Birds Bathe in the Sun

Why do birds sunbathe?

This unusual behavior, which varies by bird species, plays two important roles in protecting healthy feathers.

By: John Platt

The cormorant stood on a rock in the river, its back turned away from me. I was watching from the shore near the library in Camden, Maine, as the sun beat down on us both. I felt the warm rays heat up my skin and knew that I should have put on a good dose of sunblock. But while I was looking for shade, the bird was embracing the sun. It spread its wings out to its sides, stretched them out until the feathers splayed apart like thick black fingers, and stood there basking in the sunlight.

 

I was entranced. Despite the summer heat, I stood there watching it. Was the cormorant really sunbathing? It sure seemed that way. For the next 20 minutes the bird barely moved. By that time I was starting to turn pink, and I knew it was time to get out of the sun. The bird, however, just stayed still like a dark statue in the middle of the river.

 

Although I had never seen this particular behavior before, it turns out that sunbathing is a fairly common activity for many bird species, cormorants among them. According to the British Trust for Ornithology, sunbathing serves a couple of important roles for birds. First, it helps to spread vital oils along the feathers. Second, the heat helps to drive out any parasites that may be feeding on the bird’s plumage. Dealing with both issues helps to ensure that the bird’s feathers are well-maintained both for insulation and flight. The second, meanwhile, gives the bird a quick meal as it gets a chance to eat the insects while it preens itself.

 

Not every bird that worships the sun does it in the same way. Unlike cormorants, which stand, many species stay closer to the ground. Pigeons tend to lie on their side with one wing raised. Some doves, on the other hand, sit on the ground and raise both of their wings. Others flatten themselves out on the ground, the same way humans do when we lie out to sunbathe. Another dove species, the peaceful dove, plops down and spreads out, leaving its beak hanging open. As Jill and Ian Brown wrote last year for BirdLife Australia, the effect can make a bird look ill or distressed, but it’s really just enjoying a few rays.

 

By the way, you don’t have to wait to stumble upon this behavior like I did. Over at About.com, bird expert Melissa Mayntz writes that you can make your yard more ideal for sunning birds by pruning vegetation away from sunny areas and providing a cool birdbath. You also want to make sure that cats can’t get at the sunning birds, since they are particularly vulnerable on the ground.

 

If you do come across a sunning bird, be quiet, give it the space it needs to maintain its health, and snap a few photos from a distance — or just watch and enjoy. I sure did.

 

Read more: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/why-do-birds-sunbathe#ixzz38y2HGpBh

Water and Air are not as soft as they appear to be

Geneva, 11 July 2014 (WMO) - Weather, climate and water-related disasters are on the rise worldwide, causing loss of life and setting back economic and social development by years, if not decades. From 1970 to 2012, 8 835 disasters, 1.94 million deaths, and US$ 2.4 trillion of economic losses were reported globally as a result of hazards such as droughts, extreme temperatures, floods, tropical cyclones and related health epidemics, according to a new report.

The Atlas of Mortality and Economic Losses from Weather, Climate and Water Extremes 1970-2012 describes the distribution and impacts of weather, climate, and water-related disasters and highlights measures to increase resilience. It is a joint publication of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) of the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) in Belgium.

The Atlas aims to provide decision-makers with actionable information for protecting life and property.

It is also highlights the need for stronger efforts to report, standardize and analyze data on weather, climate, and water-related hazards to improve understanding of disasters and reinforce the platform for prevention.

The report was published ahead of the First Session of the Preparatory Committee Meeting (Geneva 14-15 July) for the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. It seeks to inform debate on the post-2015 framework both for disaster risk reduction and sustainable development.

Storms and floods accounted for 79 per cent of the total number of disasters due to weather, climate and water extremes and caused 55 per cent of lives lost and 86 per cent of economic losses between 1970 and 2012, according to the Atlas. Droughts caused 35 per cent of lives lost, mainly due to the severe African droughts of 1975 and 1983–1984.

The 1983 drought in Ethiopia ranked top of the list of human casualties, claiming 300 000 lives, as did Cyclone Bhola in Bangladesh in 1970. Drought in Sudan in 1984 killed 150 000 people, whilst the Cyclone locally known as Gorky killed 138 866 people in Bangladesh in 1991.

Hurricane Katrina in the United States of America in 2005 caused the worst economic losses, at US$ 146.89 billion, followed by Sandy in 2012 with a cost of $ 50 billion.   

The worst ten reported disasters in terms of lives lost occurred primarily in least developed and developing countries, whereas the economic losses were mainly in more developed countries.

“Disasters caused by weather, climate, and water-related hazards are on the rise worldwide. Both industrialized and non-industrialized countries are bearing the burden of repeated floods, droughts, temperature extremes and storms,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.

“Improved early warning systems and disaster management are helping to prevent loss of life. But the socio-economic impact of disasters is escalating because of their increasing frequency and severity and the growing vulnerability of human societies.”

The report highlighted the importance of historical, geo-referenced information about deaths and damages to estimate risks before the next disaster occurs. This information can support practical decisions on reducing potential impacts by, for example, improved early warning systems, retrofitting critical infrastructure, or enforcing new building codes.

“Collecting global loss data that are comparable and complete is a major challenge. Climate and weather services are working with disaster-impact researchers and data centers to meet this challenge. This partnership is producing analyses that support practical decisions on reducing the human consequences of disasters, for example by investing in early warning systems or targeting the most vulnerable communities,” said CRED Director, Prof. Debarati Sapir.

