Why is it important to record daily weather?

Weather forecasting has been an important part of traditions in all civilizations for thousands of years. Farmers wanted to know the weather conditions for their crops, merchants needed favourable weather to begin their sea-voyages and even the common man wanted to know how the weather would be in the future. Since there were no modern tools to predict the weather, everyone looked for the signs in nature. Most of the times, the ancient people banked on old mythological proverbs and religious faiths.

When did modern weather forecasting begin?

Few hundred years ago, a naval officer named Robert FitzRoy came up with the idea of predicting the weather. He was deeply troubled by the massive loss of life at sea because of the extreme and unpredictable weather. He decided to set up an office in London where he used some basic equipment such as the barometer, nautical charts, and recorded patterns to predict the weather. As the telegraph network expanded in 1830s, FitzRoy could gather weather data from different coasts at his London office. If he thought a storm was around the corner, he immediately released a warning telegraph to the concerned port where a drum was raised to alarm the sailors. Though he had to face a lot of ridicule and mockery from the society, he continued working on weather predictions. Finally, in 1861, his forecasts started getting printed daily in ‘The Times’ newspaper of London. The first ever daily weather forecasts were published in The Times on August 1, 1861.

How do meteorologists forecast the weather?

Meteorology is the study of weather and the atmosphere. A meteorologist is a person who studies weather patterns and predicts how the weather would be in the future. All of you would have seen a meteorologist, or weather person, talking about weather on the news channels. Meteorologists gather information about the weather from satellites, balloons, and other instruments. They use powerful computers to analyse the collected data, and then, draw weather maps to predict the weather.

What are the different gadgets to predict weather?

1. A Thermometer measures the air temperature. Thermometers are plain glass tubes containing liquids such as alcohol or mercury filled inside them. When air around the tube heats up the liquid, the liquid expands and rises up the tube. The readings on the thermometer then shows what the actual temperature is.
2. A Barometer is a scientific device used by meteorologists to measure air pressure. When the barometer readings shoot up, it indicates sunny and dry weather, and when barometer readings fall down, it indicates rain and stormy weather.
3. A Sling Psychrometer measures relative humidity.
4. A Rain Gauge measures the amount of rain fallen over a time-period.
5. A Wind Vane is an instrument that tells the direction of the wind.
6. An Anemometer measures wind speed.
7. Weather Maps show atmospheric conditions over a large portion of the Earth’s surface.
8. A Hygrometer is a scientific instrument to measure the humidity in the air.
9. A Weather Balloon measures weather conditions high up in the atmosphere.
10. Weather Satellites are used to photograph and track large-scale air movements taking place over the Earth’s surface from the space.

Why is weather forecasting important?

There are several reasons why weather forecasts are important. Weather forecasting is a Science, that impacts the lives of many people. It forewarns the people about the future weather conditions so that people can plan their activities accordingly. It warns people about the impending severe weather conditions and other weather hazards such as thunder storms, hurricanes, and heavy rainfalls. Thus far, accurate weather predictions have been able to save the lives of many.

Are weather forecasts always correct?

Well, there has been a significant development in the technology of weather forecasting over the last 20 years. The weather forecast stations of today are much better equipped to provide advanced warnings of severe weather and save lives of many, but they are not always accurate. There is a lot of scope for improvement. Accurate weather forecasting requires powerful computers and lots of observational data collected from land, sea and air. A single weather station does not have the equipment to collect so much information and any major weather forecast is made only after a careful study of data received from thousands of stations across the globe. The other thing is that it is hard to predict the weather, as weather patterns are always changing.

8 Interesting facts about weather forecasting

1. The first ever daily weather forecast was published in ‘The Times’ on August 1, 1861.
2. If you love Math and Science, you too, can be a perfect meteorologist!
3. There are some very interesting old proverbs that you can use to predict weather.
4. Red Sky at Night, Sailor’s Delight. Red Sky in the Morning, Sailor’s Warning. This saying was used to warn the sailors about the weather conditions at the sea. If the sky was red at night, a fair weather could be expected and if the sky was red in the morning, it was a sign of a storm.
5. Clear Moon, Frost Soon. The idea behind this saying was that a clear moon in the night sky meant frost in the morning.
6. Cows Lying Down, Weather on the Way. The ancient farmers believed that when cows lied down on the ground, it was a sign of stormy weather and rain.
7. Count the Cricket Chirps, Tell the Temperature. This proverb meant that any increase in the number of crickets in the area was a sign of increasing temperature.
8. Ring around the Moon, Rain Real Soon- This meant that if you spot a ring around the moon, it would rain soon.

Thousands of years ago, most of Europe, Asia, North and South America was covered by huge sheets of ice, each several kilometres thick, but today, the only ice sheets on the Earth are found in Antarctica and Greenland. In this article, we will talk about Antarctica. It is a continent at the South Pole, located at the bottom of the globe. The continent remains frozen throughout the year because of extremely cold weather. Scientists believe that more than 90% of the ice found on the whole planet is in Antarctica. Today, Antarctica is changing fast because of the ongoing climate change.

What is climate change?

Climate change is what happens when our actions affect the Earth’s atmosphere. Our indiscriminate usage of the earth’s resources have caused drastic changes in global temperatures and weather. You would have noticed that the summers are becoming warmer, with temperatures soaring as high as 50 degrees Celsius and winters too are becoming more unbearable than before. All of this is a result of climate change, and we are directly responsible for it.

What is global warming?

Global warming is the rise in the temperature of the Earth. The harmful gases that are released from the vehicles and factories go up into the air. These gases are known as greenhouse gases and some of these gases trap heat and make the whole planet warmer. Deforestation or removal of the green cover of the Earth also contributes to global warming. Global warming does not just mean one day of hot weather. It means a slow but steady rise in the temperature over many, many years. Deforestation also contributes to global warming.

