SHANGHAI, January 16 -- Aerial photo taken on April 30, 2018 shows the scene of the dismantling site of a chemical factory along the Yangtze River in Yichang City, central China's Hubei Province. Since 2017, Yichang has carried out a series of projects to cut pollution and upgrade the chemical industry to protect the ecological environment along the Yangtze River. China has pledged to coordinate its efforts of environmental protection and economic development in 2019, an important year for winning the tough battle against pollution. At the annual Central Economic Work Conference earlier this month, authorities called for building on this year's achievement in pollution control, making more efforts and input in 2019. Since the turn of this year, China has made solid efforts to combat pollution and seen constant improvement of the environment. The Central Economic Work Conference made it clear that local governments must avoid past simple and unscrupulous practices in dealing with environmental problems.
0 Comments
ROTTERDAM, January 15 -- Now in mid January the effects of the Sudden Stratospheric Warming (short: SWW) and Polar vortex split are becoming visible as strong blocking over the Arctic region is resulting in strongly dynamic pattern in the mid-latitudes. The current strong ridge over the north Atlantic should persist until the weekend when a significant pattern change will likely occur. The ridge over the Arctic will intensify while the northern Atlantic ridge retreats west towards North America. This brings development of troughs with cyclones also towards western Europe. As a result, widespread cooling will take place for large parts of Europe and enhance chances for snowfall events. The pattern overview for the weekend into early next week indicates weakening of the north Atlantic ridge as its axis retreats towards the North American continent. Deep troughs pass over the western Europe and continue towards south and southwest Europe as well. As a result, an intense cold outbreak should develop for the western half of Europe, including the British Isles and Ireland, Iberian peninsula, central Europe and the Mediterranean. Here is the snowfall probability map for mid next week, suggesting improved chances for snowfall events across a large part of Europe, including western and much of central Europe, which have both experiencing a lack of snowfall this winter so far.
BANGKOK, January 15 -- Bangkok is facing an air pollution crisis that has choked the capital since late last year, with academicians warning of serious impact on public health and a threat to the economy. As of 6pm on Monday, various areas of Bangkok and its vicinity are suffering a huge volume of PM2.5 pollution particles that exceeds the Thai safety limit of 50 microgrammes per cubic meter, according to the Pollution Control Department (µg/m³). Reading taken by 10 air quality stations around Bangkok showed PM2.5 levels in the city ranged between 70 and 100 µg/m³, the Bangkok Post reported. Citing a ranking by www.airvisual.com, Greenpeace Thailand tweeted that Bangkok ranked the ninth worst city on Earth for air quality. Authorities announced plans to deploy two aircraft with “artificial rainmaking technology” in a bid to create downpours in the east side of the capital. In front of city hall, firefighters used high-pressure cannons to clean the air and streets while authorities handed out N95 masks to city dwellers. While the air quality has deteriorated to harmful levels over the past three days, Witsanu Attavanich, associate professor of economics at Kasetsart University said the situation was likely to remain at critical levels for no less than another month due to weather patterns and limited wind. Witsanu is among the academics who called on the government to take the air pollution problem more seriously to undertake mitigation efforts in the interests of public health and the economy. In some areas, visibility was down to just one kilometres, especially in the areas surrounding Suvarnabhumi airport. And despite the poor visibility and hazardous level of air quality, many Bangkokians were seen going about their daily activities as normal, many of them without facemasks. “Air pollution is really a silent killer and many Thais underestimate the danger to their health, so not many people protect themselves by wearing a facemask or installing air purifiers at home,” Witsanu said. “The official air pollution warning system is also too weak and doesn’t reflect the true severity of the situation,” Witsanu said, as quoted by The Nation. “Thais don’t have lungs of steel, so we need to consider the environment and people’s health before we pursue economic growth.” His research on pollution-related health costs in 2017 found that every microgram of PM10 beyond the safe limit will cost Bangkok’s inhabitants up to THB18.42 billion (US$577 million) in medical expenses. An activist claims the smog currently blanketing greater Bangkok comes from farmers burning sugarcane fields to make harvesting easier. Srisuwan Janya, president of the Stop Global Warming Association, told the Bangkok Post the public was wrongfully blaming engine emissions, construction, and the burning of garbage and grass. “Smog doesn’t only happen in greater Bangkok but also other provinces in the Central Plains, the West and the East where sugarcane plantations are widespread and the sugarcane milling season has started,” he said. HARBIN, January 13 -- Ice shaped like blossoming lotus and cute hedgehogs are among the attractions that recently made a salt lake known as "China's Dead Sea" a hot spot in the biting winter in North China. Yuncheng Salt Lake in Shanxi province covers an area of 132 square kilometers. Located in the city of Yuncheng, the lake was recently covered in "mirabilite flowers of