Hurricanes Plus Oil Spill Could Increase Environmental Damage in Gulf

Hurricane season begins today, and the experts are predicting a high number of storms between now and November 30. Officially, the Climate Prediction Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expects an "active to extremely active" hurricane season in 2010.

According to NOAA, there is a 70 percent probability that the six-month hurricane season

Acid Rain

What is Acid Rain?

Acid rain is a result of air pollution. When any type of fuel is burnt, lots of different chemicals are produced. The smoke that comes from a fire or the fumes that come out of a car exhaust don't just contain the sooty grey particles that you can see - they also contains lots of invisible gases that can be even more harmful to our environment.
Power stations, factories and cars all burn fuels and therefore they all produce polluting gases. Some of these gases (especially nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide) react with the tiny droplets of water in clouds to form sulphuric and nitric acids. The rain from these clouds then falls as very weak acid - which is why it is known as "acid rain".

How Are Tsunamis Detected?

To help identify and predict the size of a tsunami, scientists can look at the size and type of the underwater earthquake that precedes it. That is often the first information they receive, because seismic waves travel faster than tsunamis. 

This information is not always helpful, however, because a tsunami can arrive within minutes after the earthquake that triggered it.

Climate change needs to be discussed in 'meaningful' way: India

THIMPHU: With climate change being the central theme of the SAARC summit, India hoped the eight-nation bloc would hold the dialogue on the issue in a "meaningful manner" and backed its "fresh" position on global warming to be adopted at the Cancun meet later this year.

India supports "a fresh SAARC position on Climate Change for COP (Conference of Parties) 16 in accordance with the UNFCCC principles and Bali Action Plan," External affairs minister S M Krishna said, addressing the SAARC Council of Ministers.