The United Nation’s Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2013 concluded that direct and indirect losses from natural hazards of all kinds have been underestimated by at least 50 per cent because of the data collection challenges. Because better reporting of disaster impacts is vital for strengthening disaster risk reduction, the international community should help vulnerable countries improve their capacity for developing and maintaining high-quality damage and loss databases.

Another challenge for users of risk information is the changing characteristics (frequency, location, severity) of weather-, climate- and water-related hazards. Natural climate variability is now exacerbated by long-term, human-induced climate change, so that yesterday’s norms will not be the same as tomorrow’s.

The WMO-CRED-Louvain report seeks to raise awareness of these and other challenges to collecting and analyzing disaster risk information. It presents a worldwide analysis of extreme weather, climate and water events drawing on the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT),   compiled by CRED. The Atlas compares the reported impacts of meteorological, climatic and hydrological extremes (as categorized by CRED) on people and economies at both the global and regional levels.

In addition to global statistics and maps, the Atlas also provides details on disasters at the regional level.

Africa: From 1970 to 2012, there were 1 319 reported disasters caused the loss of 698 380 lives and economic damages of US$ 26.6 billion. Although floods were the most prevalent type of disaster (61 per cent), droughts led to the highest number of deaths. The severe droughts in Ethiopia in 1975 and in Mozambique and Sudan in 1983–1984 caused the majority of deaths. Storms and floods, however, caused the highest economic losses (79 per cent).

Asia: Some 2 681 disasters were reported in the 1970–2012 period, causing the loss of 915 389 lives and economic damages of US$ 789.8 billion. Most of these disasters were attributed to floods (45 per cent) and storms (35 per cent). Storms had the highest impact on life, causing 76 per cent of the lives lost, while floods caused the greatest economic loss (60 per cent). Three tropical cyclones were the most significant events, striking Bangladesh and Myanmar and leading to over 500 000 deaths. The largest economic losses were caused primarily by disasters in China, most notably by the 1998 floods.

South America: From 1970 to 2012, South America experienced 696 reported disasters that resulted in 54 995 lives lost and US$ 71.8 billion in economic damages. With regard to impacts, floods caused the greatest loss of life (80 per cent) and the most economic loss (64 per cent). The most significant event during the period was a flood and land and mudslide that occurred in Venezuela in late 1999 and caused 30 000 deaths. This single event skews the loss of life statistics significantly for the entire region.

North America, Central America and the Caribbean reported 1 631 disasters that caused the loss of 71,246 lives and economic damages of US$ 1 008.5 billion. The majority of the reported disasters in this region were attributed to storms (55 per cent) and floods (30 per cent). Storms were reported to be the greatest cause of lives lost (72 per cent) and of economic loss (79 per cent).

The South-West Pacific region experienced 1 156 reported disasters in 1970–2012 that resulted in 54684 deaths and US$ 118.4 billion in economic loss. The majority were caused by storms (46 per cent) and floods (38 per cent).  The most significant reported disasters with regard to lives lost were tropical cyclones, mainly in the Philippines, including the event of 1991, which killed 5956 people. The 1981 drought in Australia caused US$ 15.2 billion in economic losses and the 1997 wildfires in Indonesia caused nearly US$ 11.4 billion in losses.

In Europe, 1 352 reported disasters claimed 149 959 lives and caused US$ 375.7 billion in economic damages. Floods (38 per cent) and storms (30 per cent) were the most reported cause of disasters, but extreme temperatures led to the highest proportion of deaths (94 per cent), with 72 210 lives lost during the 2003 western European heat wave and 55 736 during the 2010 heat wave in the Russian Federation. In contrast, floods and storms accounted for most of the economic losses during the period.

Weather, Climate and Water

Source:

http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_998_en.html

Water is Life

Water

Water is essential for life, for generating hydroelectric power and meeting irrigation and domestic requirements. Through itsHydrology and Water Resources Programme, WMO promotes water-resources assessment and provides the forecasts needed to plan water storage, agricultural activities and urban development. It supports an integrated, multidisciplinary approachto water-resources management. Measurement of hydrological variables, including the quantity and quality of both surface- and groundwater are provided by National Hydrological Services and are essential for the effective management of water resources and exchange of hydrological data. In many parts of the world, flooding is a major problem and proper flood management is needed to reduce the impact of flooding. Flood plains are beneficial areas for human developments and floods are natural phenomena of the natural regime of a river. Flood-management practices play an important role in protecting people and their socio-economic development from floods and flooding.

Accurate and reliable data are essential for formulating integrated water resources management strategies. To assist countries in maintaining their systems for acquiring water-related information and for disseminating it to decision-makers and various stakeholders, WMO developed the World Hydrological Cycle Observing System (WHYCOS) programme. It supports Members, especially developing countries, in establishing an accurate, timely and accessible knowledge base for the sustainable development of their freshwater resources.

Warning systems are vital for protection against ocean-generated natural hazards such as natural disasters, tsunamis and hurricane-induced storm surge. WMO works with its partners to improve these warning systems in all parts of the world.

WMO provides services in support of the safety of life and property at sea, protection of the marine environment and the efficient management of marine resources, based on the timely collection and distribution of marine meteorological and oceanographic data.

