2017 may be among top 3 hottest years

The year 2017 will likely be among the three warmest years on global record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 

The first 11 months of 2017 were the third warmest on record, behind 2016 and 2015, with much­warmer than­ average conditions engulfing much of the world’s land and ocean surfaces, researchers said. 

Arctic and Antarctic sea ice coverage remain at near record lows. 2017 may also be the warmest year without an El Nino — a climate phenomenon that causes global temperatures to shoot up. 

Data from NASA and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) shows that the past meteorological year (December 2016 to November 2017) is the second warmest on record.

 “What is more important than the ranking of an individual year is the overall, long term trend of warming since the late 1970s, and especially this century,” said Omar Baddour, senior scientist at WMO. 

Socio-economic impact “Along with rising temperatures, we are seeing more extreme weather with huge socio­ economic impacts,” Mr. Baddour said. 

WMO will combine data sets from U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), and the Met Oce Hadley Centre and Climatic Research Unit in the U.K. for a consolidated temperature ranking for 2017. 

According to NOAA, the month of November was the fth warmest on record, whilst NASA and ECMWF Copernicus Climate Change Service both said it was the third warmest. 

During November 2017, warmer­ than ­average temperatures dominated across much of the world’s land and ocean surfaces, with the most notable temperature departures from average across the Northern Hemisphere. 

Parts of the western contiguous U.S., northern Canada, northern and western Alaska, western Asia and far eastern Russia had temperature departures from average that were 2.0 degrees Celsius or greater, according to NOAA. 

As an indication of swift regional climate change in and near the Arctic, the average temperature observed at the weather station has now changed so rapidly that it triggered an algorithm designed to detect artificial changes in a station’s instrumentation or environment and disqualifyed itself from the NCEI Alaskan temperature analysis. 

The omission was noticed by the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), which realized that data from Reykjavik, Alaska had been missing for all of 2017 and the last few months of 2016.

The Purpose Climate Lab

The Purpose Climate Lab is set up as a movement generous hub of strategists, campaigners and creatives with the mission to amplify and accelerate global climate change solutions.

They build and support collaborations amongst diverse actors – ranging from NGOs to corporations, governments, cultural figures and institutions – in pursuit of just climate solutions.

They identify opportunities, broker relationships and proactively manage collaborations,  guiding and delivering creative campaign strategies, both online and offline, to maximise impact and the adoption of climate solutions.

2017 is set to be in top three hottest years: WMO

All-India rainfall for the 2017 monsoon season was 5% below average, the statement says

2017 will be one of the three hottest years on record, with many high-impact events including catastrophic hurricanes and floods, debilitating heat waves and drought, a provisional statement on the State of the Climate released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has said. 

The average global temperature from January to September 2017 was approximately 1.1°C above the pre-industrial era. Powerful El Nino As a result of a powerful El Niño, 2016 is likely to remain the warmest year on record, with 2017 and 2015 being second or third. 

The WMO statement, which uses 1981-2010 as the baseline, was released on Monday at the opening day of the United Nations climate change conference in Bonn. “The past three years have all been in the top three years in terms of temperature records. 

This is part of a long term warming trend,” said WMO SecretaryGeneral Petteri Taalas, in a release. “We have witnessed extraordinary weather, including temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius in Asia, record-breaking hurricanes in rapid succession in the Caribbean and Atlantic reaching as far as Ireland, devastating monsoon flooding affecting many millions of people and a relentless drought in East Africa,” Mr. Taalas added. 

Extreme weather events due to climate change have affected the food security of millions of people with agriculture accounting for 26% of all the damage and loss associated with medium to large-scale storms, floods and drought, the statement said, citing an FAO assessment. 

Flooding in Northeast All-India rainfall for the 2017 monsoon season (June to September) was 5% below average. However, aboveaverage rainfall in the Northeast and adjacent countries led to significant flooding. Many parts of the Indian subcontinent were affected by monsoonal flooding, the statement said. 

'Carbon Positive' ‘carbon zero’, ‘carbon neutral’, ‘zero energy’ or ‘zero emission’

• The terms ‘carbon zero’, ‘carbon neutral’, ‘zero energy’ or ‘zero emission’ apply to buildings that use renewable energy sources on site to generate energy for their operation, so that over a year the net amount of energy generated on site equals the net amount of energy required by the building.
• Carbon positive moves beyond carbon zero by making additional ‘positive’ or ‘net export’ contributions by producing more energy on site than the building requires and feeding it back to the grid.
• Carbon positive projects can make significant contributions by helping to address the carbon intensity and damaging impacts of past building practices and lifestyles, and by offsetting situations where carbon zero homes are not possible.
• Also in such areas carbon sequestration is more than carbon emissions and not just zero emissions.

