Geologists have extensively researched sea level variation and depth fluctuations along the Indian coasts, using foraminifera, a sea organism, found in abundance all over the oceans. They are either benthic or planktonic depending upon whether they live on the sea bottom or float in the upper water column. Out of an estimated 4000 species […]
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The dramatic changes in the Arctic environment over the past couple of decades, caused by rising surface temperatures, loss of sea ice and diminishing habitat for its wild life have forced policy makers to find science-based answers to the problem. The surface air temperatures over the Arctic have been rising twice as fast as the […]
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NASA has declared this year to be the hottest year yet recorded. September turned out to be the warmest in modern temperature monitoring of 137 years. The recent findings follow record-breaking monthly anomalies throughout this year, leading the agency to believe that because of the highs reported so far. The first nine months of 2016, as […]
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Why are our oceans salty? Ocean salinity, defined as the salt concentration in the seawater, is measured in unit of PSU (practical salinity unit), which is a unit based on the properties of seawater conductivity. It is equivalent to per thousand or (o/00) or to g/kg. The commonest way to record salinity is to measure the amount of salt in […]
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Before you start presuming that we are referring to Mr. Riddle of Batman fame, let us quickly clarify that Olive Ridleys are poor green turtles, high on the endangered list, while Gahirmatha is this muddy beach beside a luxuriant patch of mangrove forest, along the coast of Odisha. Have you ever wondered about the many […]
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The protein requirement of an average individual is estimated as 0.72g/kg/day (Institute of Medicine of the National Academies IMNA, 2005) which works out to 13.14 kg for a 50 kg person/year. Hence the country’s current protein requirement to feed its 1.27 billion populations is approximately 16.69 mmt. With one third of the Indian population preferring […]
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