Let us explain to you in a little more detail. The Sun naturally warms up the Earth through its atmosphere, and the excessive heat from the Earth is reflected into space. Generally, the temperature on the Earth remains perfectly regulated by its atmosphere, but the presence of too many greenhouse gases makes the atmosphere thick and causes a ‘green house’ effect. The excessive heat from the sunlight gets trapped within the Earth’s atmosphere, leading to a rise in temperature. The ice in Antarctica is not supposed to melt, but because of global warming, it is melting a little bit more every year.

What are icebergs and glaciers?

Glaciers are made up of a large chunk of snow and ice and are found in Antarctica. An iceberg is a piece of glacier that breaks off from it because of the rise in temperature. Icebergs are made of fresh water and can float on sea water.

Are icebergs breaking away from the glaciers in Antarctica?

According to a NASA satellite, a large iceberg broke off from the Antarctic glaciers in July 2017. If the icebergs keep breaking off from the glaciers and begin melting, this will lead to a noticeable and dangerous rise in the sea-levels across the globe.

What are the harmful effects of climate change?

Changes in climate lead to serious natural disasters such as cyclones, earthquakes and tsunamis. This will lead to flooding of the low-lying areas and loss of vegetation and wildlife. Some of the major U.S. cities like Boston, Miami and New York are more likely to be flooded first. Many islands near the South Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean will be buried under the water. The number of people displaced could be well-imagined.

Icebergs also act like a mirror; they reflect the sunlight and thereby help in keeping the Earth’s temperature under control. If they disappear, the Earth will become warmer and many harmful climate changes would take place.

You CAN Help!

You would be thinking that since the problem is so big, there is hardly anything that you can do to help, but this is not the case. Each one of you who is reading this article can help in preventing this crisis.

Here is your list of do’s and don’ts to reduce climate change

• Remember the three Rs-Reduce, reuse, recycle. Reduce the use of non-renewable fuels and things that consume more power. Try to reuse your old things. You can also give away your old clothes and toys to the needy children. Be creative, make an effort to come up with ideas to make new things out of the old. Try to put everything back into use.
• Plant more trees.
• Use energy saving CFLs in your house instead of bulbs and tube lights.
• Use electrical appliances in your home wisely.
• Turn off the lights and electrical appliances when not in use
• Save water in the washroom.
• Instead of going out in your car, prefer to use your cycle, or any means of public transport.
• Let us prevent any further climate change, reduce our carbon footprint and adopt an eco-friendly lifestyle, starting TODAY!

Fact sheet on climate change

1. As per the scientists, the global sea level rise has increased from 2.2mm each year in 1993, to 3.3mm each year in 2014.
2. The average global temperature on the Earth has increased about 0.8° Celsius (1.4° Fahrenheit) since 1880.
3. According to a research study, global warming will increase the Earth’s average temperature by 2-11 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100.
4. Small icebergs weigh hundreds of tonnes and the big icebergs may weigh about billions of tonnes.
5. Smaller icebergs are known as bergy bits and growlers. They are especially dangerous for ships because it is difficult to spot them.
6. The famous ship Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg.
7. Greenhouse gases mainly comprise of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons (better known as CFCs).

The Antarctic circle is depicted as a red line at the bottom of the globe. It is actually an imaginary line placed to the south of the Equator.

Where is the Antarctic Circle located?

This special line of latitude is approximately 66¹/₂ degrees south of the equator and outlines the chilly southern zone of the world.

What’s inside the Antarctic Circle?

The continent of Antarctica lies within the Antarctic Circle. Antarctica is bigger than Europe and almost double the size of the continent of Australia. It remains covered in 99% ice almost throughout the year and because it experiences hardly any rain, scientists often refer to it as a desert. Antarctica has very little flora and fauna to boast of because of the harsh climatic conditions, but you would find some interesting animals such as penguins, whales seals, albatrosses, skua, snow petrel and krill.

Why is the Antarctic Circle important?

It helps the scientists in the study of the seasonal behaviour of the sunlight. It shows direct and indirect angles of sunlight.

What countries are in the Antarctic Circle?

There are no cities or villages in Antarctica. However, the countries nearest to the Antarctic circle are South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Argentina.

What oceans does the Antarctic Circle touch?

Only the Southern Ocean passes through the Antarctic circle.

6 Interesting facts about Antarctic Circle

1. The name ‘Antarctica’ comes from a Greek word meaning ‘opposite to the north’.
2. The coldest temperature ever recorded on the Earth was in Antarctica on July 21, 1983, when it dipped 128 degrees below zero!
3. All areas in the Antarctic Circle have twenty-four hours of daylight on the Summer Solstice in December.
4. All areas in the Antarctic Circle have twenty-four hours of night in June on the Winter Solstice.
5. The South Pole is in the center of the Antarctic Circle.
6. There is no permanent population on the Antarctic Circle. Different countries have their research centres based in Antarctica where their team of scientists stay for some time of the year and conduct research.

Definition of Region

A region is a specific area that has common features. A region may have common natural or artificial features. A region can be based on language, government, religion, type of flora and fauna or climate. Regions are the basic units of geography.

Why do Geographers use regions to study the Earth?

It is impossible to study our planet Earth as one unit or region as there is so much of information to be incorporated. Regions are one way to arrange and simplify this huge amount of information.

What is Regional Geography?

Regional geography is the branch of Geography that deals with the division and study of the Earth into different regions. The famous geographer, Paul Vidal de la Blanche is regarded as the father of Regional Geography.

Types of regions

1. Physical or Land region

Physical or land region is an area with geographic boundaries. For example- in the United States, there is a major physical region known as the Great Plains. This specific region has a lot of grass, is flat, and is home to animals like bison and antelope. Similarly, the Amazon River region in South America is characterized by warm temperatures, heavy rainfall, and similar diversity of plant and animal species.

2. Cultural region

People in one cultural region have same beliefs, speak the same language, eat the same food and have same cultural practices.

3. Political region

Political regions are decided on the basis of the political party ruling over that particular area. States are an example of the political regions.

What are the different regions of the world?

