‘Climate crisis accelerating at faster pace than expected’: Scientist Roxy Koll
ByJayashree Nandi Jun 05, 2023 01:59 AM IST Share Via Copy Link Climate meetings like the one that starts on Monday in Germany’s Bonn put climate scientists and most of their recommendations in the back seat, says Roxy Koll. The…
A pledge to fight climate change is sending money to strange places
Rich nations say they’re spending billions to fight climate change. Some money is going to strange places. Wealthy countries have pledged $100 billion a year to help reduce the effects of global warming. But Reuters found large sums going to…
An El Nino is brewing and it might be a big one
WASHINGTON (AP) — The natural burst of El Nino warming that changes weather worldwide is far costlier with longer-lasting expenses than experts had thought, averaging trillions of dollars in damage, a new study found. An El Nino is brewing now…
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A forest fire burns in Brazil’s Amazon basin, Aug. 25, 2016. (Vinicius Mendonca/IBAMA via AP, File) The imminent arrival of an El Niño weather event will cause global temperatures to breach the critical 1.5 degree Celsius threshold by 2027, a…
El Ninos are far costlier than once thought, in the trillions, study says — and one’s brewing now
WASHINGTON (AP) — The natural burst of El Nino warming that changes weather worldwide is far costlier with longer-lasting expenses than experts had thought, averaging trillions of dollars in damage, a new study found. An El Nino is brewing now…
April 2023 records great variations in temperatures globally: Copernicus
2023 saw the fourth warmest April globally, according to a new analysis by Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the European Union’s Earth observation programme. The month was 0.32 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1991-2020 average and recorded a sharp contrast in European air temperatures.
Above-average temperatures were observed over the equatorial eastern Pacific, which is an early sign for a potential transition to El Niño conditions, often leading to warmer global temperatures, according to Deputy Director of C3S Samantha Burgess.
The month was about 0.2°C cooler than April 2016, the warmest April on record. However, it was similar in temperature (within 0.02°C) to April 2017 and April 2018.
The anaylsis also noted that many parts of the world were colder than average. The analysis looked at two reference periods: 1981-2010 and 1991-2020.
April 2023 was also wetter than normal for west to east from Ireland, Great Britain and France, across central Europe to the Italian peninsula, the Balkans and the Black Sea.
But there were exceptionally dry conditions in the Iberian Peninsula, south of the Alps and parts of French Mediterranean coast. Drier than normal conditions are also forecast for northwestern Scandinavia, the Baltic states and most of western Russia.
Temperature anomaly to April 2023 from May 2022
Source: Copernicus (Reference 1981-2010)
Outside Europe, April 2023 was drier than usual in large parts of the United States, in a large area from western Russia east to the Caspian Sea, and in extratropical southeastsoutheast Asia. The Horn of Africa, most of South Africa, Argentina and parts of Brazil were drier than average.
The areas with wetter-than-usual rain in April were the southeastsoutheastern United States, eastern Asia, northwestern Australia and Tanzania.
Read more: Month of climate contradictions: Contrasts noted worldwide in March 2023, finds Copernicus
Antarctic sea ice extent remained well below average, at -19 per cent and the Arctic sea ice extent was 3 per cent below average
Temperatures were above average over southwest Europe, with Spain and Portugal recording their highest-ever April temperatures.
However, a band stretching from the United Kingdom to southeastsoutheast Europe experienced temperatures colder than average as well. This included Italy, where Easter was unusually cold, Romania and Türkiye.
Monthly global temperature anomalies
Source: Copernicus (Reference 1981-2010)
Monthly European temperature anomalies
Source: Copernicus (Reference 1981-2010)
It was much warmer than average over parts of Africa, central Asia surrounding the Caspian Sea, southeastsoutheast Asia and Japan and northern North America. At the same time, it was colder than average over Alaska, Mongolia, the Arabian Peninsula, India and Australia.
January, February and March 2023 were all warmer than average as well, with a large part of Europe recording above-average air temperatures. March 2023 had also seen variations on several meteorological fronts.
