Sunday, August 2, 2009

Evolution and Involution

I find the following report in today's Times of India very interesting. I wish it gets more prominent space and prompts us to consider - Do we know everything about global warming? Often, we write prescriptions following models which are developed on sparse data. Hope, this development is taken note of and included in the model.

It is said that evolution and involution are parallel process. While many evolutionary model exists (Big Bang to what not), the same may not be true for the other. I also wonder whether it is a zero sum game.

Now the TOI, 03/08/2009 report :

Sahara desert goes green, thanks to warming

Washington: Scientists are now seeing signals that the Sahara desert and surrounding regions are greening due to increasing rainfall, all thanks to the rising temperatures due to climate change.
According to National Geographic News, these rains could revitalize drought-ravaged regions, reclaiming them for farming communities.
This trend is supported by climate models, which predict a return to conditions that turned the Sahara into a lush savanna 12,000 years ago. The green shoots of recovery are showing up on satellite images of regions including the Sahel , a semi-desert zone bordering Sahara that stretches 2,400 miles.
The study suggests huge increases in vegetation in areas including central Chad and western Sudan. The transition may be occurring because hotter air has more capacity to hold moisture, which creates more rain, said Martin Claussen of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, in Hamburg , Germany. The waterholding capacity of the air is the main driving force, Claussen said.
While satellite images cant distinguish temporary plants like grasses that come and go with the rains, ground surveys suggest recent vegetation change is firmly rooted. Throughout North Africa, new trees, such as acacias, are flourishing , according to Stefan Kropelin , a climate scientist at the University of Colognes Africa Research Unit in Germany. ANI

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