According to the United Nations, the world is composed of 10 major geographic regions: Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Central America, Eastern Europe, the European Union, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Oceania.

Different regions of the United States of America

The United States is divided into five major regions –

1. Northeast region that includes Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland Climate. The Northeast region has a humid continental climate with cool summers. The temperatures in these areas remain mostly below freezing. Major geographical features include the Appalachian Mountains, Atlantic Ocean, Great Lakes.
2. Southeast region that includes West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida. The climate in this region is humid subtropical with hot summers. This region is hurricane prone. Major geographical features include the Appalachian Mountains, Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi River.
3. Midwest region including Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota. The climate is humid continental throughout most of the region. Major geographical features comprise of Great Lakes, Great Plains, and Mississippi River.
4. Southwest region including Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona. The climate is Semiarid Steppe in the western area and humid towards the east. Major geographical features are Rocky Mountains, Colorado River, Grand Canyon, and the Gulf of Mexico.
5. West region including Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, California, Alaska. This region has a range of climates including semiarid to alpine and Mediterranean to Desert as well. Major geographical features include Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Mohave Desert and the Pacific Ocean.

2 Interesting facts about region

1. Due to plate tectonics, or the movement of the Earth’s crust, geographic regions are constantly being created and destroyed over time.
2. Regional geography specifically started getting popularity in the United States and Europe during the period between World Wars I and II.

A star is a luminous sphere of plasma held together by its own gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye from Earth, during the night.

If a star has a planetary system, it maybe referred to as a sun.

There are millions of stars in the universe and astronomers are constantly discovering new heavenly bodies, including new stars and planets.

How are stars formed?

• Stars are formed in the densest regions of the interstellar medium, called molecular clouds. Molecular clouds are perfect star forming regions because the combination of these atoms into molecules is much more likely in dense regions. Stars are born as clumps within gigantic gas clouds that collapse in on themselves!
• When a molecular cloud collapses under its own gravity, it forms a denser core which is sustained by nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion reactions, which take place in the star’s core, support the star against gravity and also produces photons and heat, as well as small amounts of heavier elements.
• As the cloud’s material heats up, it falls inward under the force of its own gravity. This process goes on for millions of years. As the gases within the star get exhausted, the star starts to cool down slowly and dies eventually.

How do stars die?

Due to its high temperature and intensity, a star is constantly creating materials including helium, silicon, oxygen. As it continues creating, it will eventually start creating iron. When the core turns to iron, it will start to die, as iron is not combustible. It will slowly collapse on itself.

What is the biggest star in the Universe?

R136a1 is the biggest(heaviest) star in the Universe right now! The facts keep changing because of the changing mass of a star or a new discovery!

The R136a1 is a huge star. It’s a member of a star cluster within the Tarantula Nebula, an immense star formation factory located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It’s believed that the R136a1 contains anything from 265 – 320 solar masses, making it the biggest star known. But it is believed that R136a1 is a star that will probably collapse into itself in a million years.

The other stars that are also big are the Eta Carinae, UY Scuti and NML Cygni.

What is the smallest star in the Universe?

EBLM J0555–57Ab, has been discovered to be the smallest star ever found. Its size is slightly larger than Saturn and it’s about 600 light years away from Earth. It is a part of a binary star system.

The gravity pull of EBLM J0555–57Ab, is 300 times of Earth with a radius of 49,000 kms, 80 percent the size of Jupiter and 85 times the mass of Jupiter. The temperature is lesser than exoplanets discovered. If its size were smaller, it wouldn’t be possible for it to have nuclear fusion reaction required for it to be a star.

What do stars look like?

• Looking at stars, from earth, it’s impossible to judge what stars look like. Because of a star’s distance and earth’s dense atmosphere, stars appear to twinkle.
• A star’s colour is based on their age and heat intensity. The hottest stars are blue, and the next hottest are white. Yellow stars are next in heat intensity and red stars are the coolest. Our sun is a green star.
• Blackholes are stars who have finished being stars and they trap light, instead of emitting it.
• Sometimes a star shines brighter, simply because it is closer to earth than the other stars.

What are the well known stars and constellations?

• Polaris, also known as North Star has been a guide for navigation for centuries.
• Sirius, also known as the Dog Star, has been used by different early civilisations to herald changes in seasons and navigation.
• Alpha Centauri System is the closest star system to earth.
• Betelgeuse is 650 light years from Earth. It is also known as the Alpha Orionis and is part of the Orion constellation. It’s a star that is expected to go supernova soon, althought its exact date is not known. And we might be able to see this spectacular event!

9 Interesting facts about stars

1. Did you know there are runaway stars? Stars that encounter one or two heavier siblings in a massive, dense cluster are pushed out from the cluster by the larger ones. Sometimes, a star may experience being pushed away due to a stellar explosion.
2. Total number of stars visible to the naked eye are only about 6000.
3. The Sun is the closest star to us.
4. Most stars come in multiples and form constellations.
5. There are between 200-400 stars in our galaxy and that there maybe 500 billion galaxies in the Universe. That’s a lot of stars!
6. 99 percent of our Solar System is the mass of the sun.
7. The most massive stars are short lived.
8. In 185 AD Chinese astronomers were the first to record a supernova, this is now classified as SN 185.
9. Most stars travel the galaxy with companions or in clusters. But not all stars do that; our Sun, for example, moves through the galaxy without a stellar companion.

Our planet Earth has experienced several periods of warming and cooling episodes throughout its history. The Ice Age is a period in the Earth’s history that began around 70,000 years ago. As the name suggests, it was a period when the climate was way colder than it is today. In fact, it was the time when most of the Earth’s surface was buried under sheets of ice.

Causes of Ice Age

The geologists believe that the ice age was not caused by one event but a series of factors resulted in the cooling of the Earth, including the planet’s position to the sun, its tilt, and certain changes in the Earth’s atmosphere. Small changes over a very long period of time resulted in such a dramatic change in the climate.