9th Sept Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

Fuel from Air

• Scientists have found a way to produce methanol using oxygen in the air.
• Methanol is an important chemical used as fuel in vehicles.
• It is currently produced by ‘Methanol Synthesis’ process which is very expensive and energy intensive.
• It involves breaking down natural gas at high temperatures into hydrogen gas and carbon monoxide.
• But the new process uses oxygen, a ‘free’ product in the air and combines it with hydrogen peroxide at mild temperatures which require less energy.
• It is seen as an advance that may lead to cleaner, greener industrial processes worldwide.

Pluto Mountains

• Two mountain ranges on Pluto have been named after Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary respectively by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
• These are the first geological features on the planet to be named following the close flyby by the New Horizons spacecraft in July 2015.
• IAU has officially approved the naming of 14 features on the dwarf planet for the first time.
• IAU is the internationally recognised authority for naming celestial bodies and their surface features.
• Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary were the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest and return safely.

West Bengal to Bangla

• West Bengal cabinet has approved changing State’s name to Bangla.
• The state had earlier proposed that West Bengal be named Bangla in Bengali, Bangal in Hindi and Bengal in English.
• But the Centre rejected the proposal of having 3 names in 3 different languages and state is compelled to have “Bangla” as the new name.
• According to the Indian Constitution, the power of changing the name of the State lies with the Centre.
• The Article 3 of the Constitution deals with the formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States.
• It says that Parliament may by law,
  1. form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any State;
  2. increase the area of any State;
  3. diminish the area of any State;
  4. alter the boundaries of any State;
  5. alter the name of any State;

Sahara Forest Project

• Jordan has launched “Sahara Forest Project” to turn its sand dunes into farming land to produce food using sun and sea water.
• The project is funded by Norway and the European Union.
• It will use solar panels to provide power and include outdoor planting space, two saltwater-cooled greenhouses, a water desalination unit and salt ponds for salt production.
• Jordan is a water poor country that is 90% desert, located on the east bank of Jordan River in West Asia.
• It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the east and south; Iraq to the north-east; Syria to the north; Israel, Palestine and the Dead Sea to the west; and the Red Sea in its extreme south-west.
  
  
  International Literacy Day
  • International Literacy Day is celebrated on 8th September every year by UNESCO.
  • This day marks the meeting of the world congress of Ministers of Education in Tehran for the first time in 1965 to discuss the programme of education at the international level.
  • The UNESCO in its 14th Session in November, 1966, declared 8th September as the International Literacy Day.
  • The theme of this year is `Literacy in a digital world’.
  Hurricane Irma
  • Irma is a powerful category 5 Hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.
  • It is second major hurricane of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season after Hurricane Harvey.
  • It has a maximum sustained wind speed of 160 miles per hour.
  • It made landfall in Cuba's Camaguey Archipelago, caused devastation in Carribean islands and heading towards Florida, US.
  • It achieved one of the longest durations of Category 5 strength winds ever on record.
  • It is the strongest hurricane ever to form in the Atlantic Ocean outside of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.

What are El Niño and La Niña events?

El Niño and La Niña events are a natural part of the global climate system. They occur when the Pacific Ocean and the atmosphere above it change from their neutral ('normal') state for several seasons. El Niño events are associated with a warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific, while La Niña events are the reverse, with a sustained cooling of these same areas.

These changes in the Pacific Ocean and its overlying atmosphere occur in a cycle known as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The atmosphere and ocean interact, reinforcing each other and creating a 'feedback loop' which amplifies small changes in the state of the ocean into an ENSO event. When it is clear that the ocean and atmosphere are fully coupled an ENSO event is considered established.

Even in a neutral state, temperatures in the Pacific Ocean vary from east to west – for example, the western Pacific 'warm pool' in the tropical Pacific has some of the warmest large-scale ocean temperatures in the world. During an ENSO event, ocean temperatures become warmer than usual or cooler than usual at different locations, which are reflected in ocean temperature gradients. The most important driver of ENSO is these temperature gradients across the Pacific, both at the surface and below the surface, particularly at the thermocline.

Pacific Ocean – even in neutral state the Western Pacific is warm

Why are they called El Niño and La Niña?

The term El Niño translates from Spanish as 'the boy-child'. Peruvian fishermen originally used the term to describe the appearance, around Christmas, of a warm ocean current off the South American coast. It is now the commonly accepted term to describe the warming of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. La Niña translates as 'girl-child' and is the opposite ENSO phase to El Niño.