Whether should we know what is weather?

Weather

Everyone is interested in the weather. In most countries, the weather bulletin is the most popular TV programme. People around the world need to know what the weather will be like today or tomorrow in order to know the possibilities for sowing, planting, harvesting crops, taking to sea or engaging in other travel, making preparations against impending natural hazards, such as hurricanes. They want to know the conditions for outside sporting events or recreational activities or, simply, what to wear and whether to take an umbrella.

Under the World Weather Watch of WMO, National Meteorological Services observe weather and climate around the clock and around the world, providing a steady flow of data which are then transmitted worldwide for forecasts and planning purposes. It is a unique system that networks observing stations to national, regional and global centres 24 hours a day in real-time, delivering data from the land surface and from space for forecasts and warnings for end-users and the public.

The weather knows no national boundaries and the work carried out by meteorologists, often behind the scenes for our benefit and safety is very much a team effort, hence the WMO slogan “Working together in weather, climate and water”.

WMO Members operate and coordinate their observational networks under the Global Observing System (GOS) that provides essential and unique observational data and information on the state of the Earth and its atmosphere. GOS is the most important operational global Earth observing system with end-to-end capability. Click here to see theOperational Newsletter for this observing system.

Observation systems within these networks collect meteorological, climatological, hydrological and marine and oceanographic data from more than 15 satellites, 100 moored buoys, 600 drifting buoys, 3 000 aircraft, 7 300 ships and some 10 000 land-based stations. Powerful computers use mathematical models based on physical laws to produce charts, digital products, weather and air-quality forecasts, climate predictions, risk assessments and early warning services. Meteorological satellites broadcast real-time weather information several times a day to more than 1 000 locations.

The observations and data help create products and forecasts and all of these are then transfered around the world through WMO's Global Telecommunication System (GTS). In this way, Members are enabled to provide reliable and effective weather services in support of safety of life and property, as well as the general welfare and well-being of their populations. Examples are safe, regular and efficient aviation operations, agriculture, fisheries and food security, shipping and safety at sea (weather.gmdss.org), monitoring of water resources and early warning of natural hazards and community preparedness.

On average, a five-day weather forecast of today is as reliable as a two-day weather forecast 20 years ago. Click here for current weather forecasts for cities around the worldand severe weather warnings. Despite this major scientific and technical progress, challenges remain and the accuracy of individual weather forecasts varies significantly. The challenges include characterizing and communicating the changing uncertainties in individual forecasts and advancing our forecasting skill in areas where progress has been difficult (e.g. heavy rainfall and the genesis, intensity and structure of tropical cyclones).

WMO’s World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) plays a leading role in addressing these challenges with a focus on weather events having large impacts on society, the economy and the environment. WWRP efforts cover time-scales ranging from hours to weeks and even months, in some cases. The largest WWRP activity is THORPEX (The Observing System Research and Predictability Experiment) that aims to accelerate improvements in both the accuracy and utilization of one-day to two-week forecasts of high-impact weather.

Population is for the Annihilation of the Humanity

Populations and climate

Unlike vegetation, humans have adapted to live in all climates on Earth, from the tropical rainforests, the deserts and even the polar climates. Most people come to enjoy the climate where they live. However, they may have to face the challenge of climactic variability, and possibly more radical climate change. There is an argument that the developed world is becoming increasingly independent from climate variability, however this is not entirely true: Despite a marked decline in mortality and social disruption resulting from climate extremes, the financial consequences of climate variability are increasing. One reason for this is that rising incomes are enabling people to buy properties in more vulnerable locations, such as close to the seashore, on the flood plains of rivers or high in the mountains. The losses incurred as a result of extreme weather events in these parts of the world are rising steeply.

In many parts of the world, crowded cities with inadequate services are increasingly susceptible to weather disasters. In particular, building in flood-prone areas, particularly shantytowns without adequate early warning services and infrastructure for evacuation, increases vulnerability, especially to flash floods and mudslides such as those experienced in China, Brazil, Madagascar, Mozambique and Venezuela. WMO has a disaster risk reduction Programme to help prepare and protect human populations to adverse and extreme weather events.

Understanding Climate-4

Influences on the Earth’s climate

Atmosphere-ocean interactions

Covering some 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface, the oceans are a fundamental component of the climate system. Interactions between the rapidly mixing atmosphere and the slowly changing ocean basins are largely responsible for the climatic variations. The high heat capacity of the oceans dampens the much higher temperature changes that would otherwise occur each day, each season and each year — both in coastal areas and often farther inland. The oceans are the birthplace of all tropical cyclones and most mid-latitude storms. Half the heat transported to the poles is carried by ocean currents, which is why Western Europe, for example, is such a hospitable place. The oceans are also the single most important sink for carbon dioxide produced by human action. The oceans can hold 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere and, when there is equilibrium between these reservoirs, the oceans can absorb up to 85 per cent of any additional carbon released into the atmosphere. Present high emission rates, however, prevent this equilibrium and only about 30 per cent of anthropogenic (human made) emissions now seem to enter the oceans.

Land surface-atmosphere interactions

Within the atmospheric boundary layer (the first few tens of metres above the ground) there are many complex physical processes at work. Understanding these processes is an essential part of improving our knowledge of climate, developing better climate forecasting models, estimating the impact of human activities on climate, and understanding how a changing climate might affect us. On a hot day, it is cooler within a canopy of leafy trees than where the soil or grass is exposed to direct sunlight. In winter, ground frost develops first on exposed grass rather than under trees.

