DP-Index-mar08-lead4
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A section of
DOCPOST which is an
extract, executive
summary, index
rolled into one.
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EARLY WARNING /INFORMATION SYSTEM
New step
towards a
tsunami early
warning system for the Caribbean
.
UNESCO's
Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission, established in 1960, set up a tsunami early
warning system for the Pacific as early as 1965. Following the
tsunami of December 2004, which hit the coasts of the Indian Ocean,
the IOC received a mandate to help countries on the Indian Ocean to
set up a rapid tsunami early warning system of their own. At the same
time, the IOC has coordinated the establishment of other rapid early
warning systems in the Caribbean, North-East Atlantic and the
Mediterranean. When completed, the international community will have
in place a global, rapid tsunami early warning system.
United
Nations
Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization, 04/03/2008
GIS for
mapping
stormwater drains
Stormwater
drains in two zones of the
Chennai Corporation have been digitally mapped using the geographic
information system (GIS).The GIS mapping of stormwater drains in 18
wards in the Basin Bridge and Pulianthope zones was taken up as a
project by Loyola College, the University of Madras and the
Corporation.
by Kannal
Achuthan,
The Hindu,
11/03/2008
Devastating
ancient
tsunami could
return
After
the 365 AD quake, the fault is
likely to remain quiet for around 5,000 years. But if the tectonic
structure along the rest of the Hellenic subduction zone is similar,
a tsunami-generating quathe slippage occurs on the ocean floor, a
killer wave is generated. The 365 AD quake occurred at a point on the
500-km-long Hellenic subduction zone. Researchers in Britain have
taken a fresh
look at this event and have come
up with some worrying news. University of Cambridge
professor
Beth Shaw carried out a
computer simulation of the quake, based on fieldwork in Crete where
the push forced up land by as much as 10 metres. They estimate the
quake's magnitude to be 8.3-8.5.
The
Times of India, 11/03/2008
NOAA
Launches
Final Two Buoys To
Complete U.S. Tsunami Warning System
NOAA
deployed the
final two tsunami
detection buoys in the South Pacific this week, completing the buoy
network and bolstering the U.S. tsunami warning system. This vast
network of 39 stations provides coastal communities in the Pacific,
Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico with faster and more
accurate tsunami warnings.
Science
Dialy, 13/03/2008
Forecasting
Tsunami
Threats Through
Layers of Sand and Time
The
proof lies in the layers below the
Earth’s surface, says Mr. Ruffman, honorary research associate in
Dalhousie’s Department of Earth Sciences. What better way to
predict the threat of future tsunamis than studying patterns from the
past? Coastal sediments provide a potent geological record of recent
and ancient tsunamis, he says, adding that the size of the sand
particles can provide clues about the actual height of the water
column.
He
points to a
compelling photo of a
research colleague at a dig in Thailand, showing four distinct bands
of sand. The surface layer was deposited by the 2004 tsunami, and Mr.
Ruffman figures the next layer was left by an event dating back 400
to 600 years. “The tsunami that laid that one down was probably
about the same size as the one in 2004,” he says. This kind of
research is relatively new.
Newswise,
18/03/2008
Expert
sounds
quake warning
People in
Kashmir could be facing
another earthquake,deadlier than the one in October 2005 that killed
80,000 along the LoC, an expert has warned. Professor M.I. Bhat of
Kashmir University, who has worked on the Himalayan seismic zones,
delivered the warning at a workshop at Jammu University "Several
studies have suggested increase in the static stress towards NW and
SE of the rupture zone of the October 5 Muzaffarabad earthquake.
The Hindustan Times,
24/03/2008
La Nina and
positive
SO cause for
unusual rain?
The
unusually-heavy rains over Tamil
Nadu and other parts of southern peninsula may have been caused by La
Nina and the positive phase of southern oscillation (SO), global
scale circulation features. La Nina, the opposite of El Nino,
pertains to the anomalous decline in the temperature of the central
tropical Pacific Ocean while the southern oscillation refers to the
air pressure difference between Tahiti in the Pacific and Darwin in
the northern Australia.
by
T. Ramakrishnan, The Hindu,
24/03/2008
First
centre to
monitor climate
change comes up in Chennai
India's
first centre dedicated to
monitoring climate change and finding country-specific solutions was
opened at Anna University by R.K. Pachauri, Chairman of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, "The impact of
climate change is serious. India is very vulnerable and Tamil Nadu is
perhaps one of the more vulnerable States," he said. India, he
said, needed to plan to adapt. This implied revamping drainage
systems and rethinking hydroelectric power in the light of en-
croaching seas and changes in rainfall;
The
Hindu, 29/03/2008
Probability
of
drought, excess rain
now in April
For
the first time, the India
Meteorological Department will give probability estimates of drought
and excess rainfall for the country as part of its muchawaited April
forecast of the south-west monsoon."Perhaps, putting a mere
number on how the rain will distribute is not very useful.
Agriculturists would like to know the chances of a drought or excess
rainfall,"
by
Jacob P.Koshy, MINT, 31/03/2008
