Environmental news Archives

Joshimath in Jeopardy: Experts Suggest Remote Sensing Mapping for Disaster-prone Uttarakhand

The Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) has suggested a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) – a remote sensing method – to examine the surface in disaster-prone Himalayan state Uttarakhand. This has been recommended in a study report to examine the cause behind cracks that appeared across Joshimath – a tiny town en route to the Badrinath shrine.

“It is of utmost importance that LiDAR topographic mapping is done for the state. Planning of management and mitigation is convenient if bare-ground topography and the surface models are available to planners and decision makers,” said the report prepared by 10 scientists considered experts in Himalayan geology.

In January, more than 750 houses in Joshimath reported wide cracks, leading to panic and chaos. Further, cracks also appeared in the agricultural fields. Moreover, several establishments witnessed water oozing out of the ground. The Pushkar Singh Dhami government then ordered a study by expert institutes to ascertain reasons and recommend suggestions to prevent such cracks.

Scientists from Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS), Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (IIT-R), Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Geological Survey of India (GSI), and National Geophysical Institute (NGI) conducted research and study and have submitted separate reports to the Uttarakhand government.

CONSTRUCTION IN SPRING WATER ZONE
Most of the reports have blamed unchecked construction over the past few years in Joshimath, particularly in the spring water zones, and loose debris for the sinking of the land.

“Construction of buildings in spring zone did cessation of spring flow. Cessation of spring flow increases the pore pressure which ultimately rendered the burst of ground water in form of spring,” mentions a report by CGWB.

The report recommends that “construction activities in spring zone area should be immediately stopped. Emergence point of the springs which are covered with any concrete material should be cleared”. It adds that “trench along with the retention wall may be constructed at different topographic level so that ground water pressure may be dissipated”.

The Geological Survey of India underlined that the majority of the ground cracks, irrespective of their orientation, are located in areas that are densely populated and loaded with multistoried buildings.

“The other areas where it is scanty or no habitation has so far not been affected by the recent event,” said the GSI report, clearly suggesting that heavy construction is one of the reasons behind the sinking of Joshimath.

HYDROPOWER PROJECT GETS CLEAN CHIT
Interestingly, there has been widespread debate on whether tunnel boring machines used in the under-construction 520-megawatt Tapovan Vishnugad Hydropower Project led to the cracks on the surface. The GSI report refuted such claims. It said 8.5 km of the 12 km-long tunnel had been excavated through drill machines and no blasting was done.

“Prima-facie the very question of any blast-induced damages attributing to the current situation is very unlikely,” the report mentions.

Besides, the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing concluded based on satellite imagery that subsidence in Joshimath may be due to the toe-cutting phenomenon, or slope instability as a result of seepage of local drainage water in the soil.

Source: https://www.news18.com/india/joshimath-in-jeopardy-experts-suggest-remote-sensing-mapping-for-disaster-prone-uttarakhand-8591547.html

China, U.S. and India absent at U.N.’s Climate Ambition Summit

Representatives from 34 states and 7 institutions were given the floor on the day of the summit; all the G-20 governments will be asked to commit to presenting, by 2025, more ambitious economy-wide Nationally Determined Contributions

Delegates attend the U.N. Climate Ambition Summit on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City on September 20, 2023. | Photo Credit: AFP

The Climate Ambition Summit (CAS) in New York, as part of the United Nations General Assembly, that concluded on September 21, was marked by the absence of major economies whose actions significantly influence the future of global emissions.

China, United States and India — who collectively account for about 42% of global greenhouse gas emissions and are the top three emitters in that order — were all absent from the CAS that was designed, according to the U.N., to “showcase leaders who are “movers and doers”… and have credible actions, policies and plans to keep the 1.5°C degree goal of the Paris Agreement alive and deliver climate justice to those on the front lines of the climate crisis.”

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/india-us-china-absent-at-uns-climate-summit/article67329914.ece

Bee alert: 5 million bees fall off truck near Toronto and drivers are asked to close windows

Police west of Toronto on Wednesday warned drivers to keep their car windows closed after a truck spilled crates carrying five million bees onto a road.

Halton Regional Police said they received a call around 6:15 a.m. reporting the bee crates had come loose from a truck and spilled onto Guelph Line, north of Dundas Street, in Burlington, Ontario, just west of Toronto.

It was “quite the scene,” Constable Ryan Anderson said.

“Crates were literally on the road and swarms of bees were flying around,” he said. “The initial beekeeper that was on scene was apparently stung a few times.”

The scene prompted police to warn drivers to close their windows as they passed by and for pedestrians to avoid the area.

About an hour after police put out a notice on social media, several beekeepers were in touch with police offering to help. Six or seven beekeepers eventually arrived at the scene, Anderson said.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/bees-spilled-road-five-million-road-57af8b0761d63d17650bb2c341962462

Climate change: Thousands of penguins die in Antarctic ice breakup

The down feathers on emperor chicks are not waterproof. They must fledge before the ice breaks up

A catastrophic die-off of emperor penguin chicks has been observed in the Antarctic, with up to 10,000 young birds estimated to have been killed.

The sea-ice underneath the chicks melted and broke apart before they could develop the waterproof feathers needed to swim in the ocean.

The birds most likely drowned or froze to death.

The event, in late 2022, occurred in the west of the continent in an area fronting on to the Bellingshausen Sea.

It was recorded by satellites.

Dr Peter Fretwell, from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), said the wipeout was a harbinger of things to come.

More than 90% of emperor penguin colonies are predicted to be all but extinct by the end of the century, as the continent’s seasonal sea-ice withers in an ever-warming world.

“Emperors depend on sea-ice for their breeding cycle; it’s the stable platform they use to bring up their young. But if that ice is not as extensive as it should be or breaks up faster, these birds are in trouble,” he told BBC News.

“There is hope: we can cut our carbon emissions that are causing the warming. But if we don’t we will drive these iconic, beautiful birds to the verge of extinction.”

Dr Fretwell and colleagues report the die-off in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

The scientists tracked five colonies in the Bellingshausen Sea sector – at Rothschild Island, Verdi Inlet, Smyley Island, Bryan Peninsula and Pfrogner Point.

Using the EU’s Sentinel-2 satellites, they were able to observe the penguins’ activity from the excrement, or guano, they left on the white sea-ice.

This brown staining is visible even from space.

Adult birds jump out on to the sea-ice around March as the Southern Hemisphere winter approaches. They court, copulate, lay eggs, brood those eggs, and then feed their nestlings through the following months until it’s time for the young to make their own way in the world.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66492767