Discovery of the Ice Age

Swiss scientist Louis Aggasiz was one of the first few scientists to study the evidence of the Ice Age. In the mid 1800’s, he told the other scientists that the boulders they saw randomly placed on the Earth’s surface out of nowhere had been left by glaciers. No one believed him and discarded his theory, calling it foolish. They were of the opinion that those boulders were placed there by the Noah’s flood or witchcraft.

Life during the Ice Age

During the Ice Age, the Earth’s surface was completely frozen. This type of barren and cold biome is known as the tundra. Only a few plants, including the evergreen trees, could grow in the frozen soil. The main occupation of men during that period was hunting. Every part of the hunted animals was used for something or the other. Their flesh was used for eating, skins were used as clothing, blankets and shelters and bones were used for making tools and weapons.

Some of the important animals of those times were the woolly mammoth, woolly rhinos, bears, and reindeer. People used to make the pictures of these animals on the walls of their caves. Scientists have also found the frozen fossils of these animals.

Are we living in an Ice Age?

Yes, you would be surprised to learn that we are currently living in an ice age called the Quaternary Ice Age. The Earth is in a warmer stage of the ice age known as the interglacial period. In other words, an interglacial period is a warm period between the cold periods of the Earth where the glaciers are receding.

How many Ice Ages has the Earth experienced?

According to the scientists, the Earth has experienced five major ice ages which are as follows-

• Huronian – The Huronian Ice Age lasted from about 2400 to 2100 million years ago and was one of the longest ice ages. Scientists believe that the lack of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere caused it.
• Cryogenian – The Cryogenian Ice Age lasted from 850 to 635 million years ago. Scientists sometimes call the Earth during this phase as the ‘Snowball Earth’ also.
• Andean-Saharan – The Andean-Saharan Ice Age took place between 460 to 430 million years ago.
• Karoo – The Karoo Ice Age lasted around 100 million years between 360 to 260 million years ago. It is named after glacial tills in Karoo, South Africa.
• Quaternary – The most recent ice age is the Quaternary Ice Age. It started about 2.5 million years ago and is still going on.

3 Interesting fun facts about Ice Age

1. Ice Age is not an event that happens quickly. It is actually a very long-term natural phenomenon that lasts for several million years.
2. The animals that lived during the Ice Ages were generally quite large and fully covered with fur. Scientists also call them ‘Megafauna’.
3. The famous Disney movie ‘Ice Age’ is based on this period.

What is a landslide?

A landslide is defined as the movement of a mass of rock, mud or debris down a slope due to gravity. Landslides cause massive damage to human lives and property while also causing disruption in the movement of traffic and communication network. Landslides block the riverways which may further result in floods also. The productive farm fields that are affected by the landslides may lose their fertility and this causes a massive loss to the farmers.

What causes a landslide?

Landslides are induced by climatic conditions such as heavy rainfalls, snowfalls or natural phenomena such as volcanic activity or earthquakes. Human activities such as deforestation, mining, constructions, vibrations from big machines, etc. may also cause a landslide. Deforestation also is an important cause of landslides. The roots of trees hold the soil in place. Without trees, the stability of a slope is decreased greatly and with a large or even a small change, a landslide can be caused.

Types of landslides

1. Falls – Falls are sudden movements of huge amount of soil, debris, and rock that breaks away from slopes and cliffs. Such landslides occur as a result of weathering, earthquakes, and force of gravity.
2. Slides – In this type of a slide, the unstable sliding material breakaways from underlying stable material.
3. Topples – Topple landslides occur when a block of rock tilts or rotates. It leads to formation of a debris cone below the slope known as a Talus cone.
4. Spreads – This phenomenon is symbolised by the gradual horizontal displacement of large volumes of distributed material over very gentle or flat terrain.
5. Flows – This is the most destructive and dangerous form of landslide. Flows have a high water content which loosens the slope material and turns it into a slurry.

Prevention of landslides

Though we cannot prevent natural disasters, we can always make an effort to mitigate their effect. We must encourage people to protect nature, plant more trees and curb deforestation. In addition, detailed geologic investigations, advanced engineering practices and wise use of land can help in reducing landslide hazards.

Landslides in India

Every year, landslides in the Himalayan region kill hundreds of people and cause severe damage to several small villages, leaving them unsuitable for habitation. The main reasons for landslides in India are indiscriminate cutting down of trees, slash and burn cultivation practices in the hills, road construction and mining activities, increased grazing activities, and rapid urbanization. According to data of the Defence Terrain Research Laboratory, “Landslides rank third in terms of the number of deaths due to natural disasters. While Himalayan Landslides kill one person per 100km. The estimated average losses due to landslides in the Himalayas cost 200 lives and Rs 550 crore every year.”

Some of the major landslides that have taken place in India in the last few years are as follows:

• June 16, 2013 – Kedarnath, Uttarakhand –More than 5,700 casualties were recorded because of this dreadful natural disaster.
• September 24, 2012 – Northern Sikkim – Over 27 people died in this sad incident, including members of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)
• July 27, 2007 – Dasalgaon-Maharashtra – The official records suggest 50+ casualties.
• July 26, 2005 – Raigad – More than 50 people were believed to be dead in this tragedy.
• July 26, 2005 – Sakinaka, Mumbai – Over 74 people lost their precious lives in this landslide.

3 Interesting facts about landslides

1. Landslides can move slowly, just a few millimeters per year or can move swiftly with speeds up to 200 miles per hour.
2. The world’s biggest landslide occurred in 1980 when Mount St. Helens, a volcano in the USA erupted.
3. The scientists have found out that planets such as Mars and Venus also experience occasional landslides.

The earth is made of four main spheres or domains which play an important part in sustaining life on earth. The spheres combine and interact with each other, to form a complex and intricately balanced system of land, air, water and living creatures’ relationships with each other.

What are the four major domains of the earth?

