New Delhi, (IANS) A massive ash cloud from the Hayli Gubbi volcanic eruption in northern Ethiopia that drifted across the Arabian Sea and reached India on Monday night is now moving over parts of north India, prompting aviation authorities to issue safety guidelines for airlines. However, it is not expected to impact the air quality as the ash cloud is primarily at mid-levels of the atmosphere, experts said on Tuesday.
The eruption, which occurred on Sunday after the long-dormant volcano suddenly became active, released a thick plume that travelled across the Red Sea toward Yemen and Oman before advancing toward the Indian subcontinent.
By 11 p.m. on Monday, the ash plume had entered Indian airspace and was observed over Delhi, with movement expected towards Punjab and Haryana through the night and well into Tuesday.
The unusual atmospheric event led the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to issue a detailed advisory to airlines, urging them to strictly avoid designated volcanic ash–affected areas and flight levels.
Airlines have been asked to modify flight planning, routing, altitude selection, and fuel calculations in accordance with the latest Volcanic Ash Advisories (VAAs).
The DGCA’s guidance comes amid reports of rerouted and delayed flights as aircraft operators attempt to navigate safely around the affected zones.
Volcanic ash poses a serious risk to aviation, especially jet engines, as ash particles can melt inside engines and cause severe damage.
IndiaMetSky Weather posted an explanation of the phenomenon on X, noting that the plume currently contains sulphur dioxide (SO₂) with low to moderate concentrations of volcanic ash.
In its post, IndiaMetSky Weather wrote: “The Ash plume mostly consists of Sulphur Dioxide with low to moderate concentrations of Volcanic Ash. It’s now stretching from Oman–Arabian Sea region into plains of North & Central India. It will not impact AQI levels but it will impact SO₂ levels at #Hills of #Nepal, #Himalayas and adjoining Terai belt of #UttarPradesh as some of the material will bump into the hills and later move into China."
"Low chances of Ashfall over plains but some places may see something. NO IMPACT ON AQI LEVEL AT SURFACE LEVEL AT ANY PLACE IS EXPECTED," the post mentioned.
"Plume will slowly continue to drift over Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan region. Once again this is at middle levels of the atmosphere so there will not be any impact on the surface apart from some delays & changes in flight routes and some particles might fall to the surface (low chances),” it added.
Meteorologists emphasise that the ash cloud is primarily at mid-levels of the atmosphere, meaning it is unlikely to affect surface air quality for most regions in India. However, hills across Nepal, the Himalayas, and Uttar Pradesh’s Terai belt may see higher sulphur dioxide levels as the plume interacts with mountainous terrain.The plume is expected to gradually drift westward and weaken, but authorities continue to monitor its movement closely. Passengers have been advised to check with airlines for updated flight schedules as temporary disruptions may continue until the plume disperses. Volcanic ash plume from Ethiopia moving over North India will not impact AQI: Experts | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay | For Representational Purpose Only
Tanveer Singh: As the planet struggles under the weight of 40+ billion metric tons of CO₂ emissions in 2024 alone, and an ever-rising energy demand, the search for smarter, leaner solutions has never been more urgent. There enters the TinyML, where the power of AI meets ultra-low energy computing to drive sustainability at scale.
It may be shocking, but as you are reading this, billions of sensors are tracking the planet’s health – from the air we breathe to the energy we consume. Already, more than 14 billion IoT devices are being used to monitor climate change and are projected to reach a whopping 30 billion by the end of 2030. But the concerning part is that the energy consumed by these devices is around 200 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, which is roughly equivalent to the entire energy consumption of countries like Thailand. To meet this demand, energy is produced through the traditional method of burning fuel, which further emits millions of Carbon footprints annually, that is even more than the lifetime emissions of 4 cars, just to monitor climate change. And therein lies the irony.
Furthermore, the constant transmission of data through these sensors requires millions of dollars for their deployment and maintenance. Like a large-scale smart city as big as New York, IoT networks can cost over $10–15 million per year to operate. This is exactly where TinyML comes as the solution, offering a path that enables IoT devices to process data locally, reducing energy consumption by up to 90% and significantly lowering costs.
Tiny ML bridges the gap between artificial intelligence and embedded systems, allowing machine learning activities even in sensors as small as a grain of sand. It is based on the idea of machine learning that is focused on building machine learning models on low-power devices like microcontrollers, enabling the device to process data instantly and anywhere, without depending on external internet storage to compute it. One clear example is Alexa, which uses TinyML models to send instant responses to the device for processing instead of sending through the cloud (external storage ), which will take a longer time.
Additionally, TinyML improves privacy and data security by running locally and reduces overall operational cost by 50-60% as compared to large ML models working on external storage. Take the example of Google's TinyML image classification that runs directly on devices, keeping images private while cutting storage and cloud costs by over 50%. TinyML can be best understood as having a mini robot in your pocket that can solve problems instantly, instead of always asking a big computer far away for help. It is faster, saves energy, and keeps your information private. When this field is applied to the climate, its efficiency becomes a distinguished factor.
