31.05.2018
International news review
Commissioning of a new satellite data receiving station in the far Eastern center of the Federal state budgetary institution "planet»
In the far East center of the Federal state University "SIC "Planeta" put into operation a new complex of reception and processing of satellite information on the basis of a full-circle antenna diameter of 9 meters. The complex provides reception of information with the domestic number of satellites of "meteor" and "Canopus".
The commissioning of this complex ensures reliable reception of space data with an increase in satellite groupings for hydrometeorological purposes and monitoring of the natural environment, including dangerous phenomena. It should be noted that the new station has allowed to increase the volume of received information and satellite information products at a time when the far East is actively processes that often lead to emergency situations: opening of rivers, natural fires, volcanic eruptions.
The perfect cloud ring flew over Kazakhstan
The study of clouds is given a lot of attention, but sometimes in the atmosphere notice not uncommon amazing education that are attractive for aesthetic reasons, and scientific.
On may 22, the MODIS Spectroradiometer on NASA's Terra satellite received an image of a circular cloud vortex flying over lake Balkhash in Eastern Kazakhstan. In the picture you can see that the clouds have formed an almost perfect circle.
MODIS instruments installed on polar orbital satellites receive images of each part of the Earth once a day. The INSAT-3DR geostationary satellite, operated by the Indian space research organization, observes this part of the planet closely and receives new images every 26 minutes. This helps to fill in the data gaps.
Terra satellite received the image at 12: 05 local time. INSAT-3dr pictures show that a few hours before the circular formation was associated with the area of convection over the Western Tien Shan mountains.
The clouds swirled because of the cyclonic wind flow. The radius of the circle was about 200 kilometers — small enough that meteorologists could attribute the phenomenon to the category of mesoscale. SYNOPTIC scale formations have a horizontal length of more than 1000 kilometers, while the micro — scale ones are less than 1 kilometer.
Over the UK hit 20,000 lightning per night
Last weekend, the British sky lit up with a great light show. A strong storm swept over southern England and the Midlands. Experienced meteorologists admitted that they had never seen anything like it. The London fire brigade received more than 500 calls related to the weather, when the warm and humid weather was replaced by a severe storm.
In Warwickshire, lightning struck five buildings early Sunday morning. In the city of dolish in the County of Devon because of lightning lit up the phone booth. In the Midlands of light lost about 1000 jobs.
In the valley of the Thames announced 17 warnings due to floods. In the West Midlands and Bedfordshire motorists warned about the danger of driving on flooded roads.
The employee of the meteorological service of the UK Charlie Powell says that during the night in the country struck from 15 to 20 thousand lightning. He explains: "the Temperature at night did not fall below 15-16 degrees, for the end of may it is quite warm and humid night, so all the conditions for a storm were created."
Flooding in Sri Lanka
19 people were killed, 128 thousand people were injured. In Sri Lanka, the rainy season began. The rains that hit the island have already caused the death of 19 people.
Accompanied by strong wind rains caused flooding in the center and West of Sri Lanka. According to Pradeep Kodippili of the country's disaster management Center, more than 55 thousand residents were evacuated to less dangerous areas, about four thousand homes were flooded or destroyed. In total, due to the action of the elements, about 128 thousand people were injured. The authorities warned of the increased threat of landslides. Rescue services, police and the military are currently providing assistance to the local population.
According to weather forecasters, rain will continue, in some places can fall more than 150 mm of rain, the danger of mudflows. In the area of special risk are residents whose homes are located near the banks of large rivers.
Climate change can adversely affect tea production and quality
In the next decade, tea production and consumption will grow, mainly due to demand in developing countries. European citizens increasingly prefer coffee or water, but new varieties of tea compete with them. These are the findings of the FAO report (food and agriculture organization of the United Nations) on the tea market. Experts warn that climate change can negatively affect the scale of tea production and its quality.
The growth in tea production is associated with its popularity in emerging economies such as China and India. In turn, the increase in demand for tea there experts explain the increase in income of the population, as well as the emergence of new varieties of this traditional drink: green, herbal, fruit, berry tea, as well as delicatessen varieties.
Overall, black tea production is expected to increase by 2.2% annually over the next ten years. And green tea will gain popularity even faster – its production will grow every year by 7.5%.
The report notes that today the largest exporter of tea is Kenya, but it is catching up with China. There, as in India and Sri Lanka, it is becoming increasingly popular. However, in Europe, tea gives way to coffee and bottled water. The same Europeans who like to indulge in tea, go from bags to loose tea and prefer delicious varieties that are served in trendy cafes and tea.
At the same time, the authors of the report warn that the tea industry is threatened by climate change. For the cultivation of tea requires very specific conditions. Changing temperatures, unpredictable rainfall can affect the yield, quality and cost of tea, and farmers may lose income. FAO calls for adaptation measures to climate change and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions that accompany the tea production process.
In India, build roads from plastic debris
In India, recycled plastic is used for road construction. Only in 2017, 100 thousand km of the roadway was laid from plastic garbage in the country.
Many Indian States are participating in the project. In Kerala, the most active participants in the program were local fishermen. Plastic waste has long been a significant part of their catches, and the establishment of a plastic recycling center in the state was an excellent solution for the disposal of ocean debris.
For the fishermen of the centre the opportunity to earn additional income. Since the beginning of 2018, 5 thousand participants of the project have delivered more than 65 tons of plastic garbage to the center.
In the center, the plastic is crushed and melted at a temperature of about 170 °C. hot bitumen is added to the substance, and the resulting substance is laid as asphalt.
Plastic recycling is one of the most urgent problems of the planet. A possible breakthrough in the fight against plastic pollution — the discovery of an enzyme that can digest plastic — made a team of scientists from the UK and the US in April 2018.