Until recently, the representation of the land surface in computer models of weather and climate was quite inadequate. However, most coupled models now employ some representation of how vegetation controls evaporation and most can estimate river runoff for the ocean component of the model. Freshwater runoff and local rainfall affect the salinity distribution of the oceans and together are an important part of the development of the latest climate models.

The feedback process whereby climate-induced changes in vegetation affect the climate system, which further affects vegetation, potentially has large climatic implications. So far, however, it has proven difficult to incorporate this feedback process adequately in the coupled-model experiments used to estimate climate sensitivity. Also, the amount of carbon that is either extracted from the soil or stored in it by decaying vegetation is another source of considerable uncertainty. Snow, with its high reflectivity, is an important component of the land surface. Current climate models have some capability in simulating the seasonal cycle of snow extent but tend to underestimate interannual variability. These weaknesses limit confidence in the details of changes, particularly at middle and high latitudes, simulated by current climate models and goes to show how much the land surface influences climate.

Volcanoes

Volcanoes can inject vast amounts of dust and, more significantly, the aerosol particle sulphur dioxide, into the upper atmosphere where aerosol particles remain suspended for up to several years and are spread around the entire globe forming a veil. The particles absorb sunlight and locally heat the stratosphere but at lower levels cause compensating cooling as less solar radiation reaches the Earth’s surface.

After large explosive tropical eruptions, the Southern Hemisphere shows a cooling (somewhat smaller than the Northern Hemisphere) in the three years following the eruptions, but the spatial patterns of the responses have been less well studied than in the Northern Hemisphere. The fact that climatically significant eruptions have, in recent centuries, occurred roughly every decade means that they are a significant factor in understanding climatic variability and climate change. Two recent eruptions, El Chicon (Mexico) in 1982, and Mount Pinatubo (Philippines) in 1991, provided the opportunity to make more detailed measurements. Mount Pinatubo appears to have injected the greatest amount of sulphur compounds into the stratosphere in the 20th century. This eruption also produced an extensive dust veil and generated significant cooling for several years. Somewhat surprisingly, however, a warming was observed over the continents of the Northern Hemisphere at higher latitudes in the first winter after the Mount Pinatubo eruption. Overall, the eruption of Mount Pinatubo caused quite a strong cooling of the global surface temperature (about 0.2°C) and in the troposphere (perhaps 0.4°C) from late 1991 to 1994.

The Sun

The output of the Sun varies on all timescales. The best-known variation is the regular fluctuation in the number of sunspots, which show up as small dark regions on the solar disk, and affect the energy output of the Sun. Other aspects of solar activity include changes in the solar magnetic field, which influence the number of cosmic rays entering the Earth’s atmosphere from deep space, and variations in the amount of ultraviolet radiation from the Sun that may lead to photochemical changes in the upper atmosphere. All these variations have the potential to induce fluctuations in the climate.

Ground-based efforts during the first half of the century, designed to show that there were appreciable changes in the output of the Sun, were plagued by problems in correcting for the effects of atmospheric absorption. It was only in 1980, with the launching of specialized satellite instruments, that it was possible to measure accurately the changes in energy radiated by the Sun. Observations now show a modulation of about 1.5 W/m² in the solar output received by the Earth over the 11-year solar cycle. This is equivalent to about 0.1 per cent of the average incoming solar radiation (1370 W/m²). These changes cannot, however, be explained in terms of sunspots alone. Sunspots are areas of lower temperature and an increase in their number might be expected to coincide with reduced solar output. On the contrary, the energy output from the Sun peaks when the sunspot number is high.

It is now known that solar output is a balance between increases due to the development of bright areas, known as faculae, at times of high solar activity and the decrease resulting from increased sunspots. Overall the heating effect of the faculae outweighs the cooling effect of the sunspots. Estimates have also been made of the longer-term fluctuations in solar energy output over the past two or three centuries. The possibility that the Sun’s energy output may have varied more appreciably in the past could explain the marked parallel between these changes and estimates of the Earth’s surface temperature over much of the past four centuries.

Human influences

Land-use changes have led to changes in the amount of sunlight reflected from the ground (the surface albedo). The scale of these changes is estimated to be about one-fifth of the forcing on the global climate due to changes in emissions of greenhouse gases. About half of the land use changes are estimated to have occurred during the industrial era, much of it due to replacement of forests by agricultural cropping and grazing lands over Eurasia and North America. The largest effect of deforestation is estimated to be at high latitudes where the albedo of snow-covered land, previously forested, has increased. This is because snow on trees reflects only about half of the sunlight falling on it, whereas snow-covered open ground reflects about two-thirds.
Overall, the increased albedo over Eurasian and North American agricultural regions has had a cooling effect.

Other significant changes in the land surface resulting from human activities include tropical deforestation which changes evapotranspiration rates (the amount of water vapour put into the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration from trees), desertification which increases surface albedo, and the general effects of agriculture on soil moisture characteristics. All of these processes need to be included in climate models.

