Climatic conditions and its changes
The latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on climatic extreme events also shares this opinion. According to UN heat waves will become significantly longer, hotter and increase in frequency, and rainfall will be heavier during the 21st century, all because of the increased climate change impact.
It was also concluded that there is an increased risk from hurricane and cyclones as wind speeds in hurricanes and tropical cyclones were likely to increase though there is still not enough evidence to draw firm conclusions for each region.
There is also a chance of an increase in danger in high mountains from landslides and the bursts of glacial lakes. All these phenomena will account for not only major environmental but also major economic damage measured in billions of dollars.
There's a very little chance that this newest report will have any effect at international climate talks that will soon begin in Durban, South Africa. World leaders apparently still believe we have all the time in the world to tackle climate change issue.
Hope at last at the Durban conference on climate change:
The word climate refers to the weather variation of any specific area over a period of time. The countries of world can be divided into different climatic zones based on factors such as location, surface relief, surface wind and upper air circulation. A vast country does not fit into any one zone. Situated roughly between 8° N and 37° N Latitude, it occupies a large area of South Asia. It can be divided mainly into four climatic zones namely Alpine, Subtropical, Tropical and Arid.
a) Alpine Zone: This climate zone can be experienced in the high altitudes of Himalayas. In this region there are high climatic fluctuations due to steep altitude variations. Different types of climatic zones can be seen in this region. If on the foothills occur subtropical climate there is Alpine Tundra Zone to greet you on the higher altitudes.
b) Sub Tropical: This zone is prevalent in most of the northern part of India. It can be called as the typical Indian climate. Summers are hot and wet while in winter temperature may drop down to freezing point in higher ranges. Rainfall is common in summer season whereas winters are cold and dry.
c) Tropical: It can be divided into two sub types of Tropical Wet Monsoon and Tropical Dry. The characteristics of Tropical Wet Monsoon include average temperature, which normally does not fall below 18C, accompanied by average to high rainfall. In Tropical Dry type rainfall is not so common.
d) Arid: High temperature and low rainfall are marked features of this climatic zone. It is prevalent in western part of the country and includes large part of Rajasthan. The temperature in this zone may shoot up to as high as 50C in summer.
Cycle of seasons:
Though divided into different climatic zones, India seems to be unified by primarily four seasons- Winter, Summer, Rainy, Advancing Monsoon and Retreating Monsoon.
1) Winter: December to February is the wintertime in almost all of India. At this time of the year, days are cold with average temperature of10-15C, but it can drop down to below 0C in some higher ranges of northern India. Normally winters are dry in northern India. In Southern part, the temperature difference is not so marked due to moderating effect of Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.
2) Summer: March, April, May and June are the summer months in India. It is a time period when rays of the sun fall vertically on Indian subcontinent. The average temperature is around 32 c but in western region the maximum temperature can be far above the average. Hot wind, known, as 'Loo' is the marked feature of summers in northern India.
3) Rainy: The Rainy Season is one of the six seasons in India. it comes after Summer. It begins in July and ends in October. In the Rainy Season, the earth wears green colour. Trees and creepers are filled with new leaves. Flowers appear on them. The beautiful rainbow falls in the sky. The sun plays hide-and-seek with the clouds. The sun shines through them and the gray clouds get multicolored. The boatmen ply their boats across the river. Peacocks dance in the woodland. Their beautiful tails speared like fans behind them.
4) Advancing Monsoon: It is the time period when India gets major part of its share of rain. Months of June, July, August and September form the core of Advancing Monsoon in almost all parts of country. The monsoon approaches with moisture laden winds; this sudden approach is marked with violent thunderstorms and lightening, known as 'break' of the monsoon.
5) Retreating Monsoon: This season starts, when monsoon after drenching all of India, begins to retreat. With the month of September, rainfall began to decrease and as we approach November, the monsoon is completely gone from major part of India, except for Tamil Nadu and some other southern states, which also receive rain from Western Disturbance.
In recent times, this cycle of season has been disturbed due to uncontrolled industrialization and other developmental activities resulting in drastic changes in climate. This has lead to climatic disasters such as Drought, Landslides Floods and Global Warming. The unchecked cutting down of trees indirectly leads to landslide and drought. Annual Floods have become part of life in many regions of India. It results in large-scale loss of life and property.
The phenomenon of Global Warming is mainly the result of air pollution. The polluting industries and vehicles running endlessly on the roads emit hazardous gases such as Carbon dioxide, Sulphur dioxide, Carbon monoxide, Methane etc. These gases produce 'Green House' effect, which leads to Global Warming. It may lead to very serious climatic changes. The increase in average temperature of earth is will result in melting down of the polar ice and glaciers, which in turn will lead to increased ocean level. This rising ocean level may submerge many of today's existing islands and coastal cities.
Rain can represent change. It can be peaceful or it can be powerfully destructive. It can conjure up images of renewal and joy or depression and sadness. The images you find in rain pictures are merely up to your interpretation.
Rainfall is the important element of Indian economy. Although the monsoons effect most part of India, the amount of rainfall varies from heavy to scanty on different parts. There is great regional and temporal variation in the distribution of rainfall. Over 80% of the annual rainfall is received in the four rainy months of June to September. The average annual rainfall is about 125 cm, but it has great spatial variations.
- Areas of Heavy Rainfall (Over 200cm) : The highest rainfall occurs in west costs, on the western Ghats as well as the Sub-Himalayan areas in North East and Meghalaya Hills. Assam, West Bengal, West Coast and Southern slopes of eastern Himalayas.
