Earth Observatory has a satellite image of a smoke plume streaming from a fire at an oil depot near Jaipur, India. The fire started on October 29. Six workers were killed and 150 were injured.
An article on the Reuters website reports that coal use is expected to increase by 55 percent over the next 15 years with India and China contributing strongly to the rise.
A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that glaciers in the Himalayas are melting rapidly and could be gone by 2035. The loss of meltwater from these glaciers will be an enormous problem for agricultural economies downstream.
Petroglyphs, sometimes known as “rock art,” are images cut into or scribed onto a stone surface by people. They are often produced as a form or art or communication. This photo gallery features petroglyphs from worldwide locations including: Arizona, British Columbia, California, Chile, Hawaii, India, Mexico, Namibia, Nevada, New Mexico, Norway, Ontario, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Utah, Virgin Islands, Washington.
Earth Observatory has a satellite image pair showing before and after scenes of flooding on the Brahmaputra River as it flows in to Bangladesh. In July, Bangladesh was suffering from a drought, now there are projections that flood waters might cover 30 percent of the country by the end of August.
SpiriferMinerals.com has an interesting gallery of photos from a recent trip to India. These photos illustrate mineral collecting at quarries being done by local people and visitors. The photos are of crystal cavities, specimens and local mineral specimen collectors, specimen preparation plus a few tourist shots.
Much of northern India is dependent upon a reliable supply of groundwater for public use and irrigation. Rapid population growth, economic development and groundwater-based irrigation produce a level of groundwater use that can not be sustained.
Dave’s Landslide Blog has a summary of landslides that occurred last week. A rockfall in New Zealand, landslides in China, the Philippines, India and Taiwan, plus a lahar in the Philippines.
A 7.6 Magnitude earthquake occurred in the Andaman Islands, located in the Indian Ocean south of Myanmar and about 700 miles east of India. A tsunami watch was issued for countries surrounding the Indian Ocean (India, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh) but it was cancelled. The earthquake was felt in all of the countries surrounding the Indian Ocean but no major damage or deaths were reported.
Some locations in Asia and Africa are being used as dump sites for other countries’ unwanted electronics. This is causing contamination issues in these areas, as well as health problems for people who explore the dumps in search of precious metals.
One of NASA’s most famous images is known as the “Satellite Photo of Earth at Night.” It really isn’t a photo, instead it is a compiled image that maps the location of permanent lights on Earth’s surface. It is not a map of population, instead it is more a map of electricity use.
Shown at right is heavily illuminated Europe in contrast with the less illuminated Africa.
A collection of petroglyph photos from Arizona, British Columbia, California, Chile, Hawaii, India, Mexico, Namibia, Nevada, New Mexico, Norway, Ontario, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Utah, Virgin Islands, Washington.
These are some photos taken of the full solar eclipse that occurred on July 22, 2009. See pictures of its “diamond ring” appearance at Patna, India, a brilliant red crescent in China, and a step-by-step progression from Guwahati, India.
A total solar eclipse will occur on July 22, 2009. It will have a longer duration than any other solar eclipse of the 21st Century because the moon will be near perigee.
The eclipse will be visible through southern Asia (India, Nepal, China, Japan) and over the Pacific Ocean. The event has attracted many tourists to areas where the total eclipse is expected to be visible.
The animation at right shows how the shadow of the eclipse will pass over Asia and the Pacific.
This is another short article that features Vince Matthews, State Geologist of Colorado, and his presentations that focus on the world demand for resources and energy.
This video gives you a look into Chand Baori Reservoir, a step well in India that is thirteen flights deep. It is said to be the deepest step well in the world.
President Barack Obama has invited leaders from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the United Kingdom to Washington for a forum on energy and climate.
As a result of the global economic downturn the demand for cut diamonds is forcing the layoff of thousands of employees in Surat, India, where a large percentage of the world’s rough diamonds are cut into gems.
Earth Observatory has an interesting satellite image of portions of India, the Himalayas, Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. It shows a heavy haze hugging the southern face of the Himalayas. They interpret the haze to be a result of urban and industrial pollution.
A seven-part YouTube video series titled Under Shnongrim. “…a caving film about exploring underneath the Shnongrim ridge, in the Jiantia Hills, Meghalaya, India. The team consisted of 30 cavers from around the world and some local Meghalayian cavers.”
Go to the YouTube site to see the video full size and navigate to the other six parts.
“In October 2005, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake occurred in the Kashmir region of Asia, an area in the Himalaya Mountains of Pakistan and India….. By overlaying a post-quake image of the area on a pre-quake image and carefully aligning them, geologists were able to identify small changes in the appearance of the surface that allowed them to trace the location of the fault across the Earth
Imported steel being used by companies in France, Sweden and the Netherlands was found to be contaminated with trace amounts of Cobalt 60. The steel was produced in India from recycled metal.
India launched its first rocket to the moon. If successful it will join the United States, Russia, Japan, China and the European Space Agency as countries or organizations with successful moon missions. India has plans to orbit the moon, produce maps of the lunar surface and produce maps of structures below the lunar surface.
Tropical Storm Two poured about 400 mm of rain on Orissa, India in mid-September. The storm, combined with monsoon rains, cause the Mahanadi River to flood into over 1800 villages, killing 29 people and temporarily displacing over four million.
Over 70 million people in eastern India and Bangladesh are thought to be exposed to harmful levels of arsenic in the water and rice that they consume daily. Researchers who believe that one in every hundred residents in this area is close to death from arsenic poisoning now might have a solution.
NASA’s Earth Observatory website has a before and after satellite image pair showing views of Brahmaputra River flooding. The satellite pair compares a scene from August 8
(dry-season level) with one from September 7th (near-high discharge). Their image shows the river as a blue color instead of the actual brown, sediment-laden color.
About 170 villages were flooded to waist-deep levels in northeastern India and Bangladesh as a result of the monsoon season flooding. The Kaziranga National Park was also about 50% flooded.
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Hobart King
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