1. Lithosphere : The lithosphere is the solid, exterior part of the earth. It is the most rigid of earth’s layers.
2. Atmosphere : The atmosphere is a complex 500 – 700 km of mixture of gases, including oxygen that we breathe and other elements. These are bound to earth through gravity and so do not disappear into space.
3. Hydrosphere : The hydrosphere consists of all the water sources on the planet and is interconnected through the water cycle.
4. Biosphere : The biosphere connects all the existing ecosystem into a network with the other spheres. It is the sphere where all life dwells.

What is biosphere?

The biosphere is a life supporting global ecosystem and is one of the major domains on the planet. In the biosphere, all living things depend on each other, and the existing, surrounding environment, which maybe living or may consist of abiotic factors.

The biosphere is also known as the ecosphere.

When did the biosphere originate?

The biosphere is said to have originated maybe around 3.5 billion years ago and has originated from the abiogenesis process which eventually led to the biogenesis process. The term biosphere was coined by geologist Eduard Suess in 1875. Consequently, Charles Darwin, Matthew F Maury, Vladimir I Vernadsky and Arthur Tansley have contributed towards considerable research to the study of the biosphere. Sir Arthur Tansley introduced the term ‘ecosystem’, in 1935.

How does life sustain itself in the biosphere?

• Scientists believe that the increase of atmospheric oxygen led to the evolution of the first forms of life.
• Energy is needed for the function that organisms perform, such as growth, movement, waste removal and reproduction. It is the only requirement that living organisms in the biosphere need apart from what is there in the four major domains.
• The source of this energy comes from the sun. Plants convert the sun’s energy into food and are very important to the biosphere.

What processes occur in the biosphere?

The organisms in the biosphere are constantly involved in one or more of the following processes :

1. Decomposition : The breakdown of complex molecules—molecules of which dead organisms are composed – into simple nutrients that can be re-utilized by living organisms.
2. Energy : Power that can be used to perform work, such as solar energy.
3. Nutrient cycle : The cycling of biologically important elements from one molecular form to another and back to the original form.
4. Photosynthesis : Process in which plants capture light energy from the sun and use it to convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and organic molecules.
5. Respiration : Chemical reaction between organic molecules and oxygen that produces carbon dioxide, water, and energy.

What is the Biosphere 2 project?

In order to study the biosphere and the impact of all life forms and the other spheres on the biosphere, scientists set up the Biosphere 2 project. Biosphere 1 is the planet earth.
The artificially replicated Biosphere 2 was set up on three acres, in the Arizona desert, in the 1980s. In 1991, September 26th, a group of four men and four women decided to enter Biosphere 2 for a period of two years. The artificial biosphere contained 3800 species of plants and animals and the human group experimented with growing their food and sustaining and surviving without any other resource.
Although the experiment was one of the first of the longest experiments of living in isolation, it was not successful for several reasons.

The earth is a very complex place. It has been divided into four sphere, to enable us to understand it separately and how each sphere interacts with each other.

What are the four major domains of the earth?

The four major domains are divided as :

1. Lithosphere – Lithosphere is the solid shell of the earth and is divided into a crust and mantle.
2. Atmosphere – Atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding a planet, held in place by the gravity of the body.
3. Hydrosphere – Hydrosphere is the combined mass of water present on the surface or under the surface, on a planet.
4. Biosphere – Biosphere also known as the ecosphere, is all the connected ecosystems on a planet and includes all living beings, including their interaction with the other spheres.

What is atmosphere?

Atmosphere is a collection of gases that make the earth habitable.

It consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% water vapour and some percentages of trace gases like argon, helium, neon and carbon dioxide. All of these gases combine to form a layer that we refer to as the earth’s atmosphere. It helps protect life on earth by creating pressure, allowing liquid water to exist on the earth’s surface, absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention and reducing extreme temperature between day and night.

5 Layers of atmosphere

The atmosphere is comprised of 4 layers, based on temperature, and another layer 500 kms above the earth’s surface, called the exosphere. They are :

1. Troposphere :

The lowest part of the atmosphere, the troposphere contains most of our weather clouds, rain, snow. In this part, temperatures drop by 6.5 degrees celcius, at every km elevation. The sun’s heat is insulated and weathers are created in this layer.

2. Stratosphere :

The stratosphere extends from after the tropopause, the upper boundary of the troposphere. The stratosphere is crucial to life on earth, as it contains the ozone layer, which protects against UV rays from reaching the earth’s surface. Very few clouds are found in this layer. Jets fly in this layer of the atmosphere, to avoid turbulence found in the troposphere.

3. Mesosphere :

The mesosphere is one of the least studied layers of the atmosphere, as flights and balloons do not fly in this layer and satellight are in layers above this one. Meteors that stream into the earth’s atmosphere, are generally burnt up, by the time they reach this layer and cannot travel further. The mesosphere does experience special clouds – noctilucent clouds and the presence of lightning, called elves and sprites.

4. Thermosphere :

• The thermosphere is the layer of the earth’s atmosphere directly above the mesosphere. The small particles of gas present in the layer absorb x – rays and ultra violet radiation from the sun. Thermosphere means heat sphere, and temperatures in the sphere can go upto 1000 degree celcius.
• The lowest part of the thermosphere, from 80 km to 600 km and more, is the layer that contains ionised air and is called ionosphere. The sun’s rays in this part of the atmosphere are so strong, they break apart molecules and atoms of air, leaving ions (atoms with missing electrons) and free floating electrons.
• The ionosphere is the region of the atmosphere where the aurorae occur. Aurorae occurs in both Northern and Southern hemisphere. The phenomenon is known as aurora borealis, or northern lights at the north pole and it is known as aurora australis or southern lights, at the south pole.
• Aurora is caused by high energy particles streaming out from the sun – the solar wind – striking the earth’s upper atmosphere, or ionosphere. Energy from these electrically charged particles is converted into light, forming visible glows, rays, arcs, bands and veils. The light is generally greenish, but sometimes it is also red. The charged particles are attracted by the earth’s magnetic field. The aurorae are witnessed near the magnetic poles and some distance close to it.