- Areas of Moderately Heavy Rainfall (100-200 cm) : This rainfall occurs in Southern Parts of Gujarat, East Tamil Nadu, North-eastern Peninsular, Western Ghats, eastern Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orrisa, the middle Ganga valley.
- Areas of Less Rainfall (50-100 cm) : Upper Ganga valley, eastern Rajasthan, Punjab, Southern Plateau of Karnataka, Andhra Pradessh and Tamil Nadu.
- Areas of Scanty Rainfall (Less than 50 cm) : Northern part of Kashmir, Western Rajasthan, Punjab and Deccan Plateau. The two significant features of India's rainfall in the north India, rainfall decreases westwards and ii. in Peninsular India, except Tamil Nadu, it decreases eastward.
Natural climate variability is extremely unlikely to have contributed more than about one-quarter of the temperature rise observed in the past 60 years, reports a pair of Swiss climate modelers in a paper published online December 4. Most of the observed warming—at least 74 percent—is almost certainly due to human activity, they write in Nature Geosciences.
Since 1950, the average global surface air temperature has increased by more than 0.5 degree Celsius. To separate human and natural causes of warming, the researchers analyzed changes in the balance of heat energy entering and leaving Earth—a new "attribution" method for understanding the physical causes of climate change
The latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on climatic extreme events also shares this opinion. According to UN heat waves will become significantly longer, hotter and increase in frequency, and rainfall will be heavier during the 21st century, all because of the increased climate change impact.
It was also concluded that there is an increased risk from hurricane and cyclones as wind speeds in hurricanes and tropical cyclones were likely to increase though there is still not enough evidence to draw firm conclusions for each region.
There is also a chance of an increase in danger in high mountains from landslides and the bursts of glacial lakes. All these phenomena will account for not only major environmental but also major economic damage measured in billions of dollars.
There's a very little chance that this newest report will have any effect at international climate talks that will soon begin in Durban, South Africa. World leaders apparently still believe we have all the time in the world to tackle climate change issue.
Hope at last at the Durban conference on climate change:
UN climate change conferences don't of themselves cut greenhouse gas emissions. Negotiations about targets and texts cannot do that; only government policies that incentivize and require business investment in low carbon technologies and other emission-reducing activities can.
So the standard by which UN talks should be judged is whether or not they make such policy and investment more likely or less. And from that perspective the conference that has ended in Durban, South Africa, amid considerable drama, should be regarded as very much a success.
First, it has forced countries to admit that their current climate policies are inadequate. The Durban agreement explicitly refers to the "emissions gap" – the difference between the aggregate impact of commitments that countries have made, and the upper limit of emissions required to have a chance of meeting the globally agreed goal of no more than two degrees of global warming. That gap is large, and countries have now agreed that their targets will need to be strengthened to try to close it. In doing so Durban has snatched the 2C goal from the jaws of impossibility. It still looks very difficult to achieve, but if more concerted action is now taken early enough, it yet could be.
Second, Durban has re-established the principle that climate change should be tackled through a framework of international law. Since the failure of the Copenhagen talks two years ago, it seemed that the world had abandoned this ideal in favor of so-called "pledge and review", in which countries made purely voluntary national commitments. The legal approach has the great advantage of ensuring that national commitments outlast individual governments, making them much more certain for business and for other countries seeking confidence that their own low carbon policies will not be undermined by free riders elsewhere.
At the heart of the Durban deal is the extension of the Kyoto Protocol, the legally binding treaty signed in 1997. Although only the EU and a few other countries are likely to maintain their commitment to it, this is vital to preserve its legal rules and mechanisms, which have done much to enable climate policy in the last decade.
At the same time, Durban has set up a roadmap towards a new treaty to succeed Kyoto in 2020, which for the first time will require the big emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil, to make legally binding commitments too. This is a vital recognition of the key role these countries must now play (and in many cases are playing) in tackling climate change, given the rate at which their economies and emissions are growing. It is a very significant breakthrough.
Third, the conference has established a new Green Climate Fund which, if properly financed (still an "if" not a "when"), will provide vital support to the poorest countries to adapt to the climate change they are already experiencing.
So in all these ways Durban has given a major boost to climate policy and low carbon investment. Before the conference started, few people believed such a deal could be achieved. That it was is due to an unprecedented alliance of the European Union with the large group of poor and island countries that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Effectively defeating those countries, including the US, which did not want either to raise their ambition levels or pursue a legally binding framework, this alliance has provided a heartening example of how UN processes can empower small countries and progressive political goals.So does Durban save us from global warming? No. In itself, as green NGOs have rightly pointed out, it does not divert the world from the dangerous path towards a four degree temperature rise on which we are now walking. But it will help strengthen the fight against it.
Climate change and associated increases in climate variability will likely further exacerbate global health disparities. More research is needed, particularly in developing countries, to accurately predict the anticipated impacts and inform effective interventions.
It will be critical for India to invest in improvements in information infrastructure that are innovative and that promote interdisciplinary collaborations while embarking on adaptation strategies. This will require unprecedented levels of collaboration across diverse institutions in India and abroad. The data can be used in research on the likely impacts of climate change on health that reflect India’s diverse climates and populations. Local human and technical capacities for risk communication and promoting adaptive behavior must also be enhanced.
Weather and climate are driving forces for northern ecosystems. Weather influences our environment every season, every year. One extreme weather event can affect wildlife or habitats for many years. Climate is the average of weather over a long time. Weather and climate are directly related to changes in northern ecosystems, including changes in wildlife habitat, changes in species composition and changes in forest fire patterns. Indicators on observed weather and climate trends can be compared with trends predicted by climate change models to help us adjust these predictions for the future.
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