Besides being cost-effective and having higher efficiency, it also helps in tracking air quality to predict natural disasters and, hence, supports the fight against climate change. Tiny ML sensors enable the quick detection of forest fires through heat or smoke detection, and aid in local air and water quality checks, eliminating the need for cloud computing dependency. For instance, Arduino-based air quality sensors are used to measure air quality and provide data on the temperature and humidity of an area. These models can also be used in solar or wind farms to check the performance of the solar cells and windmills through the consumption of energy, which can further help in increasing the efficiency of the farms. For example, Google’s DeepMind AI was successfully used with wind farms in the U.S. to predict wind power output 36 hours in advance, boosting the value of wind energy by around 20%. Interestingly, these sensors can also aid in monitoring birds' and whales' calls or other animals to track migration patterns and population health, as well as because of their small size and working on low power, and hence, they can help researchers to get valuable data on ecosystems without disturbing the wildlife. Moreover, TinyML sensors used in smart grids help in improving energy utilization by constantly monitoring and managing the transport of electricity so that energy is not wasted. Besides this, these devices can help in measuring the water pressure, tidal patterns, and ground movement of an area, and the data from this can be used to detect disasters earlier. For instance, in Japan, Tiny ML sensors placed along coastlines measure tidal waves and ground vibration in real time, which helps authorities to issue faster tsunami and earthquake warnings.
However, while these applications highlight the transformative impact of Tiny ML in tackling climate related problems, the integration also brings forth several challenges that need to be addressed to ensure reliability and scalability. First and foremost is the limitation of hardware, which is that there is limited storage, approximately in kilobytes or 1 to 5 megabytes, to store data compared to traditional models that have memory in gigabytes and terabytes. As a result, small models in TinyML will be less precise than the traditional models, which can be a huge challenge in models that work on reliability, for example, disaster management models. Furthermore, the harsh conditions like weather or wildlife can damage these devices, leading to malfunctioning and increasing the cost of maintenance.
Additionally, even though these devices are cost-effective, deploying billions of devices will still require huge funding, which can limit their production and scalability.
Despite these challenges, the future of TinyML is being shaped by the integration of emerging technologies, large-scale adoption, and the expanding market of AI. The combination of TinyML with the 5 G network, which provides 100 times faster speed than 4 G and the ability to connect over one million devices per square kilometer, can enable the creation of massive, interconnected sensors all over the cities that can provide faster and reliable data. Additionally, integrating it with federated learning- an ML technique that enables multiple devices to train a model together without sharing the raw data - can help in ensuring data privacy and increasing the accuracy of the models. Furthermore, Government and Research institutes are likely to adopt TinyML models in various tasks as they provide a scalable and cost-effective solution, especially in environments with limited resources. For instance, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has explored TinyML to process sensor data directly on satellites, reducing the need for constant communication with Earth.
It won’t be an exaggeration to say that the Tiny ML models have the potential to shape the future of the world. By offering scalable as well as energy-efficient solutions, Tiny ML stands out as the best alternative to tackle the climate change problems. From reducing the CO2 emissions to providing faster processing of data and strengthening the privacy and accuracy of the data, the Tiny ML model can be a changemaker catalyst not only in the world of climate change but in other fields, too. Undoubtedly, Tiny ML paves the way for a future where artificial intelligence works in harmony with the planet.Tanveer Singh, a first-year student at Plaksha University, has been passionate about writing articles and poems since high school. From raising public awareness of new technologies to highlighting environmental and societal issues, he has explored a wide range of themes through his work and aspires to continue making an impact in this space for the long run. TinyML: The Small Technology Tackling the Biggest Climate Challenge | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
Pink circles show the systems closest to tipping points. Some would have regional effects, such as loss of coral reefs. Others are global, such as the beginning of the collapse of the Greenland ice sheet. Global Tipping Points Report, CC BY-ND
As the planet warms, it risks crossing catastrophic tipping points: thresholds where Earth systems, such as ice sheets and rain forests, change irreversibly over human lifetimes.
Scientists have long warned that if global temperatures warmed more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) compared with before the Industrial Revolution, and stayed high, they would increase the risk of passing multiple tipping points. For each of these elements, like the Amazon rain forest or the Greenland ice sheet, hotter temperatures lead to melting ice or drier forests that leave the system more vulnerable to further changes.
Pink circles show the systems closest to tipping points. Some would have regional effects, such as loss of coral reefs. Others are global, such as the beginning of the collapse of the Greenland ice sheet. Global Tipping Points Report, CC BY-ND
The term “tipping point” is often used to illustrate these problems, but apocalyptic messages can leave people feeling helpless, wondering if it’s pointless to slam the brakes. As a geoscientist who has studied the ocean and climate for over a decade and recently spent a year on Capitol Hill working on bipartisan climate policy, I still see room for optimism.
It helps to understand what a tipping point is – and what’s known about when each might be reached.
Tipping points are not precise
A tipping point is a metaphor for runaway change. Small changes can push a system out of balance. Once past a threshold, the changes reinforce themselves, amplifying until the system transforms into something new.
The scientific reality of tipping points is more complicated than crossing a temperature line. Instead, different elements in the climate system have risks of tipping that increase with each fraction of a degree of warming.
For example, the beginning of a slow collapse of the Greenland ice sheet, which could raise global sea level by about 24 feet (7.4 meters), is one of the most likely tipping elements in a world more than 1.5 C warmer than preindustrial times. Some models place the critical threshold at 1.6 C (2.9 F). More recent simulations estimate runaway conditions at 2.7 C (4.9 F) of warming. Both simulations consider when summer melt will outpace winter snow, but predicting the future is not an exact science.
Gradients show science-based estimates from the Global Tipping Points Report of when some key global or regional climate tipping points are increasingly likely to be reached. Every fraction of a degree increases the likeliness, reflected in the warming color. Global Tipping Points Report 2025, CC BY-ND
Forecasts like these are generated using powerful climate models that simulate how air, oceans, land and ice interact. These virtual laboratories allow scientists to run experiments, increasing the temperature bit by bit to see when each element might tip.
Their nine core tipping elements include large-scale components of Earth’s climate, such as ice sheets, rain forests and ocean currents. They also simulated thresholds for smaller tipping elements that pack a large punch, including die-offs of coral reefs and widespread thawing of permafrost.
