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Daily Current Capsules - 11th April 2020

Geographical features
Record sea temperatures cause third mass bleaching of Great Barrier Reef
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about great barrier reef + about coral reef and its features) + Mains GS I (geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including water bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.)
What's the NEWS
  • Australia's Great Barrier Reef has suffered its most widespread coral bleaching on record. It is a big threat posed by climate change to the world's largest living organism.
  • A third mass bleaching event in five years is a clear signal the marine wonder is "calling for urgent help" on climate change.
  • The Great Barrier Reef has experienced five mass bleaching events - 1998, 2002, 2016, 2017 and 2020 - all caused by rising ocean temperatures driven by global heating.
Know! more about the study
  • A comprehensive survey last month found record sea temperatures had caused the third mass bleaching of the 2,300-kilometre reef system in just five years.
  • Bleaching occurs when healthy corals become stressed by changes in ocean temperatures, causing them to expel algae living in their tissues which drains them of their vibrant colours.
  • For the first time, severe bleaching has struck all three regions of the Great Barrier Reef -- the northern, central and now large parts of the southern sectors.
  • The damage came as February brought the highest monthly sea temperatures on the Great Barrier Reef since Australia began keeping records in 1900.
  • The reef is worth an estimated 4 billion dollars a year in tourism revenue for the Australian economy, but is at risk of losing its coveted world heritage status because warmer oceans brought about by climate change have damaged its health.
  • Bleaching was first seen on the reef in 1998 -- at the time, the hottest year on record -- but as temperature records continue to tumble its frequency has increased, giving coral less time to recover.
The Great Barrier Reef
  • The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest and longest coral reef system, stretching for 2,300km comprising 3,000 separate reefs and some 900 continental islands and coral cays, it's one of the world's great natural wonders.
  • A World Heritage Area since 1981 (the world's first reef ecosystem to be recognised by UNESCO), it is highly protected and one of the best-managed marine areas on Earth.
  • This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps.
Know! about Coral reefs
  • Coral reefs are large underwater structures composed of the skeletons of colonial marine invertebrates called coral.
  • The coral species that build reefs are known as hermatypic, or "hard," corals because they extract calcium carbonate from seawater to create a hard, durable exoskeleton that protects their soft, sac-like bodies.
  • Each individual coral is referred to as a polyp. Coral polyps live on the calcium carbonate exoskeletons of their ancestors, adding their own exoskeleton to the existing coral structure.
  • As the centuries pass, the coral reef gradually grows, one tiny exoskeleton at a time, until they become massive features of the marine environment.
Human Resource Development
Bharat Padhe Online campaign

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the campaign and its objective)
What's the NEWS
  • The Human Resource Development Ministry has launched a week long ‘Bharat Padhe Online' campaign for Crowd sourcing of Ideas for Improving Online Education ecosystem of India
Know! more about the campaign
  • The campaign aims to invite all the best brains in India to share suggestions/solutions directly with HRD Ministry to overcome constraints of online education while promoting the available digital education platforms
  • The Ideas can be shared on bharatpadheonline.mhrd@gmail.com
  • Participation of Students and teachers in this campaign wholeheartedly will improve the existing online education methods. They can share what is lacking in the existing online platforms and how we can make them more engaging.
  • The educators across the country can also come forward to contribute with their expertise and experience in the field of education.
Government Schemes
Operation SHIELD

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about operation SHIELD)
What's the NEWS
  • Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched ‘Operation SHIELD' for the neighbourhoods with a high concentration of COVID-19 cases in the national capital.
Know! all about operation SHIELD
  • The acronym SHIELD will stand for "Sealing, Home Quarantine, Isolation and Tracking, Essential Supply, Local Sanitisation and Door-To-Door Checking".
  • 21 areas have been identified as containment zones in Delhi. These areas have been sealed. People are not being allowed to enter or exit from these areas
  • All people in these areas will be under home quarantine. They will not be allowed to leave their homes. Coronavirus positive cases in these areas will be isolated and people they came in contact with will be traced
Health
Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID)

Relevance IN - Prelims (about GISAID and its objective)
What's the NEWS
  • India has shared nine whole genome sequences of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) with the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) - a public platform started by the WHO in 2008 for countries to share genome sequences.
Know! more about it
  • All the sequences have been shared by the Pune-based National Institute of Virology.
  • So far, 3,086 sequences of the virus isolated from humans have been shared by 57 countries.
  • With 621, the U.S. has shared the most number of sequences, followed by the U.K. (350), Belgium (253) and China (242).
  • Sequencing the genome of SARS-CoV-2 will help understand where the virus came from, if there are different strains circulating in India, and how the virus has spread.

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