India Meteorological Department forecasts slightly delayed Southwest monsoon – 2016 over Kerala
India Meteorological Department forecast suggests that the onset of Southwest monsoon this year over Kerala is likely to be slightly delayed. The statistical model used by IMD, for predicting the onset of monsoon, indicates that the southwest monsoon is likely to set over Kerala on 7th June with a model error of ± 4 days.
The below mentioned components for data modelling is important from examination perspective.
Background
The onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala signals the arrival of monsoon over the Indian subcontinent and represents beginning of rainy season over the region. The normal monsoon onset over Kerala is 01 June. Since 2005, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has been issuing operational forecasts for the date of monsoon onset over Kerala using an indigenously developed statistical model with a model error of ± 4 days. The model uses the following six predictors:
i) Minimum Temperatures over North-west India,
ii) Pre-monsoon rainfall peak over south Peninsula
iii) Outgoing Long wave Radiation (OLR) over south China Sea
(iv) Lower tropospheric zonal wind over southeast Indian ocean
(v) upper tropospheric zonal wind over the east equatorial Indian Ocean
(vi) Outgoing Long wave Radiation (OLR) over the south-west Pacific region.
Some issues relating to advance of monsoon over the Andaman Sea
The southwest monsoon advances over the Andaman Sea normally around 20th May with a standard deviation of about one week. Strong convective activity has been observed over the equatorial Indian Ocean for the last several days. A well marked low pressure area has formed over the Indian Ocean which will concentrate into a depression and move north-westwards. As a result, conditions are becoming favorable for the onset of southwest monsoon over Nicobar Islands, south Andaman Sea and parts of south Bay of Bengal around 17th May and advancement over the entire Andaman Sea close to its normal date. Past data suggest that there is no association of the date of monsoon advance over the Andaman Sea either with the date of monsoon onset over Kerala or with the seasonal monsoon rainfall over the country.
India and WHO sign a landmark agreement for Global promotion of Traditional Systems of Medicine:-
Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India and the World Health Organization (WHO) have signed an historic Project Collaboration Agreement (PCA) for cooperation on promoting the quality, safety and effectiveness of service provision in traditional and complementary medicine.
Speaking at a Reception hosted by India on this occasion, the AYUSH Minister recalled the long history and rich heritage of traditional medicine in India and its growing relevance in providing holistic and comprehensive health care. He reiterated the high priority attached by the Government of India for the promotion of traditional medicine both in India and abroad and highlighted the numerous initiatives undertaken to functionally integrate AYUSH in India’s national health programmes and for achieving Universal Health Coverage.
The Minister also mentioned that the initiatives and activities undertaken by India within the country align with the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023. He added that India, in fact, sets a unique example for adopting a pluralistic health care delivery system that allows every recognized medical system to develop and be practiced with a view to provide integrated and holistic healthcare services.
The PCA with WHO is a further recognition of India’s rich experience in the development and governance of traditional medicine. It will pave the way for India’s long-term collaboration with the WHO in fostering the global promotion and integration of AYUSH systems of medicine including through the inclusion of Ayurveda and Unani in the International Classification of diseases and the International Classification of Health interventions.
Exercise Red Flag:
Red Flag Alaska 16-1, which was an advanced aerial combat training exercise hosted at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska (a successor to the previous COPE THUNDER exercise series) held in the Alaska region. Indian Air force is a participant.Objective of this inter-continental deployment was not only to showcase IAF capability in undertaking Integrated Air Ops but also to imbibe operational lessons from the exercise engagements which will help us add more teeth to our overall war waging capabilities”.
ISRO embarks on launching Indian space shuttle
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is all set to undertake the maiden launch of its ‘space shuttle’, a fully made-in-India effort. A sleek winged body, almost the weight and the size of sports utility vehicle (SUV), is being given final touches at Sriharikota where it awaiting final countdown.
Here’s what we know:
| » | India’s space port at Sriharikota on the coast of the Bay of Bengal in Andhra Pradesh will witness the launch of the indigenously made Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD). After the launch, it will be glide back onto a virtual runway in the Bay of Bengal. |
| » | The RLV-TD is unlikely to be recovered from sea during this experiment as it is expected that the vehicle will disintegrate on impact with water since it is not designed to float. |
| » | The purpose of the experiment is to help the shuttle glide over a virtual runway in the Bay of Bengal, situated 500 km from the coast. |
| » | India’s frugal engineers believe the solution to reducing cost of launching satellites into orbit is to recycle the rocket or make it reusable. |
| » | Scientists at ISRO believe that they could reduce the cost by as much as 10 times if reusable technology succeeds, bringing it down to $2,000 per kg. |
| » | K. Sivan, director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, says, “These are just the first baby steps towards the big Hanuman leap.” |
| » | The final version will take at least 10-15 years to get ready. |
| » | The special booster or the first stage is powered using a solid fuel and it will hoist the RLV-TD prototype to about 70 km into the atmosphere from where the descent will begin. |
| » | During the descent phase, small thrusters will help the vehicle navigate itself to the landing area. |
| » | The making of the Indian space shuttle or RLV-TD has taken five years and the government has invested Rs. 95 crore in the project. This flight will test the capability of the vehicle to survive a re-entry at speeds higher than that of sound. |
An ingestible origami robot
In experiments involving a simulation of the human oesophagus and stomach, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Sheffield, U.K., and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have demonstrated a tiny origami robot that can unfold itself from a swallowed capsule and, steered by external magnetic fields, crawl across the stomach wall to remove a swallowed button battery or patch a wound.
Every year, 3,500 cases of people having swallowed button batteries are reported in the United States alone. Frequently, the batteries are digested normally, but if they come into prolonged contact with the tissue of the oesophagus or stomach, they can cause an electric current that produces hydroxide, which burns the tissue. However, in the researchers’ project, there will be uses for such robots that go beyond buttons.
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