistical method using enhanced Infrared/ visible
8165811/
satellite imagery to quantitatively estimate the intensity of a
tropical system.
• During day time, images in the visible spectrum are used,
while at night, the ocean is viewed using infrared images
Triple dip la https://indianexpress.com/article/ • In recent years, the El Niño of 2015-16, spread over 19
lina explained/explained- months, was one of the longest on record, and was dubbed
climate/india-monsoon-the- ‘Godzilla’ due to its sustained high intensity.
triple-dip-la-nina-8162945/ • The current La Niña episode has already surpassed that in
length. Having started in September 2020, it has prevailed
for the last 24 months, and looks set to continue for another
six months, and has thus been classified as a ‘triple dip’ La
Niña.
• In most parts of the United States, for example, La Niña is
associated with very dry winters. In Australia and
Indonesia, and generally in the tropical region, La Niña is
expected to bring more rainfall.
Tetrapods https://indianexpress.com/article/ These are four-legged concrete structures that are placed
explained/tetrapods-unusual- along coastlines to prevent erosion and water damage.
vibrations-marine-drive-in-
mumbai-8041863/

Carbon https://indianexpress.com/article/ What are carbon bombs

Bombs explained/what-are-carbon-
bombs-why-environmentalists-
want-them-defused-7957290/
Plan for Defusing Carbon Bombs
• It is an oil or gas project that will result in at least a
billion tonnes of CO2 emissions over its lifetime.
• In total, around 195 such projects have been identified
world over, including in the US, Russia, West Asia,
Australia and India. Over a third of the carbon bombs
are currently being prepared and have not yet started
extraction.
• Deactivation of carbon bombs is necessary to meet the
Paris Agreement's temperature targets.
• The network working towards defusing carbon bomb is

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WPA https://www.thehindu.com/sci-
Amendment tech/energy-and-
Act environment/explained-indias-
wild-life-protection-act-features-
shortcomings-recommended-
changes/article65579474.ece
called Leave It In the Ground Initiative (LINGO).
• Its mission is to leave fossil fuels in the ground and
learn to live without them. It has listed carbon bomb
projects from all over the world.
• It has listed carbon bomb projects from all over the
world. This includes the Carmichael Coal Project
owned by the Adani Group, Gevra Coal Mines in
Chhattisgarh owned by Coal India, and Rajmahal Coal
Mines in eastern Jharkhand owned by Eastern
Coalfields.
REFER PT 365 (Environment)

International https://indianexpress.com/articl REFER PT 365 (Environment)

Year of e/india/miira-india-readies-
Millets plan-to-popularise-millets-on-
world-stage-
8441002/#:~:text=It%20is%20i
n%20line%20with,a%20global
%20hub%20for%20millets.

https://indianexpress.com/articl
e/explained/explained-
economics/international-year-
of-millets-india-farmers-united-
states-pm-modi-8355579/

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