The world may have already passed one tipping point, according to the 2025 Global Tipping Points Report: Corals reefs are dying as marine temperatures rise. Healthy reefs are essential fish nurseries and habitat and also help protect coastlines from storm erosion. Once they die, their structures begin to disintegrate. Vardhan Patankar/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
Some tipping elements, such as the East Antarctic ice sheet, aren’t in immediate danger. The ice sheet’s stability is due to its massive size – nearly six times that of the Greenland ice sheet – making it much harder to push out of equilibrium. Model results vary, but they generally place its tipping threshold between 5 C (9 F) and 10 C (18 F) of warming.
Other elements, however, are closer to the edge.
Alarm bells sounding in forests and oceans
In the Amazon, self-perpetuating feedback loops threaten the stability of the Earth’s largest rain forest, an ecosystem that influences global climate. As temperatures rise, drought and wildfire activity increase, killing trees and releasing more carbon into the atmosphere, which in turn makes the forest hotter and drier still.
Rising temperatures also threaten biodiversity underwater.
The second Global Tipping Points Report, released Oct. 12, 2025, by a team of 160 scientists including Lenton, suggests tropical reefs may have passed a tipping point that will wipe out all but isolated patches.
Coral loss on the Great Barrier Reef. Australian Institute of Marine Science.
Corals rely on algae called zooxanthellae to thrive. Under heat stress, the algae leave their coral homes, draining reefs of nutrition and color. These mass bleaching events can kill corals, stripping the ecosystem of vital biodiversity that millions of people rely on for food and tourism.
Low-latitude reefs have the highest risk of tipping, with the upper threshold at just 1.5 C, the report found. Above this amount of warming, there is a 99% chance that these coral reefs tip past their breaking point.
Similar alarms are ringing for ocean currents, where freshwater ice melt is slowing down a major marine highway that circulates heat, known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC.
The AMOC carries warm water northward from the tropics. In the North Atlantic, as sea ice forms, the surface gets colder and saltier, and this dense water sinks. The sinking action drives the return flow of cold, salty water southward, completing the circulation’s loop. But melting land ice from Greenland threatens the density-driven motor of this ocean conveyor belt by dilution: Fresher water doesn’t sink as easily.
The Amazon forest has been losing tree cover to logging, farming, ranching, wildfires and a changing climate. Pink shows areas with greater than 75% tree canopy loss from 2001 to 2024. Blue is tree cover gain from 2000 to 2020. Global Forest Watch, CC BY
Other changes driven by rising global temperatures, like melting permafrost, could be reversed. Permafrost, for example, could refreeze if temperatures drop again.
Risks are too high to ignore
Despite the uncertainty, tipping points are too risky to ignore. Rising temperatures put people and economies around the world at greater risk of dangerous conditions.
But there is still room for preventive actions – every fraction of a degree in warming that humans prevent reduces the risk of runaway climate conditions. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions slows warming and tipping point risks.
Tipping points highlight the stakes, but they also underscore the climate choices humanity can still make to stop the damage.
This article was updated to clarify permafrost discussion.
Climate change has been on the world’s radar for decades. Predictions made by scientists at oil giant Exxon in the early 1980s are proving accurate. The damage done by a hotter, more chaotic world is worsening and getting more expensive.
Even so, many countries around the world are failing to meet their emissions targets, with major gaps found even this week between the commitments and actions needed to hold global warming to 1.5°C.
This has put Earth on a dangerous path, as our new report on the state of the climate reveals.
Every year, we track 34 of the planet’s vital signs. In 2024, 22 of these indicators were at record levels. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and ocean heat both hit new highs, as did losses of trees to fire. Meat consumption kept rising and fossil fuels consumption reached new heights.
Examples of vital signs, including carbon dioxide emissions, global tree cover loss to fire and energy consumption from different sources. State of the Climate 2025
The consequences of climate inaction are ever more clear. In 2024, the world’s coral reefs suffered the most widespread bleaching ever recorded, affecting roughly 84% of the world’s coral reef area between January 2023 and May 2025.
Greenland and Antarctic ice mass fell to record lows. Deadly and costly disasters surged, including the flooding in Texas which killed at least 135 people while the Los Angeles wildfires have cost more than A$380 billion. Since 2000, global climate-linked disasters have now caused more than $27 trillion in damages.
Stories and statistics like this are sadly not new. Many other reports and warnings have been published before we started this annual snapshot in 2020. Therefore, our report this year focuses on three high-impact types of climate action, across energy, nature and food.
Energy
Combined solar and wind consumption set a new record in 2024 but is still 31 times lower than fossil fuel (oil, coal, gas) energy consumption. This is despite the fact renewables are now the cheapest choice for new energy almost everywhere. One reason for this are the ongoing subsidies for fossil fuels.
By 2050, solar and wind energy could supply nearly 70% of global electricity. But this transition requires restricting the influence of the fossil fuel industry and a full phase out of fossil fuel production and use, not the expansion we continue to see globally.
As a result of surging fossil fuel consumption, energy-related emissions rose 1.3% in 2024 and reached an all-time high of 40.8 gigatons (Gt) of carbon dioxide equivalent. In 2024, the greatest fossil fuel greenhouse gas emitters were China (30.7% of total), the United States (12.5%), India (8.0%), the European Union (6.1%), and Russia (5.5%). Together, they accounted for 62.8% of global emissions.
Sadly, much of the rise in fossil fuel electricity generation may be due to hotter temperatures and heat waves.