5. Exosphere :

The exosphere is the last layer of the atmosphere. The exosphere extends to 10,000 km above the earth’s surface. In this layer, hydrogen and helium are the main components and particles are constantly escaping into space from this layer of the atmosphere. Several satellites orbit the earth in this layer.

The earth is the only planet that can sustain and nurture life. This is because of the four domains that make the planet.

What are the four major domains of the earth?

The domains, also known as the spheres are :

1. Lithosphere : The lithosphere is the solid, outer part of the earth and includes the brittle, upper portion of the mantle and the crust. It is bound by the atmosphere above and the asthenosphere(a part of the upper mantle), below. The lithosphere is the most rigid of earth’s layers.
2. Atmosphere : The atmosphere consists of 4 layers, and is responsible for the air we breathe, the weather we experience. It also protects us from the sun’s rays and regulates the temperature on the surface.
3. Hydrosphere : The hydrosphere connects all the water sources on the planet.
4. Biosphere : The biosphere connects all the existing ecosytem into a network with the other spheres.

What is hydrosphere?

Hydrosphere is the part of the earth which, combines all the water sources on the planet. It includes atmospheric water, oceans, rivers, lakes, groundwater, ice and any other possible source.

The hydrosphere incorporates the water cycle, where water travels from one source to another, changing forms temporarily in between. About 70% of the earth’s surface is covered in oceans which is not potable water. A very small percentage of earth’s water is fresh water.

What is the water cycle?

The water cycle, or the hydrological cycle, takes into account, the exchange of water from the hydrosphere, and cryosphere, which is frozen ice. The continuous movement and exchange of water helps to form currents that move warm water from the tropics to the poles and help regulate the temperature of the earth.

Although several other elements are part of the water cycle, some are useful, like oxygen, while others maybe harmful, like acid rain, algal blooms etc.

Human impact on the hydrosphere

• The world’s water sources have gotten and are getting even more impacted by human lifestyle.
• Massive discharge of toxic chemicals, radioactive substances and other industrial wastes, petroleum waste and sewage disposal, seepage of minerals and pesticides into the ground water are all responsible for affecting the quality of the hydrosphere.

Major threats to the hydrosphere

The hydrosphere is affected by excessive pollution of the water sources. This has caused several problems, some of them irreversible. The three major problems are :

1. Eutrophication :

Eutrophication is the excessive dumping of nutrients into water sources. This process induces growth of plants and algae which in turn depletes the oxygen levels in the water, apart from causing other probplems. Eutrophication is almost always induced by phosphate – containg detergents, fertilizers, or sewage in water.

2. Acid rain :

Acid rain is defined as precipitation, with a pH of less than 5.7 that results from reactions involving gases other than carbon dioxide. It has become a world wide problem and is caused by the emission of sulphur di-oxide and nitrogen oxides to the atmosphere by human activities, mainly, fossil fuel burning.

3. Greenhouse gases :

Green house gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels has led to serious issues. One of them being the increase of global temperatures, which has caused melting of polar ice caps. This has caused the global environment to change considerably.

Environmental problems of hydrosphere

Some issues that we might face in the future if it is left unchecked are :

• Areas of land might be lost permanently
• Precipitation patterns may change, causing drastic changes in yearly rains and monsoons.
• Altitude of clouds may change, causing the overall climate to drop considerably.
• The pH levels of ocean surface water may change, causing damage to marine life and affecting the marine ecosystem.

The earth is a very complex place. It has been divided into four sphere, to enable us to understand it separately and how each sphere interacts with each other.

What are the four major domains of the earth?

The four major domains are divided as :

1. Lithosphere – Lithosphere is the solid shell of the earth and is divided into a crust and mantle.
2. Atmosphere – Atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding a planet, held in place by the gravity of the body.
3. Hydrosphere – Hydrosphere is the combined mass of water present on the surface or under the surface, on a planet.
4. Biosphere – Biosphere also known as the ecosphere, is all the connected ecosystems on a planet.

What is lithosphere?

The word lithosphere is derived from two Greek words, Lithos, meaning rocky and Sphere meaning rigid. Every rocky planet has a lithosphere. The lithosphere is the outermost shell of the planet earth, which consists of the crust and the upper mantle. The upper mantle behaves elastically over thousands of years.

The earth’s lithosphere is divided into tectonic plates. The uppermost part of the lithosphere that chemically reacts to the atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere through the soil forming process, is called the pedosphere. The shifting of tectonic plates over millions of years is responsible for the changing earth’s surface.

What are types of lithosphere?

The earth’s lithosphere is of two types : oceanic and continental lithosphere.

1. Oceanic lithosphere

• It consists mainly of mafic (rich in magnesium and iron) crust and ultramafic (over 90% mafic) mantle and is denser than continental lithosphere.
• It thickens as it ages and moves away from the mid ocean ridge.

2. Continental lithosphere

• It is also called the continental crust. It is the layer of igneous, sedimentary rock that forms continents and the continental shelves.
• This layer consists mostly of granitic rock.
• The oldest oceanic lithosphere is about 170 million years old compared to parts of the continental lithosphere which are billions of years old.

What is the continental drift?

Under the lithosphere layer, is a molten layer, which is in constant motion. This layer is known as asthenosphere. The lithosphere layers, both the crust and the mantle, are constantly being shaken or disturbed by the movement in the asthenosphere layer. These movements over a period of time, start changing the position of the land masses referred to as continents. This phenomenon, which takes thousands of years is known as continental drift and changes the surface topography of the planet.

Major plates of the lithosphere

• African Plate
• Antarctic Plate
• Eurasian Plate
• Indo-Australian Plate
• North American Plate
• Pacific Plate
• South-American Plate

Where is Masai Mara national reserve located?

The Masai Mara National Reserve, known by the local inhabitants as the Mara, is a large game reserve in the Narok County, Kenya. It shares its borders with the Serengeti National Park in the Mara Region, Tanzania. It lies in the Great Rift Valley, which is a fault line, some 5,600 kilometers from Ethiopia’s Red Sea.

