Channel: Down To Earth

Category: Science & Technology

Tags: sustainable developmentenvironmentcsedown to earthsciencehealth mobilitycivil service preparationsupsccentre for science and environmentias coaching

Description: On 28th March 2022. A massive fire broke out at a landfill site in east Delhi’s Ghazipur. A fire that continued for the next 24 hours and engulfed the whole area with smoke. But this is not an isolated incident. In 2020, a total of 15 such incidents were reported in the area and according to authorities the cause of the fire is “high temperature”. Meanwhile, on the same day, the national capital recorded its hottest day of the season at 39.1 degrees Celsius, seven degrees above the season's average. The sudden reason for these high temperatures is connected to the rising heatwaves in the country. Heatwaves on land and cyclonic depressions in the sea have started early in India this year. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) declared the season’s first heatwave and severe heatwave on March 11. The reason behind early heat waves is the continued persistence of a north-south low-pressure pattern that forms over India during winters when a La Niña phenomenon is occurring in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. “The La Niña produced a north-south pressure pattern over India as expected during the winter but it seems to be persisting in some form. The weird dust storm, the early deep depressions, one of which threatened to form a cyclone and the heatwaves are all part of this weird persistence”, said Raghu Murtugudde, a climate scientist at the University Of Maryland. Since March 11, there have been 13 more heatwave days and nine more severe heatwave days, mostly in the western and northern parts of the country. La Niña has also paved way for severe depressions and dust storms in the country and is set to persist for the next few months. IMD has issued a severe heatwave alert in Delhi for the next two days as the maximum temperature is likely to settle at 40 degrees Celsius.