Except for climate change studies there are few reliable records of past changes in land use. One way to build up a better picture of the effects of past changes is to combine surface records of changing land use with satellite measurements of the properties of vegetation cover. Such analyses show that forest clearing for agriculture and irrigated farming in arid and semi-arid lands are two major sources of climatically important land cover changes. The two effects tend, however, to cancel out, because irrigated agriculture increases solar energy absorption and the amount of moisture evaporated into the atmosphere, whereas forest clearing decreases these two processes.

Image:IPCC

Human activity is also changing the composition of the atmosphere. The graph to the right shows the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused by such factors as the increased levels of fossil fuel use.

Understanding Climate-3

Earth’s energy distribution (circulation patterns)

Atmospheric circulation

In the tropical regions, the planet is girdled by a belt of intense convective activity and rising air, known as the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). Here, hot air rises, releasing its heat energy to the atmosphere. As this rising air cools, moisture condenses to form clouds and rainfall. Where the air rises buoyantly within short-lived convective clouds (called ‘hot towers’), rainfall can be very intense. When the rising air reaches an altitude of around 12 to 15 km and virtually all the moisture has been extracted, it spreads out. Descending air on each side of the ITCZ creates zones of dry, hot air that maintain the deserts in the subtropical regions of the world. At the surface the Trade Winds flow back towards the ITCZ. First interpreted by the amateur meteorologist George Hadley in 1735, this basic circulation pattern is named after him and is known as the Hadley circulation or Hadley cell.

Further poleward, the middle latitude depressions swirl endlessly around the globe, often steered by concentrated cores of strong high westerly winds known as jet streams. These ‘rivers’ of air are usually found between altitudes of 9 and 12 km. Wind speeds are at a maximum during winter and often average near 180 km/h, although peak speeds can exceed twice this value. Jet streams can be very turbulent and hazardous for aircraft.

Ocean circulation

Ocean Currents.Image: IPCC

Ocean circulations transport roughly the same amount of energy towards the poles as does the atmosphere. The basic form in both hemispheres is a basin-wide vortex or circulation known as a gyre, with wind-driven westward flow in low latitudes close to the equator and poleward-directed currents along the western margins. Beyond about 35°N and 35°S the major currents sweep eastward carrying warm water to higher latitudes. This pattern is seen most clearly in the North Atlantic and North Pacific in the form of the Gulf Stream/North Atlantic Current and the Kuroshio/North Pacific Current. To balance the poleward flow there are returning currents of cold water moving toward the equator on the eastern sides of the ocean basins. In the Southern Hemisphere, because of the virtual absence of land between 35°S and 60°S, the ocean gyres are linked with a strong circumpolar current around Antarctica. There are also regions of significant vertical motion associated with these global ocean circulations. These circulations are show in the image above.

Hydrological cycle

All the water in the atmosphere gets replaced every 8 days, while it can take up to 100 years for the water in a lake to be renewed.

The continual recycling of water between the oceans, land surface, underground aquifers, rivers and the atmosphere (the hydrological cycle) is an essential part of the climate system. Ice requires much energy to melt (latent heat of fusion) and water needs even more energy to evaporate (latent heat of vaporization), so the cycling of water through the atmosphere by evaporation and its subsequent precipitation is a significant mechanism through which energy is transported throughout the climate system.

Understanding Climate-2

How is the climate determined? (Earths energy budget)

All the parameters of the Earth’s climate (wind, rain, clouds, temperature…) are the result of energy transfer and transformations within the atmosphere at the Earth’s surface and in the oceans. Over time, the Earth’s climate remains largely stable because the energy received is equal to that lost (the energy budget is balanced). The sunlight hitting earth (solar radiance) is on average, 1370 watts per square meter (W/m²).

The temperature of the Earth results from a balance between energy coming into the Earth from the Sun (solar radiation) and the energy leaving the Earth into outer space.  About half the solar radiation striking the Earth and its atmosphere is absorbed at the surface. The other half is absorbed by the atmosphere or reflected back into space by clouds, small particles in the atmosphere, snow, ice and deserts at the Earth’s surface.

Part of the energy absorbed at the Earth’s surface is radiated back (or re-admitted) to the atmosphere and space in the form of heat energy. The temperature we feel is a measure of this heat energy. In the atmosphere, not all radiation emitted by the Earth reaches outer space. Part of it is reflected back to the Earth’s surface by the atmosphere (the green house effect) leading to a global average of around 14°C, well above the -19°C which would be felt without the natural greenhouse effect. This effect is illustrated in the diagram.

Because the Earth is round and its position in the solar system, more solar energy is absorbed in the tropics creating temperature differences from the equator to the poles. Atmospheric and oceanic circulation contributes to reducing these differences by transporting heat from the tropics to the mid-latitudes and the polar regions. These

equator to pole exchanges are the main driving force of the climate system.

The energy budget of the Earth can be changed, which in turn can affect the Earth’s temperature. An increase in the greenhouse effect, feedbacks in the climate system, or other changes can modify the energy budget of the Earth.

Understanding Climate-1

What is climate?

On the simplest level, the weather is what is happening in the atmosphere at any given time. The climate, in a narrow sense, can be considered as the “average weather”, or in a more scientifically accurate way, it can be defined as “the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a period of time”.

In a broader sense, climate is the status of the climate system which comprises the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the surface lithosphere and the biosphere. These elements all determine the state and dynamics of the Earth’s climate.

