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The Hindu
4 days ago
- Science
- The Hindu
Japan launches climate change monitoring satellite on mainstay H2A rocket's last flight
Japan on Sunday (June 29, 2025) successfully launched a climate change monitoring satellite on its mainstay H-2A rocket, which made its final flight before it is replaced by a new flagship designed to be more cost competitive in the global space market. The H-2A rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan, carrying the GOSAT-GW satellite as part of Tokyo's effort to mitigate climate change. The satellite was released into a planned orbit about 16 minutes later. The launch follows several days of delays because of malfunctioning of the rocket's electrical systems. Sunday's launch marked the 50th and final flight for the H-2A, which has served as Japan's mainstay rocket to carry satellites and probes into space with a near-perfect record since its 2001 debut. After its retirement, it will be fully replaced by the H3, which is already in operation, as Japan's new main flagship. 'Even though our launches seemed stable, we have run into difficulties and overcome them one by one to come this far,' said Iwao Igarashi, senior general manager of the space systems division at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which operated launch services. 'As we now move on to the H3 launch service, we will firmly keep up the trust we gained from H-2A." The GOSAT-GW, or Global Observing Satellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle, is a third series in the mission to monitor carbon, methane and other greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Within one year, it will start distributing data such as sea surface temperature and precipitation with much higher resolution to users around the world, including the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, officials said. The liquid-fuel H-2A rocket with two solid-fuel sub-rockets developed by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has so far had 49 flights with a 98 per cent success record, with only one failure in 2003. Mitsubishi Heavy has provided its launch operation since 2007. H-2A successfully carried into space many satellites and probes, including Japan's moon lander SLIM last year, and a popular Hayabusa2 spacecraft in 2014 to reach a distant asteroid, contributing to the country's space programmes. Japan sees a stable, commercially competitive space transport capability as key to its space program and national security, and has been developing two new flagship rockets as successors of the H-2A series -- the larger H3 with Mitsubishi, and a much smaller Epsilon system with the aerospace unit of the heavy machinery maker IHI. It hopes to cater to diverse customer needs and improve its position in the growing satellite launch market. The H3, is designed to carry larger payloads than the H-2A at about half its launch cost to be globally competitive, though officials say more cost reduction efforts are needed to achieve better price competitiveness in the global market. The H3 has made four consecutive successful flights after a failed debut attempt in 2023, when the rocket had to be destroyed with its payload.
The Hindu
24-06-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
Rising evaporative demand spotlights India's data and research gap
M. S. Kukal, M. Hobbins,'Thirstwaves: prolonged periods of agricultural exposure to extreme atmospheric evaporative demand for water', Earth's Future, March 20, 2025. The air itself has become more thirsty due to global warming. Quenching this thirst has meant more water is coming off the land, including from plants and trees, leaving them drier. Evaporative demand is a measure of how thirsty the atmosphere is. Meetpal Kukal of the University of Idaho and Mike Hobbins of the University of Colorado and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration coined the term 'thirstwave' to denote three or more contiguous days of intense evaporative demand — which they recently found to be increasing over the U.S. Their research was published in Earth's Future, where they wrote: 'Not only have thirstwaves increased in severity, but the likelihood of no thirstwaves occurring during the growing season has significantly decreased.' More water leaving While heat waves are caused by particular temperature and wind patterns, a thirstwave is the product of temperature, humidity, solar radiation, and wind speed. When temperatures rise, the consequences include more heat as well as the mechanics of water exchange between land and atmosphere, which in turn alters humidity, wind, and solar radiation. 'If you are a farmer growing rice or wheat, and your crop is irrigated sufficiently, its water use on any given day will be dictated by what the atmospheric evaporative demand is on that day,' said Mr. Kukal, assistant professor of hydrologic science and water management at the University of Idaho. Evaporative demand determines the near-maximum of how much water will evaporate from a given piece of land if sufficient water is available. In a warming world, the researchers found that thirstwaves have grown more intense, are more frequent, and are lasting longer, especially in seasons when crops are grown. While previous studies examined the mean or total evaporative demand, the new one focused on extremes. A simplified measure Mr. Kukal said evaporative demand is measured using standardised short-crop evapotranspiration — defined as the amount of water a grass surface 12 cm high and which has continuous access to sufficient water and is free of any stress will use (evapotranspiration itself refers to the two processes by which water moves from land to the atmosphere: evaporation from surfaces and transpiration from plant leaves.) Mr. Kukal called standardised short-crop evapotranspiration 'a core concept that is recommended to be used in deciding how much and when to irrigate a crop', adding that it is 'a simplification of [an] otherwise very complicated process, where we are assuming the vegetation properties to be constant, so water use is only a function of weather.' An increasing standardised short-crop evapotranspiration means the ambient temperature is increasing, the humidity dropping, wind speeds picking up, and the amount of solar radiation picking up as well. Effect of humidity In a paper published in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology in 1997, Nabansu Chattopadhyay and M. Hulme had suggested that both evaporation and potential evapotranspiration — the maximum amount of water that can be evaporated from any surface — decreased in India during the 30 years before the publication of their paper. However, they added, future warming was likely to lead to more potential evapotranspiration over the country, with regional and seasonal disparities. Chattopadhyay, who worked in the agricultural meteorology division of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune, before his retirement, said that he and his co0author had analysed 30 years' worth of data from the IMD's network of evaporation stations and estimated potential evapotranspiration. But while warming over India should have increased evaporation, he added, their analysis found the opposite. When they rechecked the data, he said humidity had nullified the effect of rise in temperature. Using global circulation models, they also found that future temperature increases would supersede the effect of humidity and increasing evaporative demand. 