Although there are concerns over the environmental impacts of renewables, the greater threat to our biodiversity is climate change and biodiversity conservation and mitigation measures can be part of project planning.
Nature
Protecting and restoring ecosystems on land and in the ocean remains one of the most powerful ways to support climate change, and support biodiversity and human well-being.
Protecting and restoring ecosystems such as forests, wetlands, mangroves and peatlands could remove or avoid around 10 Gt of carbon dioxide emissions per year by 2050, which is equivalent to roughly 25% of current annual emissions.
But we must also stop destroying what we have. Global tree cover loss was almost 30 million hectares in 2024, the second highest area on record and a 4.7% increase over 2023. Tropical primary forest losses were particularly large in 2024, with fire-related losses reaching a record high of 3.2 million hectares, up from just 690 thousand hectares in 2023, a 370% increase.
Food
Approximately 30% of food is lost or wasted globally. Reducing food waste could greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions since it accounts for roughly 8–10% of global emissions. Policies supporting plant-rich diets could also help slow climate change, while offering many benefits related to human health, food security, and biodiversity.
The technical mitigation potential associated with switching away from eating meat may be in the order of 0.7–8.0 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 2050. This is in part because methane emissions from cows, sheep and other ruminant livestock account for roughly half of all agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Per capita meat consumption hit all-time highs in 2024, and we currently add 500,000 more ruminants per week.
In our report, we note that social tipping points can trigger climate action. These refer to moments when a small, committed minority triggers a rapid and large-scale shift in social norms, beliefs, or behaviours. Research shows sustained, nonviolent movements and protests involving just a small proportion of a population (about 3.5%) can help trigger transformative change.
Many people underestimate how much support there is globally for climate action. Wikimedia, CC BY-NC
Many people underestimate just how much support there is globally for climate action, with most people believing they are in a minority. This arguably fosters disengagement and isolation. But it also suggests that as awareness grows and people see their values reflected in others, the conditions for social tipping points may be strengthened.
Reaching this positive tipping point will require more than facts and policy. It will take connection, courage, and collective resolve. Climate mitigation strategies are available, cost effective and urgently needed, and we can still limit warming if we act boldly and quickly, but the window is closing.
Climate change is the biggest issue of our time. 2024 marked both the hottest year on record and the highest levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the past two million years.
Global warming increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, bushfires, floods and droughts. These are already affecting young people, who will experience the challenges for more of their lives than older people.
It will also adversely affect those not yet born, creating a crisis of intergenerational justice.
Caught in the changing climate
In 2025, children and young people comprise a third of Australia’s population.
Given their early stage of physiological and cognitive development, children are more vulnerable to climate disasters such as crop failures, river floods and drought.
They are also less able to protect themselves from the associated trauma than most older people.
Under current emissions trajectories, United Nations research warns every child in Australia could be subject to more than four heatwaves a year. It’s estimated more than two million Australian children could be living in areas where heatwaves will last longer than four days.
A recent report found more than one million children and young people in Australia experience a climate disaster or extreme weather event in an “average year”.
Those in remote areas, from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and Indigenous children are more likely to be negatively effected. That’s equivalent to one in six children, and numbers are rising.
Anxiety, frustration and fear
The impact of climate change on young people’s health and wellbeing is also significant. Globally, young people bear the greatest psychological burden associated with the impacts of climate change.
Feelings such as frustration, fear and anxiety related to climate change are compounded by the experience of extreme weather events and associated health impacts.
Intergenerational inequality is the term on the lips of policymakers in Canberra and beyond. In this four-part series, we’ve asked leading experts what’s making younger generations worse off and how policy could help fix it.
For young people who live through climate-related disasters, they may experience challenges with education, displacement, housing insecurity and financial difficulties.
All these come on top of other issues. These include increased socioeconomic inequality, rising child poverty, mounting education debt, precarious employment, and lack of access to affordable housing.
Some key policy figures understand how climate change is turbo-charging intergenerational unfairness.
Former treasury secretary Ken Henry described the situation as an “intergenerational tragedy”, referring to the ways Australian policymakers are failing to address the changing climate, among other crucial issues.
Even Treasurer Jim Chalmers acknowledged “intergenerational fairness is one of the defining principles of our country”.
Climate change was barely mentioned in the May 2025 federal election. The major parties largely avoided the subject.
It was also concerning that the first major decision of the newly reelected Albanese government was approving an extension to Woodside’s North West Shelf gas project off Western Australia until 2070.
This leaves a legacy to young people of an additional 87 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year for many years to come.
Raising young voices
Australia’s children and young people are not stupid. Many worked out early that they could not trust governments.
Since 2018, young people have mobilised hundreds of thousands of other children in protests calling for climate action.
Domestically, many young people have turned to strategic climate litigation and collaboration with members of parliament on legislative change. They argue governments have a legal duty of care to prevent the harms of climate change.
Thwarted attempts
Beyond accelerating implementation of the National Adaptation Plan, other legislative innovations will help.
In 2023, young people worked with independent Senator David Pocock to draft legislation addressing these concerns.
This bill required governments to consider the health and wellbeing of children and future generations when deciding on projects that could exacerbate climate change.
It was sent to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee. While all but one of 403 public submissions to the committee supported the bill, in June 2024 the Labor and Coalition members agreed to reject it. They argued it was difficult to quantify notions such as “wellbeing” or “material risk”.
Adding insult to injury, both major parties claimed Australia already had more than adequate environmental laws in place to protect children.
Turning around the Titanic
The Australian parliament may have another opportunity to embed a legislative duty to protect children and secure intergenerational justice. Independent MP Sophie Scamps introduced the Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill in February 2025. As legislation brought before the parliament lapses once an election is called, Scamps is planning to reintroduce the bill in this sitting term.
