Natural disasters & its impact on India and role of CDRI : News & discussion

Worrying? Tuesday's earthquake was 6th temblor to jolt India in March​

At least nine people were killed and 44 injured in Pakistan by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that struck Afghanistan late on Tuesday, news agency Reuters reported. In Afghanistan, at least two people were killed in the temblor that was felt in Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.
Earthquake In India: People gather outside their homes after tremors were felt due to an earthquake, in Noida,(PTI)
Earthquake In India: People gather outside their homes after tremors were felt due to an earthquake, in Noida,(PTI)


The epicentre of the earthquake was in the Hindu Kush mountains, in Badakhshan, the US Geological Survey said, while its depth was 180 kilometres, according to the Pakistan meteorological department noted. For India, it was the sixth jolt in just this month.


Most recent earthquakes in India whose epicentre was either in India or close are:


March 21, 2023 - 6.8 magnitude earthquake, epicentre in Afghanistan, jolted parts of India


March 12, 2023 - 4.8 magnitude earthquake, epicentre 76 km from Wangjing, Manipur


March 8, 2023 - 4.0 magnitude earthquake, epicentre 10 km depth in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan


March 7, 2023 - 4.9 magnitude earthquake, epicentre 10 km depth in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India



March 3, 2023 - 4.1 magnitude earthquake, epicentre 10 km depth along Arunachal Pradesh, India


March 2, 2023 - 4.0 magnitude earthquake, epicentre 10 km depth along Lobujya, Eastern region in Nepal


February 24, 2023 - 4.1 magnitude earthquake, epicentre 10 km depth in Islamabad, Pakistan


February 22, 2023 - 4.8 magnitude earthquake, epicentre 27 km depth in Jumla, Mid Western, Nepal


February 16, 2023 - 4.3 magnitude earthquake, epicentre 61 km depth along Chhatak, Sylhet, Bangladesh


February 12, 2023 - 4.0 magnitude earthquake, epicentre 65 km depth along Mangan, Sikkim, India
www.hindustantimes.com

Worrying? Tuesday's earthquake was 6th temblor to jolt India in March

Earthquake In India: The epicentre of the earthquake was in the Hindu Kush mountains, in Badakhshan, the US Geological Survey said.
www.hindustantimes.com www.hindustantimes.com
 
BMD said:
WTF happened here?

Click to expand...

Three train crash. An unfortunate sequence of circumstances. One train got derailed and some bogeys fell on an adjoining tracking, a superfast train was just passing that area unfortunatelt on that track. That train smashed into the derailed train.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: BMD

Earth's pole has moved and India's water scarcity had a big hand in it​

Humans have pumped so much water out of the ground that it has effectively affected Earth's spin, and the pole has drifted at a speed of 4.36 centimeters per year between 1993 and 2010.

This has led to Earth being tilted nearly 80 centimeters eastward, scientists have estimated based on new climate models.

The study published in the Geophysical Research Letters states that an important anthropogenic contribution is sea level rise due to groundwater depletion resulting from irrigation. "Earth's pole has drifted toward 64.16 degrees E at a speed of 4.36 centimeters per year during 1993–2010 due to groundwater depletion and resulting sea level rise," the paper read.

Earth

The position of Earth's rotational pole changes relative to the Earth's outer layer (crust). (Photo: Getty)

The international team of researchers estimated that humans have pumped out 2,150 gigatons of groundwater, equivalent to more than 0.24 inches of sea level rise, though they acknowledged that estimating the exact figure is difficult.

One way to understand this is by looking at the Earth's rotational pole. This is the point around which the Earth spins. It actually moves slightly over time in a process called polar motion.

This means that the position of the Earth's rotational pole changes relative to the Earth's outer layer (crust). The way water is distributed on our planet affects how mass is spread out. It's similar to what happens when you add a small weight to a spinning top – it starts to spin a bit differently because of the added weight.




Similarly, as water moves around on Earth, it can cause slight changes in how our planet spins.

Earth spin

Researchers compare the observed polar motion (red arrow, “OBS”) to the modeling results without (dashed blue arrow) and with (solid blue arrow) groundwater mass redistribution. (Photo: Geophysical Research Letters)
"We show that the model estimate of water redistribution from aquifers to the oceans would result in a drift of Earth's rotational pole, about 78.48 cm toward 64.16°E," the paper read.

“Earth’s rotational pole actually changes a lot. Our study shows that among climate-related causes, the redistribution of groundwater actually has the largest impact on the drift of the rotational pole,” Ki-Weon Seo, a geophysicist at Seoul National University who led the study, said in a statement released by the American Geophysical Union.

Researchers maintained that the location of the aquifers (groundwater) also matters for Earth's spin to change. The team estimated that during the period of the study, most water was redistributed in western North America and northwestern India.

While the slight drifting of the pole will not have an impact on the seasons, researchers cautioned that over a longer geologic time period, it could have an impact on the climate.
www.indiatoday.in

Earth's pole has moved and India's water scarcity had a big hand in it

Excess groundwater exploitation in India and the US has led to Earth being tilted nearly 80 centimeters eastward, scientists have estimated based on new climate models.
www.indiatoday.in www.indiatoday.in
 
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