Mara, which is Maa, in Masai language is translated as spotted, as it describes the landscape, with cloud shadows, circle of trees, scrub, savanna, which cover the area.

Masai Mara safari

The Masai Mara is one of the most visited natural wildlife reserves, with adventure safaris, but it also suffers from local poachers and international trophy game hunters.

The Masai are the ancestral inhabitants of the Mara.

Who are the Masai people?

• The Masai people are Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting the Kenyan and Tanzanian savannas. They speak the Maa language and Swahili, Kenyan and Tanzanian.
• They are pastoralists and have inhabited the grasslands and chosen to live with the wild animals, without hunting them, being one with the land.

What kind of animals inhabit the Masai Mara?

• The Masai Mara is one of the world’s finest wildlife destinations. It is home to one of the oldest, most diverse and expansive ecosystems on the planet.
• It is also home to the Big 5, the world’s most sought after wild animals, dangerous and difficult to hunt by colonial hunters, which are the African Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Leopard and the Buffalo.

Great migration of the Masai Mara

• One of the spectacular events to occur in the Mara is the annual Wildebeest migration, one of the largest overland migration in the world.
• The Great Migration sees over 1.5 million Wildebeest, 200,00 Zebra and a host of other Antelope travelling cross country. This occurs around July, each year.

4 Interesting facts about Masai Mara National Reserve

1. It was officially established as a reserve in 1961, as a wildlife sanctuary and covered only 520 square kilometers(200 square miles) of the current area. Today it covers 1,510 square kilometers area.
2. Apart from the Big 5, the most dangerous and difficult to hunt animals, the Masai Mara also has animals which form a part of the wildlife, like the Hyena, Cheetah, Eland, Gazelle, Topi, Thomson’s Gazelle, Vultures, Hippos etc. Hippos are abundant in the Mara River, as well as very large Nile crocodiles.
3. The Wildebeest are the largest inhabitants of the Masai Mara. More than 470 species of birds are found in the Masai Mara, many of them migrants. Species such as Eagles, Stork and Vultures are among the more than 50 birds of prey.
4. There are more than 4 types of topography in the Mara. They are : Ngama Hills, Oloololo Escarpment, the Mara Triangle and the Central Plains.

Our solar neighborhood is really an exciting place. It is full of different heavenly bodies such as planets, moons, asteroids, meteors, comets, and many other exciting objects. Let us learn more about them.

What is a planet?

Planets are large natural objects that orbit, or revolve around, stars. You are standing on one at this moment! Yes, Earth is a planet too. Today, we have eight planets orbit the star called the Sun. In order, from the closest to the Sun, these planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

While some of the planets are small, rocky bodies with a solid ground – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars; the others are big gas giants – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Earlier, the scientists were of the opinion that there are nine planets including Pluto, but in 2006, modern scientists came up with three compulsory conditions to award planet – hood to any heavenly body :

• A planet must revolve around the Sun
• Be spherical in shape
• Its orbit must be free of other small objects

Unfortunately, Pluto failed to meet the third condition and had to step down from being a planet to a “dwarf planet”.
So far, hundreds of worlds beyond our solar system have been discovered and many new ones are in the process of being discovered. Scientists believe some of these planets may sustain alien life. Well, no one knows for sure, but there is a high probability that an alien kid elsewhere in the galaxy is also reading about us and the Earth in an article like this!

What is a star?

Stars are giant spheres of superhot gas, generally made up of hydrogen and helium. Stars get so hot and bright because of a process called nuclear fusion that takes place inside them. Nuclear fusion is a process in which hydrogen gas gets converted into helium, releasing light and heat. Though it seems to us that the stars twinkle in the night, they really don’t. What happens is that the light of the stars has to travel through various layers of our atmosphere during which it bounces around, and we feel that the stars are twinkling.

What is a moon?

Moons are natural objects that orbit planets. There are about 170 moons in our Solar System that revolve around different planets. Our Moon was probably made billions of years ago when a large object hit the Earth. Many small rocks were thrown out by the explosion and they started revolving around the Earth. With the due course of time, they got fused together, cooled down and became the Moon.

How is a planet different from a star?

What are the characteristics of a star?

• A star has its own light.
• Stars do not undergo any noticeable change in their position.
• All stars have very high temperatures.
• There are billions of stars in the galaxy.

What are the defining characteristics of a planet?

• A planet has no light of its own. It shines by reflecting the light of the sun.
• Planets do not twinkle.
• Planets move around the stars and there is a noticeable shift in their position in the sky.
• Planets have low temperatures.
• There are only nine planets in the solar system.
• Similarities between stars and planets
• Planets and stars both orbit other stars. This is a similarity between the two heavenly objects.

Difference between a moon and a planet

If an object revolves around the Sun, it is called a planet; however, if it circles some other heavenly body (generally a planet) other than the Sun, it is called a moon.

Are stars planets or suns?

A star is called a “sun” if it is the center of a planetary system. There is a fair chance of having a large percentage of the stars in the galaxy that have planets orbiting them. You can call all of them “suns”.

What is the Sun?

The Sun is one of the million stars that are present in our galaxy. It is placed at the center of our solar system. It is a huge ball of gases with millions of degrees of heat. Because of its large size, it has a strong gravitational pull which helps in keeping the Earth and the other planets in line. Without the gravitational pull of the Sun, all planets would go spinning off into space.
Without the Sun, there would be no life on Earth and it would be frozen solid. The Sun is also responsible for change in seasons, as the Earth travels around the Sun, on its orbit.