The atmosphere is the envelope of gas surrounding the Earth. The hydrosphere is the part of the climate system containing liquid water at the Earth’s surface and underground (e.g. oceans, rivers, lakes…). The cryosphere contains water in its frozen state (e.g. glaciers, snow, ice…). The surface lithosphere is the upper layer of solid Earth on land and oceans supporting volcanic activity which influence climate. The biosphere contains all living organisms and ecosystems over the land and in the oceans.

Climate Classification

Peel, M. C. and Finlayson, B. L. and McMahon, T. A. (2007)

People classify the climate in many different ways depending on who needs the information, how much they know about the climate system and what information they need to know. Most atlases have maps of temperature and precipitation around the world, and some contain maps of atmospheric pressure, prevailing winds, oceans currents and the amount of sea ice throughout the year. Many countries have more detailed classifications for various reasons. For example, the average dates of the first and last killing frost (a frost strong enough to kill plants and crops) are of value to farmers and growers, as is the average length of the frost-free growing season. In colder places, the number of days below freezing affects building design. “Degree-days” is a term often used by experts working on the energy consumption of buildings. Degree-days measure how many days in a given time period (often a month) were below or above a certain reference value (such as 18°C – 22°C). This indicates how many days that month the building needed either heating or cooling to be comfortable. It provides an indication of the energy needed for heating, air conditioning and refrigeration in homes and offices.

The most often used classification scheme is that of Vladimir Köppen, first presented in the early 1900’s and revised frequently since. The system, shown in the map above, is based on the idea that native plants and vegetation are the best indication of climate and so climate zone boundaries have been defined using the distribution of five different types of vegetation: tropical rain forest; hot desert flora; temperate deciduous forests; boreal forest and tundra.

Tropical rain forests are dense forests of trees containing other plants and animal species in regions of heavy, year round, rainfall in the tropics (e.g. the Amazon, Congo…) and the mid-latitudes (e.g. Eastern Australia, Florida, south Japan…).

Hot desert floras are plants mainly composed of ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees found in tropical arid lands.

Temperate deciduous forests are plants mostly found in temperate climates. The dominant species are broad-leaved deciduous trees. Boreal forests or Taiga are found in the northern hemisphere over areas at the interface between temperate and polar climates. The dominant plant species are coniferous trees.

Tundra is characterized by tree growth hindered by low temperatures and a short growing season. The vegetation contains dwarf shrubs, sedges and grasses.

Other types of vegetation, such as bushlands or heathlands, are considered subdivisions of the main climactic types.

Pilgrims' Progress

The annual Hindu 44-day pilgrimage to Amarnath cave in India-administered Kashmir began on June 28. About half a million Hindu devotees visit the cave shrine every year during the pilgrimage for a glimpse of the ice stalagmite which Hindus believe is a Shiva Lingam, the symbol of Lord Shiva. The cave, which was discovered in 1850 by Muslim shepherd Buta Malik, is situated at 3,888 meters above the sea level. There are two routes to the cave - one through Baltal-Sonamarg via central Kashmir and another from Pahalgam-Chandanwari in south Kashmir. This year due to heavy snow, the pilgrimage from Pahalgam-Chandanwari route was delayed and began on July 2. The route is a difficult challenge to manage as falling stones and landslides are common, while high altitude sickness is a danger, especially for older pilgrims. At least 33 pilgrims have died this year.

/Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera Hindu pilgrims perform a religious ceremony during their journey to the Amarnath cave in south Kashmir, about 125km from the summer capital, Srinagar. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera  The pilgrimage to the cave is an arduous trek, high up in the Himalayas. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera Pilgrims carry the Indian flag on a glacier on their way to the cave. The area is ecologically fragile and remains under snow and subzero temperature for most of the year. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera A Hindu man smokes marijuana in a chillum, a cone-shaped pipe. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera  Pilgrims make their way through the mountains. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera A Hindu holy man carrying a trident shouts religious hymns during the pilgrimage. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera Pilgrims on horseback cross a glacier-filled pass on their way to the shrine. Concerns have been raised in recent years over a large influx of pilgrims visiting the ecologically fragile Himalayan region every year. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera A Hindu woman is being carried by Muslim bearers. For centuries both communities have helped each other in the pilgrimage. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera Pilgrims on horseback reach the cave. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera A silhouette of porters carrying a Hindu woman on a palanquin. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims trek through dangerous passes in the conflicted region along cold streams, glacier-fed rivulets and frozen lakes, to reach the cave. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera Thousands of pilgrims visit the 3,880-metre high cave and many suffer from respiratory problems due to the low oxygen level. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera A Hindu woman pilgrim gestures as she is being carried on a palanquin by Muslim bearers on her way to the cave. The pilgrimage is expected to conclude on August 10. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera A multi-tier security plan is in place to ensure the safe passage for pilgrims as armed groups are still battling for the region's independence from India. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera Members of the Jammu and Kashmir Disaster Response Force (JKDRF) assist a physically challenged pilgrim on a glacier. /Abid Bhat/Al Jazeera Women walk toward the cave. The Amarnath Shrine Board - which organises the pilgrimages - has made fitness certificates mandatory for pilgrims. Courtesy: Al Jazeera

Hearts with Holes

MODERN STUDIES?

Our Language and  Literature is with stories of tears and blood
Shells and missiles demolish our schools
The kids who were afraid of rains are rained with bombs
That fill the classes with rivers of blood.