'Great direction' In 2022, researchers from IIT-Roorkee, the National Institute of Hydrology (Roorkee) and institutes in France and The Netherlands, reported recent changes in evaporative demand across 100 river sub-basins in India. Their paper, published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, stated that 'the largest increase in actual evapotranspiration is found in Northern India, Western Himalayas, and several areas in Eastern Himalayas, which could be a sign of either increased vegetation or agricultural expansion.' This said, according to experts, there is essentially no data about extreme thirstwaves over India. 'The sensitivity of different crops, ecosystems, and regions to evaporative demand will likely be different, but this has not been investigated much yet. This is a great direction for future research,' Mr. Kukal said. A familiar pattern While Mr. Kukal's and Mr. Hobbins's study was the first to characterise thirstwaves in the U.S., Mr. Kukal said there is considerable scope to investigate this phenomenon in the Global South, where societies are generally more vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. As a step in this direction, Mr. Kukal is currently hosting Shailza Sharma, a PhD scholar from the National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, to investigate thirstwave behaviour over South Asia with financial help from the Water Advanced Research and Innovation Program. They hope to publish their findings about thirstwaves in climate-vulnerable countries — with important implications for global food and water security — soon. One particularly intriguing aspect of their research is that they found that 'the worst thirstwaves happened in places that do not experience the highest [evaporative] demand.' This means there may be a need to reevaluate how governments prioritise different regions of their countries for climate change preparedness and climate mitigation, using the lens of thirstwaves. As the world warms further, tracking, measuring and reporting and sensitising farmers and water managers is of paramount importance, experts added. G.B.S.N.P. Varma is a freelance science journalist.
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
'Ignorance' Is Most Pressing Issue Facing Ocean Conservation, Says Sylvia Earle
Credit - Erika Larsen Marine biologist Sylvia Earle could easily rest on her laurels. In a career that began in the 1950s, she has become a pioneer in ocean exploration and conservation. She holds the record for the deepest walk under the sea and was the first female chief scientist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But on the cusp of her 90th birthday this August, she has no plans to slow down—and believes that the problems currently facing our oceans now have never been more urgent. Her most recent venture, Mission Blue, aims to create a worldwide network of marine protected areas known as 'Hope Spots.' As of June 2, this includes the Chesapeake Bay. TIME spoke to Earle in May after a dive she made in the country's largest estuary. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Read more: Fishing Communities in the Philippines Are Fighting for their Future as Waters Rise TIME: You have been involved in ocean conservation work for decades. What changes have you noticed since you first started this work? EARLE: We have learned more about the nature of the ocean, of the planet as a whole, and even about ourselves. When I was a child, no one had been to the moon, no one had been to the deepest part of the sea. The internet did not exist. Think about the things we did not know, even about the microbial world, and how influential that is on everything and every one. That was just missing in our understanding of how the world functions. [We've learned more about] the magnitude of our climate and what our role has been in bringing about change. In many cases, we've lost more than during all preceding history. What do you feel is the most pressing issue facing our oceans now? Ignorance, complacency, lack of awareness that the ocean is essential to everyone, everywhere, all the time. Every breath we take, every drop of water we drink, we are connected to the ocean. Our very existence depends not just on the existence of rocks and water. 97% of Earth's water is ocean, and ocean is essential to life, but what really matters is that the ocean has populated with creatures who preceded us, not just by centuries or millennia, but hundreds of billions of years, fine tuning rocks and water into a habitable planet. It just seems perverse that we take so much for granted and are so casual about consuming nature [when] you realize how long it has taken for the natural systems to come to a state where we actually can not just survive here, but thrive here. We know what to do. We just need, in this really critical crossroads in time, to use the knowledge we have and to come together. Everybody is, without exception, vulnerable to the state of the planet, the habitability of Earth. If you can't breathe, nothing else quite matters. Or if you don't have water, if you don't have food. All of the basics anchor back to [the idea that] we've got to take care of what keeps Earth, our home, safe in a universe that is really inhospitable. For those who want to go to Mars and set up housekeeping, I say, good luck. It's a great vision. I think we'll get there for a small number of people, for small periods of time, but it's not an alternative to Earth. We are of the Earth. Actually, we are of the ocean, because it's the ocean that makes our existence possible. As someone who has led more than 100 expeditions and logged more than 7,000 hours underwater, what's one thing you wished more people knew about our oceans? I wish people could understand [that the ocean] is not just a massive amount of salt water, but rather it's a living system. What we put into the ocean changes the chemistry of not just the ocean, but of the planetary functions as a whole. The consequences