various forms" as mirabilite crystallized on the lake surface. The crystal clear "flowers" attracted quite a few visitors despite the freezing cold. "I've waited many days to take pictures of this phenomenon," said photographer Zhao Peng. "The temperature has dropped today, which helped the mirabilite crystallize." Mirabilite, or sodium sulfate decahydrate, only crystallizes under minus five degrees Celsius, according to Liu Guoli, who has worked beside the lake for decades. "The phenomenon does not happen every year," Liu said. The lake is one of three inland salt lakes with sodium sulfate in the world. The amount of salt it contains is similar to that of the Dead Sea and allows humans to float on it. According to geologists, the lake was formed about 50 million years ago. Chinese people began making use of the lake at least 4,000 years ago. According to historical records, revenue from the salt produced by the lake accounted for about a quarter of the country's total salt revenue during the reign of Emperor Li Yu (766-779 AD) in the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). Today, the lake still produces salt for industrial use. BERN, January 10 -- More heavy snowfall is expected over the next four days in areas already buried in meters of snow. Large areas will likely receive over half a meter of snow, while some areas may well see over 1 m of fresh snow by Tuesday morning. The persistent northerly and northwesterly meridional flow continues, pushing more Arctic maritime airmass into the Alps. Further heavy stau-effect snowfall is expected, with a particularly intense episode of snowfall expected on Sunday and Monday. Over 50 cm of fresh snow is expected across a large area in Switzerland and Austria, extending also into the extreme NW Italy and extreme SE France. Peak amounts will likely reach 100-130 cm. Consult the maps below for details. TOKYO, January 10 -- Japan's weather bureau said on Thursday (Jan 10) that the El Nino weather pattern appears to be continuing and there was an 80 per cent chance it would stretch into the northern hemisphere spring. A United States government weather forecaster last month projected a 90 per cent chance of the El Nino weather pattern emerging during the northern hemisphere winter 2018-19, with a 60 per cent chance of continuing through spring this year. The last El Nino, a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific that typically happens every few years, occurred around 2015/2016 and caused weather-related crop damage, fires and flash floods. GLASGOW, January 10 -- A pre-construction agreement (PCA) for work on a windfarm off the coast of Scotland has been signed by Dutch-based dredging, offshore contracting and marine services company Boskalis Westminster. The project is the Inch Cape offshore windfarm project, and the award was made by Inch Cape Offshore Ltd (ICOL), a subsidiary of Red Rock Power. The work will include the transportation and installation of the wind turbine foundations, the offshore substation and cables. The award of the contract is subject to a successful bid by ICOL in the next UK Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction in mid-2019, and financial close in the second half of 2020. The CfD scheme is the UK government’s main mechanism for supporting low-carbon electricity generation. The Inch Cape contract, excluding procurement, is expected to be more than €200 million. Boskalis said it would, in the coming months, assist with the further engineering and design of the project. The final contract cost, including the amount associated with the supply of the wind turbine foundations and inter-array cables, will be determined during this period. The PCA includes the engineering, supply, transportation and installation of up to 72 pre-piled jacket foundations and up to 84 inter-array cables in addition to the transportation and installation of the offshore substation. Boskalis said the Bokalift 1 crane vessel would be deployed for the transportation and installation of the foundations, as well as the offshore substation foundation, sub-structure and topside. Also, the company said it would supply and install two 85km export cables to connect the offshore substation to the mainland, in a consortium with NKT. The Inch Cape offshore wind farm will be located in the North Sea, 15km off the Angus Coast in the East of Scotland. The project is scheduled for 2021 to 2022, in time to enable Inch Cape to meet the CfD 3 delivery windows between 2023 and 2025. SHANGHAI, January 8 -- A staff member works on a production line of new energy vehicles at a JAC Motors factory in Tongling City, east China's Anhui Province. Tongling government takes measures to improve ecological environment and develop green industry along the Yangtze River. China has pledged to coordinate its efforts of environmental protection and economic development in 2019, an important year for winning the tough battle against pollution. At the annual Central Economic Work Conference earlier this month, authorities called for building on this year's achievement in pollution control, making more efforts and input in 2019. Since the turn of this year, China has made solid efforts to combat pollution and seen constant improvement of the environment. The Central Economic Work Conference made it clear that local governments must avoid past simple and unscrupulous practices in dealing with environmental problems. ROTTERDAM, January 7 -- The first major storm of 2019 is expected to hit the Wadden islands and the north coast of the Netherlands coming Tuesday. Force 9 gales, with gusts of up to 95 km/h, and waves of up to 10 metres are forecast for Tuesday. Heavy rain will also sweep across the country while temperatures will dip to between 5C and 7C. The impending storm will hamper efforts