The History of man is replete with treachery and
The Geography happens to be the critical Subject
with imaginary  borders drawn and redrawn,
Science succeeds in breaking man's conscience,
with unfailing regularity,
Mathematics  teaches him to count the dead and
the Economics with Statistics of the rising and falling economies,

The Chemistry's contribution is not far behind and it competes
tough  with  Physics in inventing more methods to kill men,

Biology is not to be left behind with bio-weapons
on the anvil...

Our Religious studies are the prime crime subjects
as they send men to martyrdom and to God's kingdom

Our Botany is with GM crops and is on the way
to add 'food' on the arms list.

Computer studies  calculate with precision the distance
and speed and help hit the target without any vacilation

The Psychology teaches to suspect everyone and
the Politics ensures no ethics ever practised...

Long live our modern studies!

WINGED BEASTS THAT FEAST ON US

Blood type, metabolism, exercise, shirt color and even drinking beer can make individuals especially delicious to mosquitoes. (Courtesy of Johan J, Ingles-Le Nobel)

Why Do Mosquitoes Bite Some People More Than Others?

Blood type, metabolism, exercise, shirt color and even drinking beer can make individuals especially delicious to mosquitoes

By Joseph Stromberg

smithsonian.com

You come in from a summer hike covered with itchy red mosquito bites, only to have your friends innocently proclaim that they don’t have any. Or you wake up from a night of camping to find your ankles and wrists aflame with bites, while your tentmates are unscathed.

You’re not alone. An estimated 20 percent of people, it turns out, are especially delicious for mosquitoes, and get bit more often on a consistent basis. And while scientists don’t yet have a cure for the ailment, other than preventing bites with insect repellent (which, we’ve recently discovered, some mosquitoes can become immune to over time), they do have a number of ideas regarding why some of us are more prone to bites than others. Here are some of the factors that could play a role:

Blood Type

Not surprisingly—since, after all, mosquitoes bite us to harvest proteins from our blood—research shows that they find certain blood types more appetizing than others. One study found that in a controlled setting, mosquitoes landed on people with Type O blood nearly twice as often as those with Type A. People with Type B blood fell somewhere in the middle of this itchy spectrum. Additionally, based on other genes, about 85 percent of people secrete a chemical signal through their skin that indicates which blood type they have, while 15 percent do not, and mosquitoes are also more attracted to secretors than nonsecretors regardless of which type they are.

Carbon Dioxide

One of the key ways mosquitoes locate their targets is by smelling the carbon dioxide emitted in their breath—they use an organ called a maxillary palp to do this, and can detect carbon dioxide from as far as 164 feet away. As a result, people who simply exhale more of the gas over time—generally, larger people—have been shown to attract more mosquitoes than others. This is one of the reasons why children get bit less often than adults, on the whole.

Exercise and Metabolism

In addition to carbon dioxide, mosquitoes find victims at closer range by smelling the lactic acid, uric acid, ammonia and other substances expelled via their sweat, and are also attracted to people with higher body temperatures. Because strenuous exercise increases the buildup of lactic acid and heat in your body, it likely makes you stand out to the insects. Meanwhile, genetic factors influence the amount of uric acid and other substances naturally emitted by each person, making some people more easily found by mosquitos than others.

Skin Bacteria

Other research has suggested that the particular types and volume of bacteria that naturally live on human skin affect our attractiveness to mosquitoes. In a 2011 study, scientists found that having large amounts of a few types of bacteria made skin more appealing to mosquitoes. Surprisingly, though, having lots of bacteria but spread among a greater diversity of different species of bacteria seemed to make skin less attractive. This also might be why mosquitoes are especially prone to biting our ankles and feet—they naturally have more robust bacteria colonies.

Beer

Just a single 12-ounce bottle of beer can make you more attractive to the insects, one study found. But even though researchers had suspected this was because drinking increases the amount of ethanol excreted in sweat, or because it increases body temperature, neither of these factors were found to correlate with mosquito landings, making their affinity for drinkers something of a mystery.

Pregnancy

In several different studies, pregnant women have been found to attract roughly twice as many mosquito bites as others, likely a result of the fact the unfortunate confluence of two factors: They exhale about 21 percent more carbon dioxide and are on average about 1.26 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than others.

Clothing Color

This one might seem absurd, but mosquitoes use vision (along with scent) to locate humans, so wearing colors that stand out (black, dark blue or red) may make you easier to find, at least according to James Day, a medical entomologist at the University of Florida, in commentary he gave to NBC.

Genetics

As a whole, underlying genetic factors are estimated to account for 85 percent of the variability between people in their attractiveness to mosquitoes—regardless of whether it’s expressed through blood type, metabolism, or other factors. Unfortunately, we don’t (yet) have a way of modifying these genes, but…

Natural Repellants

Some researchers have started looking at the reasons why a minority of people seem to rarely attract mosquitoes in the hopes of creating the next generation of insect repellants. Using chromatography to isolate the particular  chemicals these people emit, scientists at the UK’s Rothamsted Research lab have found that these natural repellers tend to excrete a handful of substances that mosquitoes don’t seem to find appealing. Eventually, incorporating these molecules into advanced bug spray could make it possible for even a Type O, exercising, pregnant woman in a black shirt to ward off mosquitoes for good.