to planetary chemistry, to planetary security, are right now facing us with the prospect of the sharp changes that we won't be able to control if they get to that tipping point. The good news through all of this, I think, is that the world has not tipped yet into a state from which we cannot recover. We've got all the warning signs, the rapid increase temperature, the rapid increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the rapid loss of forests on the land, and the consequences of clear cutting forests, disrupting the carbon cycle, clear cutting the ocean of fish, of squid, of krill from Antarctica, all of this. We know what we need to do. A big part of Mission Blue's work is identifying 'Hope Spots' in the ocean. When much of our ecosystems are under threat, why is it important to you to highlight these areas? The real purpose underlying the Hope Spot concept is to ignite public awareness and support for protecting nature. The Hope Spot is a means to a broader end, to get people to be aware of why the ocean in particular matters. Land and sea together, the whole world is one big, mostly blue hope spot, but [we want to] energize individual champions, communities, institutions, to come together with a common purpose of protecting a place that they know and love. And this is meant to highlight and enforce and support everybody else who's trying to do something to turn from declined to recovery, one hope spot, one community, one champion at a time. And it is contagious. People want to know, what can I do to make a difference? You are almost 90 years old—what keeps you diving? Why not? I think it's important to keep doing the things you love as long as you can. How can I resist when most of the areas on Earth where life exists have yet to be explored. I want to keep doing it as long as I can breathe. Don't you want to do the same thing? Read more from TIME's Ocean Issue The World Isn't Valuing Oceans Properly Meet the Marine Biologist Working to Protect Our Oceans from Deep-Sea Mining Geopolitical Tensions are Shaping the Future of our Oceans Write to Simmone Shah at
NBC News
03-06-2025
- Climate
- NBC News
A cloud of Sahara dust is smothering the Caribbean en route to the U.S.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A massive cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert blanketed most of the Caribbean on Monday in the biggest event of its kind this year as it heads toward the United States. The cloud extended some 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) from Jamaica to well past Barbados in the eastern Caribbean, and some 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) from the Turks and Caicos Islands in the northern Caribbean down south to Trinidad and Tobago. 'It's very impressive,' said Alex DaSilva, lead hurricane expert with AccuWeather. The hazy skies unleashed sneezes, coughs and watery eyes across the Caribbean, with local forecasters warning that those with allergies, asthma and other conditions should remain indoors or wear face masks if outdoors. The dust concentration was high, at .55 aerosol optical depth, the highest amount so far this year, said Yidiana Zayas, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The aerosol optical depth measures how much direct sunlight is prevented from reaching the ground by particles, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The plume is expected to hit Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi late this week and into the weekend, DaSilva said. However, plumes usually lose most of their concentration in the eastern Caribbean, he noted. 'Those islands tend to see more of an impact, more of a concentration where it can actually block out the sun a little bit at times,' he said. The dry and dusty air known as the Saharan Air Layer forms over the Sahara Desert in Africa and moves west across the Atlantic Ocean starting around April until about October, according to NOAA. It also prevents tropical waves from forming during the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs June 1 to Nov. 30. June and July usually have the highest dust concentration on average, with plumes traveling anywhere from 5,000 feet to 20,000 feet above the ground, DaSilva said. In June 2020, a record-breaking cloud of Sahara dust smothered the Caribbean. The size and concentration of the plume hadn't been seen in half a century, prompting forecasters to nickname it the 'Godzilla dust cloud.'
03-06-2025
- Climate
A colossal cloud of Sahara dust is smothering the Caribbean en route to the US
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A massive cloud of dust from the Sahara Desert blanketed most of the Caribbean on Monday in the biggest event of its kind this year as it heads toward the United States. The cloud extended some 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) from Jamaica to well past Barbados in the eastern Caribbean, and some 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) from the Turks and Caicos Islands in the northern Caribbean down south to Trinidad and Tobago. 'It's very impressive,' said Alex DaSilva, lead hurricane expert with AccuWeather. The hazy skies unleashed sneezes, coughs and watery eyes across the Caribbean, with local forecasters warning that those with allergies, asthma and other conditions should remain indoors or wear face masks if outdoors. The dust concentration was high, at .55 aerosol optical depth, the highest amount so far this year, said Yidiana Zayas, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The aerosol optical depth measures how much direct sunlight is prevented from reaching the ground by particles, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The plume is expected to hit Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi late this week and into the weekend, DaSilva said. However, plumes usually lose most of their concentration in the eastern Caribbean, he noted. 'Those islands tend to see more of an impact, more of a concentration where it can actually block out the sun a little bit at times,' he said. The dry and dusty air known as the Saharan Air Layer forms over the Sahara Desert in Africa and moves west across the Atlantic Ocean starting around April until about October, according to NOAA. It also prevents tropical waves from forming during the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs June 1 to Nov. 30. June and July usually have the highest dust concentration on average, with plumes traveling anywhere from 5,000 feet to 20,000 feet above the ground, DaSilva said. In June 2020, a record-breaking cloud of Sahara dust smothered the Caribbean. The size and concentration of the plume hadn't been seen in half a century, prompting forecasters to nickname it the 'Godzilla dust cloud.'