Coupled

Because ENSO involves interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere – both of which play a role in reinforcing changes in each other – it is known as a coupled ocean–atmosphere phenomenon.

ENSO impacts 

rainfall

The complex interactions between the ocean, atmosphere and adjacent landmasses across the Pacific mean that ENSO events have impacts on weather in areas outside the tropical Pacific region. El Niño and La Niña events are associated with distinct climatic conditions around the Pacific.

La Niña events are associated with greater convection over the warmer ocean to Australia's north. Typically this leads to higher than average rainfall across much of Australia, particularly inland eastern and northern regions, sometimes causing floods.

During El Niño events, the ocean near Australia is cooler than usual, bringing lower than average winter–spring rainfall over eastern and northern Australia. Although most major Australian droughts have been associated with El Niño events, widespread drought is certainly not guaranteed when an El Niño is present.

Rainfall patterns during La Niña and El Niño events

Australian rainfall data for 13 of the strongest 'classic' or 'canonical' events (having the typical autumn to autumn pattern of evolution and decay) since 1900 have been combined to form a composite of average impacts of La Niña and El Niño events upon rainfall across Australia.

Each map shows mean rainfall deciles, where green to blue tones indicate above-average to very much above-average rainfall totals and yellow to red tones indicate below-average to very much below-average rainfall. Note that the rainfall patterns can vary significantly from one event to the next.

El Niño

El Niño is typically associated with reduced rainfall northern and eastern Ausintralia.

La Niña

La Niña is typically associated with increased rainfall in northern and eastern Australia.

Thermocline

Thermocline comes from the Greek for 'heat slope' and is the name for the region separating warm, well-mixed surface water from cool, deep ocean water. Typically water temperatures above the thermocline are more than 25°C while those below the thermocline are 15°C or less.

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is described in more detail in the section The three phases of ENSO.

The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)

The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is defined by the difference in sea surface temperature between two

 areas (or poles, hence a dipole) – a western pole in the Arabian Sea (western Indian Ocean) and an eastern pole in the eastern Indian Ocean south of Indonesia. The IOD affects the climate of Australia and other countries that surround the Indian Ocean Basin, and is a significant contributor to rainfall variability in this region.

Like ENSO, the change in temperature gradients across the Indian Ocean results in changes in the preferred regions of rising and descending moisture and air.

In scientific terms, the IOD is a coupled ocean and atmosphere phenomenon, similar to ENSO but in the equatorial Indian Ocean. It is thought that the IOD has a link with ENSO events through an extension of the Walker Circulation to the west and associated Indonesian throughflow (the flow of warm tropical ocean water from the Pacific into the Indian Ocean). Hence, positive IOD events are often associated with El Niño and negative events with La Niña. When the IOD and ENSO are in phase the impacts of El Niño and La Niña events are often most extreme over Australia, while when they are out of phase the impacts of El Niño and La Niña events can be diminished.

The Indian Ocean Dipole

Positive event:

• warmer sea surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean relative to the east
• easterly wind anomalies across the Indian Ocean and less cloudiness to Australia's northwest
• less rainfall over southern Australia and the Top End.

Negative event:

• cooler sea surface temperatures in the western Indian Ocean relative to the east
• winds become more westerly, bringing increased cloudiness to Australia's northwest
• more rainfall in the Top End and southern Australia.

6th Sept Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

National Nutrition Strategy

• To address the slow pace of decline in the under nutrition and to bring nutrition to the centre-stage ofthe National Development Agenda, NITI Aayog has drafted the National Nutrition Strategy.
• The Strategy lays down a roadmap for effective action, among both implementers and practitioners, in achieving our nutrition objectives.
• It envisages a framework wherein the following four determinants of nutrition work together to accelerate decline of under nutrition in India –
  1. Uptake of health services,
  2. Food,
  3. Drinking water & sanitation and
  4. Income & livelihoods.
• Currently, there is a lack of real time measurement of these determinants, which reduces our capacity for targeted action.
• The framework envisages a Kuposhan Mukt Bharat - linked to Swachh Bharat and Swasth Bharat.
• It enables states to make strategic choices, through decentralized planning and local innovation, with accountability for nutrition outcomes.

Surya Kiran

• India and Nepal began their 12th edition of joint military exercise with around 300 troops each side in Rupandehi district in the western part of Nepal.
• It focuses on counter-terrorism and forest fighting operations.
• According to the Indian Army officials, the Surya Kiran is the largest joint exercise in terms of troop participation.
• Disaster management and joint operations for disaster relief will also be a part of the exercise.
• The exercise will provide the two armies a platform to exchange experiences, ideas and skills.
• Surya Kiran series of exercises are held alternately in India and Nepal.

Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs)

• Following the global financial crisis of 2008, it was observed that problems faced by certain large and highly interconnected financial institutions hampered the functioning of the financial system.
• This in turn negatively impacted the real economy.
• It was decided to identify such institutions and prescribe them higher capital requirements.
• Following this, RBI had started listing D-SIBs from August 2015.
• The banking regulator prescribes higher capital requirements for such entities.
• HDFC Bank is the second largest private sector lender of the country
• RBI has added HDFC in the list of D-SIBs.
• State Bank of India and ICICI Bank are also in this category.

Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC)

• CVC is the chief of the country’s top anti-corruption body- Central Vigilance Commission.
• Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is an autonomous apex Indian governmental body created to address governmental corruption.
• It is free of control from any executive authority, charged with monitoring all vigilance activity under the Central Government of India.
• The Commission shall consist of
  1. A Central Vigilance Commissioner - Chairperson;
  2. Not more than two Vigilance Commissioners - Members;
• Recently allegations were raised in a PIL, challenging the appointments as “arbitrary, illegal and in violation of the principle of institutional integrity.”
• The Centre told the Supreme Court that K.V. Chowdary was appointed Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), with the “unanimous consensus” of a high-profile committee led by the Prime Minister in June 2015.

Advance Pricing Agreement

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has entered into Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) between Indian Company and UK based Company.
• An APA is a contract, usually for multiple years, between a taxpayer and at least one tax authority specifying the pricing method that the taxpayer will apply to its related-company transactions.
• It was introduced in IT act, 2012.
• It helps taxpayers voluntarily resolve transfer pricing disputes in a cooperative manner reducing the incidence of double taxation.
• It also involves resolving both the future and existing transfer pricing audits and adjustments.
• It fosters a non-adversarial tax regime.
• Unilateral APA – It involve agreements between only the taxpayer and one government.
• Bilateral APA – Tax payer enter into APA with more than one tax authority.
• Transfer Pricing - A transfer price is the price at which different divisions of a same company transact good or services with each other.
• Transfer pricing are used when individual entities of a large multi-entity firm are treated as separately run entities.

Source: The Hindu, Indian Express, PIB

5th Sept Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

SmartE

• The first batch of E-rickshaws under the brand name of “SmartE” was launched in Gurugram by Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways.
• The E-rickshaws have been manufactured in India and are fitted with GPS and tracking system.
• It has established strategic partnerships with the Haryana government and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to launch 1000 vehicles in Gurugram and Faridabad in 2017.
• It will provide the last mile transport connectivity in the area and meaningful self-employment for marginalised youths in next 4-5 years.

SAUNI Yojana’

• Saurashtra Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojna is a project to divert flood waters of Narmada to Saurashtra region and fill up the reservoirs through giant pipelines.
• There are 4 link canals through which the water is diverted.
• Link I takes water to Jamnagar and Dwarka districts and Link II to Botad, Bhavnagar and Amreli Districts.
• These two pipelines are designed to pump Narmada water in 17 identified dams in the regions such as Krushnasagar dam, Bhimdad dam (Botad), Bhogavo dam etc.
• Recently, President of India laid the foundation stone of SAUNI Phase-II Link-4 canal in Rajkot.
• The project targets to provide irrigation water for 10.22 lakh acres of land in Saurashtra region.
  
  
  Geographical Indicators
  • The Cell for IPR Promotions & Management (CIPAM) has launched a social media campaign to promote Indian Geographical Indicators (GIs) with #LetsTalkIP.
  • It is initiated to make more people aware about the importance of Intellectual Property Rights.
  • A Geographical Indication or a GI is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin.
  • It conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness which is essentially attributable to its origin in that defined geographical locality.
  • Darjeeling Tea, Mahabaleshwar Strawberry, Blue Pottery of Jaipur, Banarasi Sarees and Tirupati Laddus are some of the GIs.
  Polavaram Project
  • It is a multi-purpose irrigation project in East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh State.
  • The dam across Godavari River is under the construction and it aims to transfer the surplus water from Godavari to Krishna river basin.
  • The project is considered as “lifeline of the State” and has been declared as a national project under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014.
  • As per the act, the central government shall execute the project and obtain all requisite clearances, including forest, environmental and rehabilitation and resettlement.
  • The regulation and development of the project is under the control of Union government and accordingly it constituted the Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) for the purpose.
  • Recently, NGT has directed the Environment Ministry and the AP government to examine about huge quantity of waste material being dumped in agricultural lands near Polavaram project.
  Initial Coin Offering
  • China has recently banned individuals and organisations from raising funds through initial coin offerings (ICO) saying the practice constituted illegal fund-raising.
  • ICO is an unregulated means of crowd funding for a project via use of Cryptocurrency.
  • The right of ownership or royalties of a project is offered to investors in the form of digital coins in exchange for legal tender or other cryptocurrencies (usually bitcoin).
  • The value of the coin will appreciate if the business is successful.
  • Presently, there is no regulator for this kind of crowd sourcing.
  Secure mobile phones
  • There is a wave of concerns over the security of mobile phones being sold by foreign firms in the country.
  • Thus it has decided to secure its communication network by offering customised mobile phones to top officers in rank of Joint Secretaries and above.
  • The mobile phones run on Android OS and have a pre-stored directory that contains the number of all officials above the rank of joint secretary.
  • The Government already operates a secure landline communication network called RAX. But it has certain limitations.
  Source: PIB, Business Line

