- Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Drought hits Europe's rivers and crops (Photo Feature)
Much of Europe is baking in record heat, which has exposed riverbeds and triggered restrictions on water use in many areas. Parts of the IJssel river, flowing north, are now so narrow that a ban has been imposed on ships passing each other.
Google's 9,000-mile cable could transform life for millions
Equiano is the latest subsea internet cable financed by Google. Starting in Portugal and eventually ending in South Africa, with branches to Nigeria, Togo, the islands of St Helena, and Namibia, the 15,000-kilometer (9,320-mile) cable is designed to deliver high-speed broadband along the west coast of Africa.
How climate change is changing the Commonwealths
"It has an effect on athletes too. Climate change is pushing hard in some countries and it is not possible to run for two, or three hours. It is really sad as a marathon runner. Running in hotter environments is so hard. It is scary how, at the end of a session or race, you feel all your energy has gone."
K2 welcomes a record-breaking number of climbers
The world's second highest mountain, K2 in Pakistan, has welcomed a record-breaking number of climbers this year amid a post-pandemic surge of summit fever.
China warns that its temperatures are rising faster than global average
In its annual climate assessment published this week, China's weather bureau described the country as "a sensitive region in global climate change", with temperatures rising 0.26 degrees Celsius (0.47 degrees Fahrenheit) a decade since 1951, compared to the global average of 0.15 degrees.
How rangers use AI to help protect India's tigers
To wade through all that data the NTCA used artificial intelligence (AI), which had been trained to recognise different animals. In the 2018 survey, AI helped by identifying which animals were pictured by the camera traps - a task which would have been very laborious for humans.
Dangerous Pacific Northwest heat wave suspected in 7 deaths
By REBECCA BOONE, BOISE, Idaho, July 31: Authorities in the Portland, Oregon, region said they would keep cooling shelters open through Sunday night as a likely record-breaking heat wave brought scorching weather to the normally temperate region.At least seven people are suspected to have died from hyperthermia since the hot spell began a week ago. The most recent suspected heat-related death was announced by Clackamas County officials on Saturday, Portland television station KOIN-TV reported. County officials said the elderly man died in his home, where he did not have a working air conditioner. The other six suspected hyperthermia deaths occurred earlier in the week in Multnomah, Umatilla and Marion counties.Jessica Mokert-Shibley, a spokesperson with Multnomah County, said the county, the city of Portland and other organizations would keep overnight cooling centres open through Sunday evening. Nearly 250 people used the overnight shelters on Friday night, she said.Temperatures have neared the triple digits in Portland the entire week, hitting a high of 102 degrees Fahrenheit (38.9 Celsius) on Tuesday.The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for both the Portland and Seattle, Washington, regions lasting through late Sunday evening, with temperatures expected to reach as high as 103 degrees (39 C). Shawn Weagle, a NWS meteorologist based in Portland, said Saturday that the region had likely tied its record for its longest heatwave with six consecutive days in a row topping 95 degrees (35 C). A new record could be set on Sunday, Weagle said.The temperatures have remained abnormally high at night — only dropping to about 70 degrees (21 C) — making it hard for residents to adequately cool off their homes before the sun rises, Weagle said. Many homes in the region lack air conditioning.“It’s an increasingly common issue with our heatwaves, the lack of recovery at night,” Weagle said. “That really impacts people who don’t have air conditioning. It’s the ‘urban island effect’ — the downtown Portland core has been built up so much, and that concrete is slower to cool down overnight than a rural valley or even suburban neighbourhood would.”The region’s heat waves also seem to be getting stronger in general, Weagle said. He expects relief from the hot weather will come mid-week.“Right now it’s looking like Tuesday, we’ll start to get closer to normal but still in the 80′s, and by Wednesday we should be a touch below normal temperatures,” he said.The Seattle region was slightly cooler but still topped 90 degrees (32 C) on Saturday for a fifth straight day, compared to normal temperatures in the high 70s.Weagle said people should drink plenty of water, do what they can to stay cool and check on their neighbours, particularly older people and those who are at greater risk of heat-related illnesses.Climate change is fueling longer heat waves in the Pacific Northwest, a region where weeklong heat spells were historically rare, according to climate experts.Residents and officials in the Northwest have been trying to adjust to the likely reality of longer, hotter heat waves following last summer’s deadly “heat dome” weather phenomenon that prompted record temperatures and deaths.About 800 people died in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia during that heat wave, which hit in late June and early July. The temperature at the time soared to an all-time high of 116 F (46.7 C) in Portland and smashed heat records in cities and towns across the region. Many of those who died were older and lived alone.
Minister Karki calls for developing Nepal as IT hub
Minister for Communications and Information Technology Gyanendra Bahadur Karki has stressed the need for developing Nepal as an information technology (IT) hub.
40C heatwave has to be climate change - scientists
The UK recorded temperatures above 40C for the first time on 19 July. Without human-caused climate change these would have been 2C to 4C cooler, the experts say. It is a taste of what is to come, they say, with more heatwaves, fires and droughts predicted in coming years.
UK sea level rise speeding up - Met Office
Sea levels are rising much faster than a century ago, reveals the Met Office's annual look at the UK's climate and weather. The State of the Climate report also says that higher temperatures are the new normal for Britain.
Mideast nations wake up to damage from climate change
Temperatures in the Middle East have risen far faster than the world’s average in the past three decades. Precipitation has been decreasing, and experts predict droughts will come with greater frequency and severity.
Alarmingly high temperatures in US
"From the southern Plains into the East, it will feel extremely oppressive, especially in the major metro areas of Washington D.C. to New York City and Boston," the National Weather Service warned.
Millions of galaxies revealed by Webb telescope
There were 10 times more galaxies just like our own Milky Way in the early Universe than previously thought. This cosmic insight comes from one of the first studies of images captured by Nasa's new James Webb Space Telescope.
