El Niño calls for wider tracking of climate stress, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• India is facing a challenging post-monsoon period with a 12.6% rainfall deficit, exacerbated by a strengthening El Niño.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) anticipates extremely dry conditions across most of the country for the remainder of the year.
• This climate stress is expected to reduce water availability and increase pressure on farms, forests, and oceans, impacting livelihoods.
• Ecologists have called for an emergency ecosystem-wide monitoring network to track climate stress beyond atmospheric forecasting.
• Uttarakhand has initiated real-time monitoring of glacial lakes, including Vasundhara Tal, as a step towards micro-monitoring of vulnerable ecosystems.

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Detailed Insights:

• The current El Niño event is likely to intensify, potentially pushing already stressed ecosystems past critical thresholds.
• Micro-monitoring, including tracking soil moisture, vegetation stress, and animal movement, is crucial for early identification of unusually dry patches in forests.
• Warmer winters, erratic Western Disturbances, and declining snow cover are already altering the moisture cycle in the Himalayas, increasing forest vulnerability to fires.
• The monitoring system at Vasundhara Tal in Chamoli district uses sensors to track water levels, snow depth, and other features, linking them to early-warning mechanisms for Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs).
• India's current ecological monitoring efforts are fragmented across various research institutions, government departments, universities, and citizen groups.
• A coordinated framework is essential for a robust response to immediate climate challenges and broader climate variability.
• Tracking thermal distress in coral reefs can offer valuable insights into marine ecosystem health and aid in protecting shorelines from erosion.

Key Concepts Involved:

• El Niño: A climate pattern characterized by the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, often leading to reduced monsoon rainfall in India.
• India Meteorological Department (IMD): India's national agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting, climate services, and early warnings for weather-related hazards.
• Western Disturbances: Extratropical storms originating in the Mediterranean region that bring non-monsoonal winter rainfall and snow to North-West India.