26.04.23

A coolsummeror pre-monsoon season this year can impact the onset and progress of the southwest rains in India, top weatherexpertsare of the view.

If the landmass of India tends to cool down during summer, as happened this year, the temperature gradient between the land and sea decreases. This can lead to a delay in the onset of the southwestmonsoonover the Indian subcontinent, which normally sets overKeralaaround June 1.

The evolution of wind and convective patterns in the Asia-Pacific region are also important. A cyclone is also soon likely to form over the Bay of Bengal. This can play an important role in the evolution of thermal, dynamic and convective patterns, leading to monsoon onset over the region. The next few days would be crucial to determine the timing of the monsoon onset this year . IMDs forecast on monsoon onset will be released soon, based on these parameters.

The devastatingfloodsthat occurred in the country between 1985 and 2020 during the summermonsoonseason were directly associated with Atmospheric Rivers, a phenomenon of a stream of water vapour moving in the sky like a river flowing on the land, says a new study.
It says severe weather events like the 2013 Uttarakhand floods and the 2018 floods in Kerala that claimed several lives were all due to severe Atmospheric Rivers (ARs).

The study, jointly conducted by Climate scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar, the National institute of technology, Srinagar, and the University of Washington, says a warming climate is increasing the moisture-holding capacity of Atmospheric Rivers, which leads to concerns about more devastating floods in the future.

ICAOs Focus on Reducing Carbon Emissions:

ICAO has been tasked with reducing carbon emissions from international civil aviation. To achieve this goal, the global body has adopted several key aspirational goals, including a two per cent annual fuel efficiency improvement through 2050, carbon neutral Growth, and net zero by 2050. These goals are clubbed under CORSIA and LTAG.

CORSIA is to be implemented in three phases, and financial implications due to offsetting have to be borne by individual airlines, depending upon their international operations. It is applicable only to flights originating from one country to another.

ICAO is an intergovernmental specialized agency associated with the United Nations (UN) that was established in 1947 by the Convention on International Civil Aviation (1944) known as the Chicago Convention. The headquarters of ICAO is located in Montreal, Canada.