The bill would introduce a legislative framework to embed the wellbeing of future generations into decision making processes. It would also establish a positive duty and create an independent commissioner for future generations to advocate for Australia’s long-term interests and sustainable practice.
While this bill does not include penalties for breaches of the duty, if passed, it would force the government of the day to consider the rights and interests of current and future generations.
If nothing else, the Welsh experiment suggests we can take entirely practical steps to promote intergenerational justice, reduce the negative impacts of climate change on young people right now and avert a climate catastrophe threatening our children who are yet to be born.
It may feel like turning around the Titanic, but it must be done.
More than 1.2 billion birds streamed south in one night during their Fall migration in late September—the largest single-night total ever recorded by the American live radar project.
Called BirdCast, a collaboration led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the platform uses the same weather radar technology behind daily forecasts to track migrating birds.
On its live migration map, BirdCast tracked more than 1.2 billion birds streaming toward their wintering grounds after sunset on September 25—the largest single-night total recorded since the project began mapping live migrations in 2018.
“These numbers are almost inconceivable,” said Andrew Farnsworth, a visiting scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and longtime BirdCast researcher. “They’re enormous… even for people that study migration regularly. The scale of how many organisms that this represents, is just mind blowing.”
The surge surpasses the previous milestone of one billion birds, first observed during the migration in October 2023. Both included well over one hundred species flying toward warmer weather, including songbirds and shorebirds.
Farnsworth said this seemingly rare night captured about 10% of the continent’s birds in flight at the same time. On an average fall night during peak migration, about 400 million birds are detected in flight at the same time above the United States, but on this night, the number was three times that.
“It’s really unbelievable,” he said.
While astonishing to both birders and scientists, Farnsworth said this event was not random. It resulted from a combination of ideal migrating conditions coinciding with the peak of fall migration.
The weather that night was perfect for travel, he explained in a media release. It featured calm winds—including tail winds that helped push the birds along their migratory paths across much of the center of the country and the Mississippi River valley.
Farnsworth said this record-breaking migration—documented by radar technology that was never intended to track birds—is a chance to not only to marvel at the immense magnitude of bird migration but also a chance to remind the public that the data is freely available and accessible in real time.
The technology at BirdCast.org allows anyone to view forecast maps that predict the number of birds migrating while live migration maps show migration happening in real time. Both tools let people know when birds are moving nearby, so they can take necessary precautions to protect them.
“BirdCast gives the ability for more people to engage in and participate in this incredible spectacle,” Farnsworth said, whose Cornell Lab partners with three US universities in the project: Purdue, Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Massachusetts Amherst.
It’s also a timely reminder that you can help make birds’ journeys safer. Every year, more than one billion birds die in collisions with windows in the United States.
The first results of the pioneering scientific research project launched earlier this year have catalogued microplastic particles in the sea water, sediment and animals in Antarctica.
The preliminary results were outlined during an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference session focusing on the study, which is supported by Argentina and forms part of the wider IAEA NUTEC plastics initiative, which aims to use nuclear technologies to tackle plastic pollution.
Nathalie Bernard, from the IAEA Marine Environment Laboratories and University of Buenos Aires, unveiling the results, said that "sadly we have found microplastics everywhere, on every sample, every matrix". She said that the concentrations of microplastics varied by location and by day.
More than 250 samples were collected from the Almirante Irizer icebreaker, which sailed 27,209 kilometres over 125 days covering 84 sampling stations. Over the course of a week 166 samples were collected from Argentina's Carlini research station base as part of what was described as the first study of microplastics pollution from South America to Antarctica.
The samples were of water, of sediment and also of penguin droppings and shellfish. Bernard said: "All of these results were possible thanks to nuclear techniques, specifically vibrational microspectroscopy which allows us not only to count, but also identify polymers. We were able to analyse particles as small as 20 microns (WNN note: for comparison a human hair is about 100 microns) and this is important because we found out that almost 90% of the particles we analysed were smaller than 100 microns and ... most of the studies conducted before have focused on larger particles, larger than 300 microns, which clearly overlooks the larger majority."
The preliminary results - with 30% of the samples analysed so far, found that in terms of distribution in water, in Buenos Aires it was 256 microplastic particles per litre, compared with 5 microplastics particles per litre in the Antarctic Ocean and 21 microplastics particles per litre at Carlini Station in the Antarctic.
The Carlini samples found 6000-15,000 microplastic particles per kilogramme of sediment, 15 microplastic particles per square metre of sand and 200-4000 microplastic particles per biological sample of shellfish or penguin droppings.
The prevalence and type of microplastics was shown to the session (Image: WNN photo/IAEA/Bernard slide)
There were 11 different types of plastics found in the samples, 62% were "Teflon-like microplastics" and 29% were polyethylene-like. Examples of the types of products using the types of plastics found included frying pans, PVC pipes and plastic drinks bottles.
The early theories about the possible sources of the pollution in Antarctica include fisheries, local human activities and global sources, via the atmosphere or ocean currents.
Bernard said that the conclusions of the preliminary study was that "we know now that microplastics are everywhere, that we can find different levels and types between the sites and that the levels in Antarctica are relatively low if we compare them with highly populated industrial zones - but they are far away from zero, which is what it was thought to be until recently in Antarctica.".
The next steps are to finalise the analysis and do extra checks before sharing the results globally and using the figures as a baseline for future surveys, to assess possible pollution sources and inform policy makers for local and global actions in line with the Antarctic Treaty.
