Daily Current Capsules - 30^th April 2020

Science and Technology
New list of names of tropical cyclones over north Indian Ocean

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the role of RSMC and the naming mechanism + naming a tropical cyclone - objective + benefits) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of science and technology +disaster management)
What's the NEWS

• The tropical cyclones forming over different Ocean basins are named by the concerned RSMCs & TCWCs.
• For north Indian Ocean including Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea, the RSMC, New Delhi assigns the name to tropical cyclones following a standard procedure.

Know! the role of RSMCs and TCWCs

• Worldwide there are six regional specialised meteorological centres (RSMCs) and five regional Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) mandated for issuing advisories and naming of tropical cyclones.
• India Meteorological Department is one of the six RSMCs to provide tropical cyclone and storm surge advisories to 13 member countries under WMO/ESCAP Panel including Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
• RSMC, New Delhi is also mandated to name the Tropical Cyclones developing over the north Indian Ocean (NIO) including the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and the Arabian Sea (AS).

Naming of Tropical Cyclones helps the scientific community, disaster managers, media and general masses to

• identify each individual cyclone.
• create awareness of its development.
• remove confusion in case of simultaneous occurrence of TCs over a region
• remember a TC easily
• rapidly and effectively disseminate warnings to much wider audience

Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre

• Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre is responsible for the distribution of information, advisories, and warnings regarding the specific program they have a part of, agreed by consensus at the World Meteorological Organization as part of the World Weather Watch.
• RSMC, New Delhi (one of the 6 RSMC's) will be responsible to name tropical cyclones forming over the North Indian Ocean including Bay of Bengal & the Arabian Sea when they have been diagnosed with maximum sustained surface windspeed of 34 knots (62 kmph) or more as per Global Data Processing and Forecasting System (GDPFS) of WMO
• The name of a Tropical Cyclone from South China Sea which crosses Thailand and emerge into the Bay of Bengal as a tropical cyclone will not be changed.

Know! about WMO

• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 193 Member States and Territories.
• It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), the roots of which were planted at the 1873 Vienna International Meteorological Congress.
• Established by the ratification of the WMO Convention on 23 March 1950, WMO became the specialised agency of the United Nations for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences a year later.
• The Secretariat, headquartered in Geneva, is headed by the Secretary-General.
• Its supreme body is the World Meteorological Congress.

Know! about the Naming of tropical cyclones/hurricanes/typhoons

• The name list is proposed by the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of WMO Members of a specific region, and approved by the respective tropical cyclone regional bodies at their annual/bi-annual sessions.

There are five tropical cyclone regional bodies, i.e.

• ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee
• WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones
• RA I Tropical Cyclone Committee
• RA IV Hurricane Committee, and
• RA V Tropical Cyclone Committee.

The WMO/ESCAP Panel on Tropical Cyclones

• The panel at its twenty-seventh Session held in 2000 in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, agreed in principal to assign names to the tropical cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.
• The naming of the tropical cyclones over north Indian Ocean commenced from September 2004, with names provided by eight Members. Since then, five countries have joined the Panel.
• The RSMC New Delhi Tropical Cyclone Center is responsible to name the tropical cyclones that have formed over the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea when they have reached the relevant intensity.

Environment
11^th session of Petersberg Climate Dialogue

Relevance IN - Prelims (about Petersberg Climate Dialogue) + Mains (GS III Environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar represented India in the first virtual Petersberg Climate Dialogue

Know! about the dialogue highlights

• The first virtual Climate Dialogue, was the eleventh session of Petersberg Climate Dialogue which has been hosted by Germany since 2010(an initiative of German Chancellor Angela Merkel)
• The objective is to provide a forum for informal high-level political discussions, focusing both on international climate negotiations and the advancement of climate action.
• It is hosted by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety.
• The dialogue saw participation from Ministers and representatives of about 30 countries.
• It is co-chaired by Germany and the United Kingdom, the incoming Presidency of the 26th Conference of Parties (COP 26) to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Science & Technology
Electrostatic Disinfection Machine

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the working mechanism of Electrostatic Disinfection Machine)
What's the NEWS

• CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIR-CSIO), Chandigarh, has designed and developed an innovative technology for effective disinfection and sanitization to fight with corona pandemic.
• CSIR-CSIO has transferred this technology to a Nagpur-based company, Rite Water Solutions Pvt. Ltd., for commercialization and large-scale production.
• This technology has been found very efficient and effective to stop the spread of coronavirus and pathogens

Know! the working mechanism of Electrostatic Disinfection Machine

• Electrostatic Disinfection Machine is developed based on the electrostatic principle.
• It produces uniform and fine spray droplets of disinfectants in the size range of 10-20 micrometre to kill microorganisms and viruses.
• Due to the small size of droplets, the surface area of spray droplets increases thereby enhancing the interaction with harmful microorganisms and coronavirus.
• The machine uses very less disinfection material as compared to conventional methods
• Charged droplets emitted from the disinfection machine can cover the directly exposed and obscured surfaces uniformly with increased efficiency and efficacy

Environment
Radio tagged Amur falcons begin to arrive in India after winter sojourn

Relevance IN - Prelims (all facts about Amur Falcon) + Mains (GS III Environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• Amid the COVID-19 pandemic across various parts of the world, the radio tagged Amur falcons have started to arrive in India for further destination to their breeding grounds in northern China,

Know! about the recent events

• Amur Falcon named as ‘Longleng', which flew non-stop for FIVE DAYS covering thousands of kilometres to reach Somalia as part of their routine annual migratory journey in Nov last year, has returned to the Indian sub-continent. This reached India just recently.
• In November 2019, five Amur falcons were radio tagged with satellite transmitters by the Forest department in collaboration with WII scientists to study the flight route of these long-distance migratory birds and environmental patterns along the route.
• The Amur falcons which spend their summers at their breeding grounds in China, migrate to their wintering grounds in South Africa, from where they start their return journey in April-May, undertaking a yearly journey of about 20,000 km. In between, they stop in India's north-eastern states.

Know! about Amur Falcon

• The Amur Falcon is a migratory raptor.
• Every year, the small, resilient birds make the daring voyage from breeding grounds in Russia and China to winter in southern Africa.
• It is supposed that the falcons cross the Arabian Sea during their migration, but much is still unknown about the patterns of their estimated 22,000 km migration.
• Breeds in South-east Russia and northern China.
• Flyway: East-Asian Australasian and African Eurasian

• Population of more than 1,000,000 breeding individuals
• IUCN Red List Status - Least Concern
• It is also protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and the Convention on Migratory Species(CMS) to which India is a signatory.
• Nagaland is known for million Amur falcons coming to the state each year and that is why it is also known as the Amur faclon capital of the world.
• Amur falcons were once hunted and by raising awareness about the role in migration, conservation work by communities paid off and the hunting stopped.
• Nagaland Government organises Amur Falcon festival to spread awareness about the need to provide safe passage to Amur falcons.

Science & Technology
Hospital Care Assistive Robotic Device (HCARD)
Relevance IN - Prelims (about HCARD)
What's the NEWS

• The robotic device HCARD, in short for Hospital Care Assistive Robotic Device, can help frontline healthcare workers in maintaining physical distance from those infected by coronavirus.

Know! more about HCARD

• HCARD is developed by Durgapur-based CSIR lab, Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute.
• The device is equipped with various state-of-the-art technologies and works both in automatic as well as manual modes of navigation.
• This robot can be controlled and monitored by a nursing booth with a control station having such features as navigation, drawer activation for providing medicines and food to patients, sample collection and audio-visual communication.

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