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Global warming is for real. Every scientist knows that now, and we are on our way to the
destruction of every species on earth, if we don't pay attention and reverse our course.
Theodore C. Sorensen
Global warming is the ‘talk of the town’ in this century, with its detrimental effects already
being brought to limelight by the recurring events of massive floods, annihilating droughts
and ravaging cyclones throughout the globe. The average global temperatures are higher
than they have ever been during the past millennium, and the levels of CO2 in the
atmosphere have crossed all previous records. A scrutiny of the past records of 100 years
indicates that India figures in the first 10 in the world in terms of fatalities and economic
losses in a variety of climatic disasters.
Before embarking on a detailed analysis of Global warming and its impacts on Indian
climate, we should first know what climate, green house effect and global warming actually
mean.
CLIMATE
The climate is defined as’ the general or average weather conditions of a certain region,
including temperature, rainfall, and wind’. The earth’s climate is most affected by latitude,
the tilt of the Earth's axis, the movements of the Earth's wind belts, and the difference in
temperatures of land and sea, and topography. Human activity, especially relating to
actions relating to the depletion of the ozone layer, is also an important factor.
The climate system is a complex, interactive system consisting of the atmosphere, land
surface, snow and ice, oceans and other bodies of water, and living things.
GREEN HOUSE EFFECT
Green House effect is the phenomenon whereby the earth's atmosphere traps solar
radiation, and is mediated by the presence in the atmosphere of gases such as carbon
dioxide, water vapor, and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through, but absorb
the heat radiated back from the earth's surface.
Thus the Green house gases (GHGs) provide a blanketing effect in the lower strata of the
earth’s atmosphere, and this blanketing effect is being enhanced because of the human
activities like burning of fossil fuels etc.
GLOBAL WARMING
‘Global warming is defined as an increase in the average temperature of the Earth's
atmosphere, especially a sustained increase great enough to cause changes in the global
climate’.
The term global warming is synonymous with Enhanced green house effect, implying an
increase in the amount of green house gases in the earth’s atmosphere, leading to
entrapment of more and more solar radiations, and thus increasing the overall temperature
of the earth.
EFFECT OF GLOBAL WARMING ON THE EARTH’S CLIMATE
Detailed researches of climatic events of the past 150 years have revealed that the
temperatures have risen all over the globe, with the warming occurring in two phases. The
first phase was from 1919 to 1940, with an average temperature gain of 0.35°C, and the
second phase was from 1970 to the present, exhibiting temperature gains of 0.55°C.
Records show that the past 25 years have been the warmest time of the past 5 centuries.
The global warming has resulted in the warming of the oceans, rising of the sea levels,
melting of glaciers, and diminished snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere.
The above map illustrates an analysis conducted by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies
(GISS) in New York City, based on temperatures recorded at meteorological stations around
the world and satellite data over the oceans. The map illustrates how much warmer
temperatures were in the decade (2000-2009) compared to average temperatures recorded
between 1951 and 1980. The Arctic regions exhibited the most severe warming as depicted
in red color. The blue colored areas show the lower than normal temperatures, and thus are
very few.
The recent catastrophic climatic events like the massive floods in Pakistan and India, the
Hurricane Katrina in the United States, the prolonged droughts in Australia, China, Pakistan,
India and Texas, are all the results of increased temperatures due to global warming.
During the 21st century, climatic disasters occurred five times as frequently and killed or
affected seventy times as many people. Between 2000 and 2004, an average of 26 climatic
disasters was reported each year. Thus, the immense geological changes will continue their
destruction unabated if steps to mitigate global warming are not taken.
IMPACTS OF GLOBAL WARMING ON THE CLIMATE OF INDIA
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PROFILE OF INDIA
India, the second most populous country of the world with a population over 1.2 billion, is a
large country in South Asia. India lies to the north of the equator between 6° 44' and 35°
30' north latitude and 68° 7' and 97° 25' east longitude. It shares a coast line of 7517 km
with the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. It has land boundaries with
Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and Bangladesh.
The Indian economy is considered as one of the fastest growing major economies. However,
the country is plagued by the climatic disasters that continue to wreak havoc on its
economy. As a result, in spite of the leaping economical progress, the majority of the people
of India continue to live in poverty, with malnutrition and diseases corroding the society.
CLIMATE OF INDIA
Being such a huge country, India exhibits a wide diversity of temperatures; from the
freezing cold winters in the Himalayas to the scorching heat of the Thar Desert. The above
two regions play a very significant role in controlling the weather of India, making it warmer
than to be expected with its latitude. The Himalayas participate in this warming by
preventing the cold winds from blowing in, and the Thar desert attracts the summer
monsoon winds, which are responsible for making the majority of the monsoon season of
India. However, the majority of the regions can be considered climatically tropical.
MONSOON SEASON IN INDIA
The climate of India is dominated by the monsoon season, which is the most important
season of India, providing 80% of the annual rainfall. The season extends from June to
September with an average annual rainfall between 750–1,500 mm across the region. The
monsoon of India is regarded as the most productive wet season on the earth.
Definition of ‘Monsoon’
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) describes Monsoon as a tropical and
subtropical seasonal reversal in both the surface winds and associated precipitation, caused
by differential heating between a continental-scale land mass and the adjacent ocean.
As explained above, the Himalayas and the Thar Desert are important forces controlling this
season. The monsoon severity has increased in the last few decades due to the process of
global warming, leading to the dreaded floods in India.
The figure below shows the major climatic regions of India, displaying the major portions to
be monsoon prone.
IMPACTS OF GLOBAL WARMING ON CLIMATE OF INDIA
There has been a particularly alarming effect of global warming on the climate of India.
India is already a disaster prone area, with the statistics of 27 out of 35 states being
disaster prone, with most disasters being water related. The process of global warming has
led to an increase in the frequency and intensity of these climatic disasters. According to
surveys, in the year 2007-2008, India ranked the third highest in the world regarding the
number of significant disasters, with 18 such events in one year, resulting in the death of
1103 people due to these catastrophes. A figure presenting the different disaster prone
areas of India is given below.
With the increasing trends of global warming, predictions of severer climatic events have
been made for India. The anticipated increase in precipitation, the melting of glaciers and
expanding seas are projected to influence the Indian climate particularly severely, with an
increase in incidence of floods, hurricanes, and storms. Global warming is also posing as a
mammoth threat to the foods security situation in India with recurring and severe droughts
and ravaging floods engulfing the arable land. Rising Temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau
are causing the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, reducing the water flow in the rivers
Ganges, Brahmaputra, Yamuna, and other major rivers, on which the livelihoods of
hundreds of thousands of farmers depend.
According to the The Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, if the process of
global warming continues to increase, resulting climatic disasters would cause a decrease in
India’s GDP to decline by about 9%, with a decrease by 40% of the production of the major
crops. A temperature increase of 2 ° C in India is projected to displace seven million people,
with a submersion of the major cities of India like Mumbai and Chennai.