The meeting also heard progress reports on the United Nations actions to end plastics pollution and how the NUTEC initiative can help with plastics upcycling using irradiation to allow plastic waste to not just be traditionally recycled, but also used in cement or in wood/plastic composits - one of the examples given was Argentina using radiation-modified railway sleepers from plastic waste.
Argentina's Foreign Affairs Minister Diana Mondino said that the country was one of the original signatories of the Antarctic Treaty and said: "There's growing concern in understanding the impact in the Antarctic ecosystem from plastics and microplastics." She said the results had prompted the creation of a regional group in Latin America led by Argentina to focus on the issue.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the NUTEC initiative had been well received because "we do have a serious problem with microplastics, nanoplastics and we did also have a scarcity of information, objective information". He said having the facts was important so people can take "informed decisions when it comes to the protection of this environment, which is so pristine and that we all care for".
"This is not a simple environmental endeavour that we take for the sake of knowing a little bit more - the idea is that we provide important information that is relevant for fisheries, relevant for very important economic activities in all our countries."
Australia's ambassador Ian Biggs said that Australia had a major stake in the international effort in Antarctica and he said that according to projections there could soon be a tonne of plastic in the ocean for every three tonnes of fish, saying this showed the necessity of action to tackle plastic pollution and he said Australia believed that the NUTEC programme was "making a real difference in helping countries address pressing global challenges on plastic pollution".
More than 400 samples were taken during the study (Image: Still from IAEA video)
The background
The IAEA's NUTEC plastics scheme was established in 2020 and uses a series of monitoring laboratories to use nuclear technology to sample and analyse microplastics - which are bits of plastic less than 5 millimetres in diameter - in the environment. There are more than 60 countries participating in monitoring of microplastics in the sea, and the goal is to equip more than 50 laboratories with the technology to form a global monitoring network.
The aim is to then be able to take action to bring in measures designed to reduce the sources of the pollution - at least 30 countries are involved in developing innovative recycling technology, including using irradiation to treat plastics and make them fit for reuse, or for a wider range of reuses. This process uses gamma and electron beam radiation technologies to modify certain types of plastic waste, breaking down plastic polymers judged not to be of sufficient quality into smaller components and then allowing them to be used to generate new plastic products.
The IAEA cites studies suggesting that only around 10% of plastic produced between 1950 and 2015 has been recycled, with the majority (about 60%) going to landfill, meaning action is imperative given estimates that there will be one tonne of plastic for every three tonnes of fish within a few years.
Grossi visited an IAEA mission in Antarctica in January with Argentina's president to see the start of work for the project, with the IAEA explaining that "there is still almost no information available on where and how much microplastics arrive in the Antarctic and how much is taken up by Antarctic organisms. There is also very little data existing on the types of microplastics reaching this pristine area through ocean currents, atmospheric deposition and the presence of humans in the Antarctic".It also said the "presence of microplastics can contribute to accelerating the ice-loss in Antarctica by reducing ice reflectivity, altering surface roughness, promoting microbial activity, acting as thermal insulators, and contributing to mechanical weakening of the ice structure". Scale of microplastics in Antarctic revealed in preliminary survey results
New Delhi, (IANS): Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have developed an agriculture waste-based packaging material, which can be a sustainable alternative to conventional plastic foams used in packaging.
The researchers demonstrated that mycelium-based biocomposites grown on agricultural and paper waste provide quality in packaging while being biodegradable.
The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Bioresource Technology Reports, offer a practical solution to two major problems -- plastic pollution and agricultural waste disposal.
By converting agricultural residues into high-strength, biodegradable packaging materials, the mycelium-based biocomposites will directly support plastic waste reduction in the country -- currently exceeding 4 million tonnes annually.
“In India, over 350 million tonnes of agricultural waste are generated annually, much of which is burned or left to decay, causing air pollution and wasting valuable resources. Our research aimed to address both challenges -- plastic pollution and agricultural waste -- by developing mycelium-based biocomposites as sustainable, biodegradable packaging materials,” said Dr. Lakshminath Kundanati, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, IIT Madras.
For the research, the team cultivated fungi such as Ganoderma lucidum and Pleurotus ostreatus, which are different types of mushrooms, on agricultural and paper wastes -- cardboard, sawdust, paper, cocopith, and hay.
This approach not only diverted agricultural residues from open burning but also created fully compostable packaging solutions, aligning with circular economy principles, the researchers said.
"The work identifies the ideal substrate–fungus combinations that outperform conventional foams like EPS and EPE, with Ganoderma on cardboard achieving compressive strengths an order of magnitude higher than EPS (Expanded polystyrene),” said Sandra Rose Biby, Research Scholar, IIT Madras.
Replacing plastic foams like EPS and EPE with mycelium-based biocomposites can significantly reduce landfill burden, prevent microplastic formation, and cut greenhouse gas emissions associated with plastic production and waste incineration.The mycelium composites can further be modified to cater to other engineering applications such as thermal and acoustic insulation materials, the researchers said. IIT Madras’ new agri-waste-based packaging material to help reduce plastic use | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
Sydney, (IANS) Lizard Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef has suffered one of the world's worst coral die-offs, with 92 per cent of surveyed corals lost after the 2024 bleaching event, new research has revealed.
Researchers used drone imagery to assess the Fourth Global Coral Bleaching Event in 2024 at Lizard Island, where 96 per cent of corals were bleached and mortality averaged 92 per cent, with some sites losing over 99 per cent of corals, according to a statement released recently by Australia's Griffith University.
"This marks one of the highest coral mortality rates ever documented globally," said the study's lead researcher Vincent Raoult from Griffith University's School of Environment. Raoult described the mortality as "unprecedented," especially given that Lizard Island experienced less heat stress than other parts of the Great Barrier Reef.