9 Interesting facts about stars, planets and moons

1. The Sun’s light reaches the Earth in eight minutes. This is known as the speed of light.
2. Water was discovered on the moon in November 2009
3. The footprints of Apollo astronauts are still visible on the Moon. They will remain visible for at least 10 million years more as there is no atmosphere or wind-erosion on the Moon.
4. Scientists usually refer to moons in the galaxy as planetary satellites. On the other hand, human-made satellites are called artificial moons.
5. You can see about 7,000 stars with naked eyes from Earth.
6. Many stars and constellations are named after ancient gods and animals that they resemble.
7. Every star you see in the sky is larger and brighter than the Sun.
8. The largest planet in the solar system is Jupiter and Mercury is the smallest.
9. Neptune is the coldest planet and Jupiter is the hottest planet.

What is gold?

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (Latin : Aurum) and atomic number 79. It is one of the precious metals, known to man. In its purest form, Gold is considered a noble metal and is a slightly, reddish yellow, dense, soft, malleable and ductile metal.

It is one of the least reactive elements and occurs in its native, free, elemental state as nuggets or grains, in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Sometimes it is found mixed with other elements as gold compounds.

How is gold processed?

Gold was one of the first precious metals to be mined because it commonly occurs in its original state. It is a scarce metal and it is concentrated by geological processes to form commercial deposits of two principal types : lode (primary) deposits and placer (secondary) deposits.

Lode Mining

Lode deposits are the targets for gold prospectors seeking gold at the site of its deposit from mineral solutions. Gold is collected in a precipitate form and further purified. in lode mining, ores of gold are collected from the source by quarrying rocks with the ore deposits. This is known as the mother lode, geology.
A mother lode is the principal vein or zone of veins of gold or silver, found in rocks.

Placer Mining

Placer mining is the mining of water stream bed deposits. It is also done by open pit or open cast mining or other surface excavation processes. Gold in ancient times, before modern, sophisticated equipment was developed, was sourced through placer mining.

In olden times, river beds were panned for gold bits, carried along with eroded rocks by the force of gushing water streams from underground water sources.

Why is gold considered a precious metal?

• A precious metal is a rare, naturally occurring metal of high economic value due to its extremely stable nature under harsh condition, natural or man made.
• In ancient days, gold was used by nobility and various historical artifacts have been discovered made of gold from archaeological sites. It was used as currency by early civilisations, infact it is still used in international trading. The reason being so, grading the quality of gold doesn’t change over the years.
• It is so malleable, that a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of one square meter and further till it is semi transparent.

5 Interesting facts about gold

1. Gold is edible. Gold dust and gold foil are used in gourmet cuisine.
2. Our bodies contain a small percentage of gold.
3. More gold is recoverable from a ton of personal computers than from 17 tonnes of gold ore.
4. Nearly all the gold on earth came from meteorites that bombarded the planet millions of years ago.
5. The world’s largest gold nugget was called ‘Welcome Stranger’. It was found in Victoria, Australia in 1869 and weighed over 71 kg of which 65 kg became refined or pure gold.

Almost everyone loves rains. We keenly wait for the rainy season to come after the summers. In many parts of our country, people do special rituals and prayers to bring about the rains in their respective areas. Drought is a type of natural calamity that occurs when an area gets less than its normal amount of rain over months or even years.

What causes a drought?

Just take out some time and think about how much water you use in a day. You drink water and use it to take a shower, brush your teeth and clean various items at home. Now can you imagine going without water for a week or longer? Well, that is exactly what happens during the droughts. There occurs a severe dearth of water in the areas that are hit by a drought.
The distribution of all the water on the earth’s surface is not even. While some places have lots of fresh water available in form of lakes and rivers, there are areas that have hardly any water. This is the reason droughts have been occurring for several hundreds of years, and still, keep occurring in different parts of the world.

4 Types of drought

1. Meteorological drought : Meteorological drought is caused by the lack of rains and dry weather is the main factor for this type of natural calamity.
2. Agricultural drought : Agricultural drought occurs due to the lack of moisture in the soil and affects crops.
3. Hydrological drought : Hydrological droughts takes place when there is an acute shortage of surface water and ground water supply in a particular region, often as a result of less or no rains.
4. Socio – economical drought : Socioeconomic drought occurs when the supply of some goods and services such as energy, food and drinking water become scarce because of a shortage of water and dry weather.

Effects of drought

Droughts have a drastic effect on all forms of life – be it animals, plants or humans. Since all living beings need water to survive, so an extreme drought causes them to die. Without water, humans are at risk of dying because of dehydration or hunger. Yes, hunger too because no water means no crops, and no crops mean no food supply. A severe shortage of both food and water is also known as famine. All of you know that India is predominantly an agricultural country. Agriculture in India is heavily dependent on climatic conditions. A favorable southwest summer monsoon is vital to get water for irrigating the Indian crops. In some parts of India, the failure of the monsoons results in water shortages and poor crop yields. This is especially true of the drought-prone regions such as Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujrat, and Telangana. In the past, droughts have led to major Indian famines, including the Bengal famine of 1770, in which about one-third of the population died; the 1876 – 1877 famine, in which more than five million people died, the 1899 famine, in which over 4.5 million died and the recent drought in 1900 in India that resulted in the death of more than 5 million people. Millions of families have suffered not just in India, but all over the world because of droughts.

How can we prevent drought?

Water is a precious natural resource that is required for the survival of all living things on this planet, and so it is our duty to save it. We cannot prevent droughts from happening, but we can surely help in mitigating the impacts of drought by conserving water. If we use water wisely at all times, more water will be available to us and to other life forms when drought occurs. Every day we lose a lot of water doing simple everyday tasks. Did you know that by turning off the water while brushing your teeth and showering can save more than 100 liters of water in one month? We are sure that all of the wise children reading this article would have understood the importance of water in our lives and will take every necessary step to prevent its wastage.

3 Interesting facts about droughts

1. Droughts can cause dust bowls in certain areas which means that the top layer of soil gets completely blown away, leaving behind nutrient-deficient soil to sustain crop growth.

2. Droughts often result in wildfires as the vegetation becomes dry and more prone to catching fire.

3. While drought is mostly caused by irregular weather patterns, human activity can also be a cause of drought. Deforestation, farming, excessive irrigation, erosion, and climate change due to global warming are all human causes of drought