HUNGRY FOR MONEY

The size is its enemy

Not enough being done to fight elephant poaching

August 13, 2013 

On World Elephant Day we are reminded that poaching is a growing concern across much of Africa. Though attempts at working together to end poaching are being made, Don Pinnock argues that stockpile sales of old ivory do nothing to curb poaching and instead promote illicit trade.

All over the world today people who care are celebrating and paying homage to the greatest of Earth’s animals – the elephant. A century ago there were around four million in Africa and Asia. Today, their number is between 420,000 and 658,000, and dropping.

For centuries people have felt a strange kinship with these great grey animals. Elephants are the only creatures, other than us, who celebrate birth and mourn death. They trumpet in pure joy when a calf is born, and fondle the bones of their dead, seemingly deep in thought.

In India they are revered as the god Ganesh. In African fables, the elephant is always the wise chief who settles disputes among forest creatures impartially. They are featured on the national flags of Siam, Laos and the Ivory Coast.

In Zulu tradition the Indlovu (elephant) clan are the line of paramount chiefs. And when the Ashanti of Ghana find a dead elephant in the forest, they give it a chief’s burial.

In the beginning, it may have been this respect for elephants that made an ivory object desirable and precious. But in the modern world of commerce and high-calibre weapons, desire and greed has trumped respect and four elephants an hour are now falling to poacher guns.

Most ivory goes to China. Yet a survey by HorizonKey in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou found that seven out of 10 Chinese did not know that ivory comes only from dead elephants.

The survey also noted that more than half of those who did know considered poaching uncommon, and a third of those surveyed thought ivory came from natural elephant mortality. What they would not want to acknowledge, given the ancient Chinese craft of ivory carving, is that, according to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, around 30,000 African elephants are poached every year to support the huge market in exquisite collectables.

“Evidence is irrefutable,” said a WWF report released this year, “that China bears the main responsibility for the elephant poaching crisis yet it continues to hide behind a façade of denial.”

There is a general misconception, supported by those who wish to profit from ivory sales, that there are too many elephants in Africa and because of this they are destroying their environment. Intensive research by organisations such as Elephants Without Borders has found that elephant numbers are self-stabilising and do not require culling to protect their habitat.

Proponents often claim culling is necessary to preserve biodiversity, reasoning that elephants push over trees. But this is part of the natural relationship between forest and grassland, and without elephants trees would overwhelm the food supply of grazers. In the Kruger Park, culling had no positive effect on the vegetation, nor has the cessation of culls. The consensus amongst scientists is that culling can only be justified on aesthetic grounds and this is not an adequate reason.

Legal trading in ivory, supported by a strong market lobby, has proved devastating for elephants. In 1989, at the end of two decades during which the world’s elephant population was halved, the United States imposed a unilateral ban on the importation of ivory. This was followed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) banning the trade of elephant ivory. Eight years later, after pressure from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana, CITES down-listed elephant protection and allowed a one-off sale of ivory stockpiles from these countries. In 2008 it approved another stockpile sale.

The reports “Making a Killing”, produced by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), and “Blood Ivory”, produced by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), have highlighted the tragedy of the decision to legalise trade. After these sales poaching escalated and has reached a point where the future of the elephant is in doubt. (In just one example, the numbers of the secretive Central African forest elephant are down 62% from 2002 levels).

According to the reports, stockpile sales created confusion among consumers in China who believed the ivory trade was legal, effectively breaking the integrity of the ban.

“The intention … was to flood the market with legal ivory in order to reduce its price. However, the reverse has happened. The influx of legal ivory into the market in China has spurred demand, pushed up prices and created a grey market in which legal ivory provides outlets and opportunities for illegal ivory to be sold.”

But of 158 retail shops and carving factories visited by IFAW, 101 were not licensed. Only 57 were licensed, representing a compliance rate of just 36%. Among the licensed facilities, 60% were found to violate the system in some way.

Lack of strong law enforcement, combined with low priority for wildlife crime in the legal system, makes ivory trafficking in China a high-profit and low-risk criminal activity. And so it’s booming.

Because elephant numbers are declining worldwide, ivory is promoted as having “inflation-proof investment value” and owning and gifting ivory demonstrates status. The owner of a carving factory in Fuzhou told IFAW investigators that no matter how many ivory products his factory produced and how high the price climbed, there were willing buyers who bought ivory as “white gold.”

The flow of poached ivory has recently discovered new routes. As Beijing increases its investments in Africa, Chinese nationals (workers, businessmen and visitors) are reaching every corner of the continent, and a rising number of them are becoming involved in illicit ivory trading.

In response to increased poaching, Kenya, South Africa and Mozambique have been holding talks about cooperation in wildlife conservation and anti-poaching. At the COP 16 meeting in Bangkok this year, CITES agreed to take action against Kenya, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Uganda, Tanzania and Vietnam, all of whom were identified as making insufficient efforts to curb the trade. However, they escaped sanctions after six of the countries submitted draft action plans and China and Tanzania committed to compliance by a certain date.

It’s a start, but draft plans won’t stop the slaughter and those who love elephants are waiting to see their effectiveness. As poacher guns do their deadly work, the future remains unclear for the elephant is uncertain. In an attempt to raise awareness of their plight, people around the world are paying homage to the elephant today with a plea: Ivory belongs to elephants – don’t buy it. The alternative, extinction, is unthinkable.

Source: Daily Maverick