Drone technology enabled precise mapping of the widespread bleaching, said Jane Williamson from the Macquarie University in Sydney, also the study's senior author, who stressed the urgent need for climate action, warning that repeated heatwaves could irreversibly damage coral reefs, Xinhua news agency reported.
Lizard Island's reefs remain fragile after years of repeated damage, such as bleaching, cyclones, and Crown-of-Thorns outbreaks, and scientists will monitor them through 2026 for signs of recovery, according to the study published in Coral Reefs, the journal of the International Coral Reef Society.
"Prolonged heat stress throughout the Far Northern and Northern regions of the reef caused widespread bleaching," said the reef snapshot published by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Australian Institute of Marine Science and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, earlier in April.Coral bleaching is a phenomenon that occurs when coral experiencing heat stress expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissue and turn completely white. Bleaching is not fatal in itself but bleached coral are more likely to starve and can take a decade or longer to recover. Lizard Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef faces alarming coral loss following 2024 bleaching | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com
A study examining mercury concentrations in the leaves of alpine plants has revealed that humanity has reduced worldwide exposure to this most toxic of heavy metals substantially.
Controlled via a UN treaty called the Minamata Convention on Mercury Emissions, mercury (Hg) enters the atmosphere through a variety of natural and anthropogenic avenues.
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining, coal burning, and cement and nonferrous metals production all release several thousands tons of mercury into the atmosphere every year.
Much like carbon dioxide, the oceans also emit mercury—between 400-1,300 metric tons per year. Terrestrial sources include volcanic eruptions and other geothermal features, the weathering of mercury-containing rocks, soil erosion, and wildfires, and contribute around the same amount as the oceans.
Anthropogenic sources, however, contribute as much as the land and oceans together; or at least they once did.
A team of Chinese scientists from schools in Tianjin, Beijing, Tibet, and Nanjing has found that Hg concentrations in the atmosphere reduced by 70% since a peak in the year 2000. For the next 20 years, the levels continually dropped, corresponding with a reduced reliance on coal for power and the implementation of the Minamata Convention in 2013.
The scientists were able to calculate the past atmospheric Hg concentrations using the leaves of the flowering plant Androsace tapete on the slopes Mt. Everest atop the Tibetan Plateau. Here, exposure to atmospheric deposition is far greater than at sea level, and the plateau is a popular place for making such measurements.
Their study shows that today, there is less mercury emitted into the atmosphere by humans than by the Earth itself.
There is no safe level of mercury exposure in humans, and children are at particularly high risks.While living around coal-burning power plants is a large risk factor for mercury exposure, small-scale or artisanal gold mining operations contribue by the most mercury into the atmosphere. Mercury Emissions Fall 70% Over the Last Four Decades Thanks to UN Treaty, Coal Phase-Out\
THE Caricom region is best poised to act as a champion for making health systems climate resilient, as it is the most affected by the effects of climate change. It must use its lived experience to advocate for the intersection of climate change and health on the global stage.
World Health Organisation director of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of Health Dr Maria Neira made the call to participants at the three-day conference titled A Regional Response: Advancing Climate And Health Together, held from June 17-19 in Bridgetown, Barbados.
She said facing climate change will require more political commitment, as well as innovation, commitment, speed and ambition from health professionals and sectors which support the environment, while communicating to societies why this was important. She said the Caribbean was one region which did not need an explanation on the impacts of climate change.
“You are among the most vulnerable countries, but being among the most vulnerable gives you the possibility of having the most experience, more position to do something because you would know how important it is. You understand how to respond to the challenges of climate change, to protect our health, how to argue for more actionable adaptation to climate change. There is no way we can escape the need to adapt to climate change, we need to make sure our health system will be more climate-resilient.”
Neira called on those present to be mindful of the political responsibility the region had to advocate on a global scale at the upcoming health conference in Brazil.
“Using the argument of your vulnerability, how you are affected by emissions produced somewhere else in another part of the world, we can use your voices to argue for reduced emissions. We need to have reduced emissions which are responsible for all the issues that are affecting our health.
“The political voice of unity will need to be very strong because the health arguments are the ones that will motivate more action. Nobody will disagree when we tell them that climate change will affect health and if we are doing this intervention for climate change and health, it’s not just to protect the planet, it’s to protect our own lands, it’s to protect our rain, it’s to protect our brains, it’s to protect our cardiovascular systems, it’s to protect the fact that we will have safe nutrition, it’s to protect the fact that we will have access to clean water, and it’s to protect the fact that we will have access to clean air.”
PAHO/WHO representative Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean countries Dr Amalia Del Riego said the region is acutely vulnerable to sea-level rise, extreme weather events, change in vector ecology and other climate sensitive risks that directly threaten lives and livelihoods, putting enormous pressure on our health systems.
Caricom assistant director general Alison Drayton said the discussions taking place during the conference would focus on strengthening climate resilience and health systems in the Caribbean.
“Over the years, our region has sought to confront one of the most pressing challenges of our time: the intersection of climate change and public health. Our region faces increasing climate related threats that directly undermine the well-being of our communities, threaten our economies and test our resilience.”
She said because the region was so small, it could make better use of any financing received from the international community.
“Unlike many other parts of the world, a relatively small investment in our part of the world to address the problems we have will be much more likely to produce something near to 100 per cent outcome than the same money in a region or a country that is much larger with a bigger population. I also think the size of our region should be seen as a positive by those partners that work with us.”
The purpose of the conference was to revise and update the Caribbean Action Plan on Health and Climate Change, first conceived in 2018 and implemented from 2019-2024. Drayton said the plan had strengthened regional capacity to respond to climate related threats.