4th Sept Daily current affairs for UPSC Civil Service Exam

International Law Meet

• The International Institute of Law was founded in 1873 in Belgium by international lawyers.
• The institute selects 132 lawyers from different countries to act independently towards international legal measures.
• Recently, its 78th session of global level meeting was held in India.
• It’s the first time that India is hosting this global legal meeting.
• Some of the topics discussed at the session were judicial review of the decisions of the U.N. Security Council, the legal issues concerning international migration and international investment disputes.
• The institute was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1904 for its efforts to promote settlement of disputes among States through peaceful means.

International Solar Alliance Framework Pact

• The ISA was instituted to connect 121 solar-resource-rich nations for research, low-cost financing and rapid deployment of clean energy.
• ISA needs ratification of its framework agreement by 15 member countries to be recognised as inter-governmental and multilateral agency under the United Nations charter.
• Recently, Seychelles became the 9th member to ratify the framework agreement.
• Till now India, France, Nauru, Niger, Fiji, Mauritius, Tuvalu and Bangladesh have ratified the agreement.
• The first 15 countries who ratified the agreement would then be founding members of ISA.
• Costa Rica became the 39th signatory to the framework agreement and it is expected that these countries will also ratify the agreement.
• Some of the countries which are signatory but yet to ratify includes  Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Peru, Benin, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Djibouti, Dominican Republic and Ethiopia.
• Click here to know more about ISA.

Bio film

• Bio films are communities of microorganisms that attach to each other and to surfaces.
• They are able to act as barriers to antibiotics.
• During times of hostile conditions, such as increased temperature and presence of antibiotics, bacteria tend to come together and form a bio film to protect them.
• The stress response pathway is crucial for bacteria to survive during hostile conditions.
• Scientists have recently found two new molecules capable of destroying bio film forming bacteria.
• When the molecules combined with antibiotics, it showed efficacy in treating infections caused by multi-drug resistant pathogens.

Genetic Diversity in Tiger Population

• Genetic diversity is defined as the variation in the amount of genetic information within and among individuals of a population, a species, an assemblage, or a community.
• It is crucial for evolution and low genetic diversity can threaten the survival of populations.
• 60% of the world’s wild tigers are found in India but the genetic variation among the tigers is dwindling due to fragmentation.
• Fragmentation causes tiger population to cut off from each other. Thus smaller, isolated populations are less genetically diverse due to lesser intermixing of different populations than larger connected ones.
• India’s tigers comprise 3 distinct populations such as northwest cluster, south cluster and central cluster.
• Northwest cluster consists only of tigers from Rathambore and it had least genetic diversity due to its isolation from other tiger population.
• Whereas, Central cluster comprising tigers from Terai, North East and central India shows more genetic diversity due to its interconnected nature.
• Thus tiger population from Rathambore could be at risk in future and tiger corridors are crucial in maintaining the genetic diversity.

Open Skies Agreement

• The national civil aviation policy of 2016 allows countries covered under such agreements an unlimited number of flights to the six metro airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai.
• Recently, India has finalised an Open Skies Agreement with Japan, allowing designated airlines of both signatory countries to operate freely.
• In 2003, India had signed an open skies agreement with the 10-member ASEAN.
• India had signed the agreement with US (2005), Jamaica, Guyana, Czech Republic, Finland, Spain, Sri Lanka (2016) and with Greece (2017).

Solar Power Generation in India

• Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission aims to add 100GW of Solar Power by 2022.
• New Research has found that the smog and dust sapping solar power generation by more than 25%.
• Scientists have found that man made particles floating in the air and deposited on solar panels seriously impact conversion of sunlight to energy.
• The interference causes steep drops in power generation and huge losses will compound affecting India’s solar ambitions.

Source: The Hindu, Business Line