The world had the second joint warmest March on record and Antarctic sea ice was the second lowest on record. Globally, February 2023 was 0.29°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average for the month. It was also the fifth warmest February. January 2023 was the third warmest one on record.
Read more: World may temporarily breach 1.5°C in the next five years: WMO
In March 2023, temperatures across Europe saw a sharp contrast. In southwest Europe, temperatures were well above the 1991-2020 reference period, with Spain and Portugal recording their highest temperatures in April. Nordic countries, western Russia and Morocco saw high temperatures too.
Above-average temperatures occurred over the majority of the ocean surface. The most notable warmer-than-average conditions were found across the Weddell Sea, the northern Pacific and in the Humboldt Current in the equatorial eastern Pacific.
The records indicate close to three years of below-average La Niña temperatures came to an end. These increased temperatures in the region are an early sign of a potential transition to El Niño conditions, according to the analysis.
Read more:
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Asia’s Heat Wave Demonstrates Dangers of Warming World – TIME
Asia remains in the grip of a blistering heat wave, chiming with predictions from climate scientists that 2023 could be the world’s hottest year. In an ominous sign ahead of the northern hemisphere summer, an emerging El Nino weather pattern…
Lager Beer, the World’s Favorite, was Invented By Accident 400 Years Ago When 2 Yeasts Walked into a Bar â Study
Lager is the world’s most popular beer, and new research shows it was invented by accident more than 400 years ago in Bavaria.
The yeast that is currently used to brew cold beer originated in Munich, at the court of Maximilian the Great, after two different yeasts came into contact and mated.
Their coupling created the new species Saccharomyces pastorianus, which works at a much slower rate and at cooler temperatures in caves and cellars.
For thousands of years, all beers were fermented with the particular strain named Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It ferments warm and relatively quickly – producing what we refer to as ale. Evidence of fermented beverages from China date back at least 7,000 years ago, and from Israel up to 13,000 years ago.
In a new study, a microbiologist at the Technical University of Munich explained that lager uses S. pastorianus, which is responsible for the production of bottom-fermented lagers.
“It is a hybrid that arose from the mating of the top-fermenting ale yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the cold-tolerant Saccharomyces eubayanus around the start of the 17th century,” said lead author Dr. Mathias Hutzler.
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For their study published in FEMS Yeast Research, the team combined documents with evolutionary and genetic data to trace the beverage’s origins to the Munich brewery of the Duke of Bavaria in 1602.
The mingling
They found S. cerevisiae (the most common yeast used in European brewing at the time, which produced ale) had contaminated a batch of beer brewed with the wild variant S. eubayanus at a wheat brewery in the small town of Schwarzach in southern Germany.
The paler beers that today are the most popular in the world are the lagers, like Heineken, Miller, and Corona—and researchers sought to understand the historical shift from ale to lager in Europe.
The mystery of the lager yeast’s parentage was solved in 2011, when S. eubayanus was discovered in the Patagonian Andes in Argentina.
The new study shows S. pastorianus developed in three stages. First, the yeast strain S. cerevisiae came to Munich from Bohemia, where brewers had made wheat beer since at least the 14th century—it’s the same species that is still used today to make ale-style beer, wine, and bread.
Then, in a Munich brewery in 1602, it mated with S, eubayanus, which was also involved in making beer, giving rise to S. pastorianus.
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The new species of yeast was distributed around Munich breweries first, and then throughout Europe and the world. Lager now accounts for approximately 90 percent of the beer consumed annually.
According to Dr. Hutzler, no one had figured out how S. pastorianus came about, until now.
LIFT YOUR GLASS–By Sharing This Discovery With Beer-Lovers on Social Media…
Here are the places most at risk from record-shattering heat – The Indian Express
Written by Raymond Zhong Global warming is making dangerously hot weather more common, and more extreme, on every continent. A new study by researchers in Britain takes a unique approach to identifying which places are most at risk. When the…
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