“This meeting offers the opportunity to further align our goals, leverage regional expertise and mobilise resources towards resilient and equitable health strategies, particularly for the next iteration of the Caribbean Action Plan on Health and Climate Change.”
She said in recent years, the Caribbean has faced unprecedented weather events, most recently Hurricane Beryl, the earliest Category 5 hurricane which caused destruction, loss of life and disruption to Grenada, SVG and other member states.
“Compounding these challenges is the resurgence of vector-borne diseases, such as dengue fever, which continue to strain our health services, particularly as climate change exacerbates their spread.
“The World Health Organization has projected that climate health issues will persist, leading to increased mortality rates and growing economic burdens. These forecasts highlight the urgent need for co-ordinated action to develop and implement policies that enhance preparedness and strengthen our healthcare infrastructure to effectively respond to these challenges and protect the Caribbean Community.”
Barbadian Ministry of Health and Wellness permanent secretary Wayne Marshall said no country was immune to climate change, and they could not face it alone.
“The threats posed to us by rising temperatures, extreme weather events, vector borne diseases, food and water insecurity, and a disruption of health services are not isolated incidents. They are shared regional realities that need shared solutions. The theme therefore calls to embrace a collective vision, one that recognises health as essential for climate resilience and regional integration.“So by advancing health and climate together, we move beyond reactive responses and towards proactive integrated planning. We build health systems that are not just able to withstand climate shocks, but are capable of protecting and promoting health in the face of them all. That is the power of a regional response that is rooted in solidarity, strengthened by shared experience, and driven by a common purpose, to safeguard the health of our people and preserve the future of the Caribbean.” Experts meet to strategise Caribbean climate change, health - Trinidad and Tobago Newsday
Have you ever imagined what Antarctica looks like beneath its thick blanket of ice? Hidden below are rugged mountains, valleys, hills and plains.
Some peaks, like the towering Transantarctic Mountains, rise above the ice. But others, like the mysterious and ancient Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains in the middle of East Antarctica, are completely buried.
The Gamburtsev Mountains are similar in scale and shape to the European Alps. But we can’t see them because the high alpine peaks and deep glacial valleys are entombed beneath kilometres of ice.
How did they come to be? Typically, a mountain range will rise in places where two tectonic plates clash with each other. But East Antarctica has been tectonically stable for millions of years.
Our new study, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, reveals how this hidden mountain chain emerged more than 500 million years ago when the supercontinent Gondwana formed from colliding tectonic plates.
Our findings offer fresh insight into how mountains and continents evolve over geological time. They also help explain why Antarctica’s interior has remained remarkably stable for hundreds of millions of years.
Because the mountain range is completely covered in ice, it’s one of the least understood tectonic features on Earth. For scientists, it’s deeply puzzling. How could such a massive mountain range form and still be preserved in the heart of an ancient, stable continent?
Most major mountain chains mark the sites of tectonic collisions. For example, the Himalayas are still rising today as the Indian and Eurasian plates continue to converge, a process that began about 50 million years ago.
Plate tectonic models suggest the crust now forming East Antarctica came from at least two large continents more than 700 million years ago. These continents used to be separated by a vast ocean basin.
A map of the topography (a) and surface elevation (b) of Antarctica, measured in metres above sea level; (c) shows ice thickness in metres. Pritchard et al., Scientific Data (2025), CC BY
The collision of these landmasses was key to the birth of Gondwana, a supercontinent that included what is now Africa, South America, Australia, India and Antarctica.
Our new study supports the idea that the Gamburtsev Mountains first formed during this ancient collision. The colossal clash of continents triggered the flow of hot, partly molten rock deep beneath the mountains.
As the crust thickened and heated during mountain building, it eventually became unstable and began to collapse under its own weight.
Deep beneath the surface, hot rocks began to flow sideways, like toothpaste squeezed from a tube, in a process known as gravitational spreading. This caused the mountains to partially collapse, while still preserving a thick crustal “root”, which extends into Earth’s mantle beneath.
Mountain building causes deep crustal rocks to deform, fold and partially melt. Jacqueline Halpin
Crystal time capsules
To piece together the timing of this dramatic rise and fall, we analysed tiny zircon grains found in sandstones deposited by rivers flowing from the ancient mountains more than 250 million years ago. These sandstones were recovered from the Prince Charles Mountains, which poke out of the ice hundreds of kilometres away.
Zircons are often called “time capsules” because they contain minuscule amounts of uranium in their crystal structure, which decays at a known rate and allows scientists to determine their age with great precision.
These zircon grains preserve a record of the mountain-building timeline: the Gamburtsev Mountains began to rise around 650 million years ago, reached Himalayan heights by 580 million years ago, and experienced deep crustal melting and flow that ended around 500 million years ago.
Most mountain ranges formed by continental collisions are eventually worn down by erosion or reshaped by later tectonic events. Because they’ve been preserved by a deep layer of ice, the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains are one of the best-preserved ancient mountain belts on Earth.
While it’s currently very challenging and expensive to drill through the thick ice to sample the mountains directly, our model offers new predictions to guide future exploration.
Geologists Jacqueline Halpin and Jack Mulder stand on the Denman Glacier during recent fieldwork. Jacqueline Halpin
For instance, recent fieldwork near the Denman Glacier on East Antarctica’s coast uncovered rocks that may be related to these ancient mountains. Further analysis of these rock samples will help reconstruct the hidden architecture of East Antarctica.
Antarctica remains a continent full of geological surprises, and the secrets buried beneath its ice are only beginning to be revealed.
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(Image: IAEA)
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