to clean up the debris of 281 shipping containers that went overboard from a cargo vessel last week. Volunteers have been instructed to leave the operation to specialist teams from Monday afternoon and return on Wednesday. ‘The emergency services have their hands full. They don’t want to have to help people who have put themselves in difficulty,’ a spokesman for Friesland’s regional safety council told NOS. The containers were spilled by the Panamanian-flagged MSC Zoe, one of the world’s biggest cargo vessels, near the German island of Borkum last Wednesday. The Dutch highways and waterways administrator Rijkswaterstaat has held the vessel’s operators responsible and a criminal investigation is under way. Most of the debris has been removed from the beaches of Ameland, Terschelling and Schiermonnikoog. So far 222 containers have been traced to the seabed but 41 are still missing, prompting fears that more could be washed up during Tuesday’s storm. SHANGHAI, January 5 -- Treated wastewater is seen at Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Holdings Co., Ltd in Tongling City, east China's Anhui Province. Tongling government takes measures to improve ecological environment and develop green industry along the Yangtze River. China has pledged to coordinate its efforts of environmental protection and economic development in 2019, an important year for winning the tough battle against pollution. At the annual Central Economic Work Conference earlier this month, authorities called for building on this year's achievement in pollution control, making more efforts and input in 2019. Since the turn of this year, China has made solid efforts to combat pollution and seen constant improvement of the environment. The Central Economic Work Conference made it clear that local governments must avoid past simple and unscrupulous practices in dealing with environmental problems. BANGKOK, January 4 -- Tourists marooned on Thai islands hunkered down Friday as Tropical Storm Pabuk carved its way towards the kingdom, forcing airports and ferries to close and bringing downpours and massive sea swells. Boats were recalled to shore across the Gulf of Thailand, while two key airports - Koh Samui and Nakhon Si Thammarat - were shut until Saturday, leaving tourists who remain on islands now cut off from the mainland. "But all tourist islands in the Gulf of Thailand including Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao will be affected because Pabuk is huge," said Phuwieng Prakhammintara, head of the Thai Meteorological Department. As it churns through the sea, Pabuk has gathered pace with 75-kilometre-an-hour winds stirring huge waves of up to five metres high (16 feet). Social media videos showed oil rigs being battered by waves, and tankers navigating terrifying walls of water. With rains lashing the entire south, the Meteorological Department warned coastal communities to expect "inshore surges" as winds whip up the sea. BANGKOK, January 4 -- Thai authorities have suspended ferry services and begun evacuations ahead of Tropical Storm Pabuk amid fears it could be the worst to hit the nation since 1989. The storm is expected to pound Thailand’s famed southern beach resorts during peak tourist season. Rain is already falling around the Gulf of Thailand and officials warned that torrential downpours, strong winds and rough seas were expected in 16 provinces when Pabuk makes its expected landfall late on Friday. In 1989, Typhoon Gay killed more than 900 people in the Gulf of Thailand. A tropical storm in 1962 killed more than 900 people in the south. Thailand: tourists flee as Tropical Storm Pabuk set to bring seven-metre waves On Wednesday, a Russian tourist died in Koh Samui as he tried to rescue his daughter, who was struggling in strong surf. Thai PBS television reported that the daughter survived but her father was thrown against rocks, lost consciousness and could not be revived.Thailand’s Meteorological Department said the storm will hit southern Thailand’s east coast from Thursday to Saturday, with the two provinces of Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat expected to be hardest hit. Surat Thani is home to the popular tourist islands of Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan. Army trucks were driving around remote coastal areas in Nakhon Si Thammarat on Thursday evening, searching for stragglers who had not yet been evacuated. “We have prepared three shelters and currently have about 1,000 people in them,” said local official Kriangsak Raksrithong. BANGKOK, January 3 -- Residents of a village close to the sea in Songkhla’s Singkanakorn district have moved their belongings to higher ground in preparation for tropical storm Pabuk. The tropical storm is expected to land in the Southern region on Friday. Some rainfall and high waves have already hit the area of Hat Kaew village, forcing villagers to speed up preparations for possible evacuation. Pabuk is the first storm of the year and the weather department forecast it to be strong enough to cause possible damage on Friday. Noppadon Mongkondee, 27, said that his house is close to the sea so he and his wife started moving their belongings to higher ground as the house is at risk of being swept away by high waves.
“Every year, my house is attacked by high waves caused by storms. This year, we are warned that Pabuk will be a strong storm, so we moved our things to high places in advance,” he said. Other villagers docked their vessels and moved them onto land. They are closely watching news and monitoring the situation so they can evacuate in time. |
Thank you for choosing to make a difference through your donation. We appreciate your support.
This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies. Opt Out of CookiesCategories
All
Archives
April 2024
|