தமிழ்நாடு அறிவியல் இயக்கத்தின் 22வது தேசிய குழந்தைகள் அறிவியல் மாநாட்டின் தலைப்பு மற்றும் கருப்பொருள்.
22nd National
Children’s Science Congress
(NCSC-2014)
Focal theme: Understanding
Weather and Climate
Weather is the instantaneous state of the
atmosphere, or sequence of states of the atmosphere with time, which
can be defined as the condition of the atmosphere at any given time and place. Climate, on other hand, is the average
as well as variability of weather conditions prevailing in an area over a long
period of time, known as the Statistics of Weather.
Precipitation,
temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and wind are the important
elements of weather and climate. It is the result of the interaction of four
basic physical elements- the Sun, the
Earth's atmosphere, the Earth
itself, and natural landforms on the Earth's surface.
The
geographical situation of any locality/area/region in relation to its
latitudinal and longitudinal position, altitude, distribution of land and
water, relative location from water bodies, surface cover (viz.
vegetation/snow/rocks etc.) are some of the natural factors that influence the
weather and climatic condition of that particular location.
Moreover,
weather and climate are among the key factors that determine the nature,
condition, and pattern of natural resources (e.g. water, soil, flora, and
fauna). State of temperature, humidity, and precipitation in temporal context
in a year determine season and climatic condition in long temporal context.
These are responsible for determining the forms of water, soil-forming
processes and creating support systems for floral growth; which again determine
the faunal composition. These natural resource bases along with weather and
climate determine our way of life (viz. occupation, housing, food habits, dress
style, transportation, etc.). In totality, weather and climate form the base of
the economy and culture of that area. In this perspective, any significant
change in weather and climatic condition creates serious impact not only on
natural resources but also on the biosphere as a whole, including human life.
Scientists
have studied global climate change patterns, apparent from mid to late 20th
century onward, attributed largely to increased levels of atmospheric carbon
dioxide produced by uses of fossil fuels and other green house gases. Averaged over all land and ocean surfaces,
temperature has increased by roughly 1.53°F (0.85ºC) from 1880 to 2012,
according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the IPCC's
Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis, Summary for
Policymakers, Page 5). This climate change is considered as
one of the most important global environmental challenges being faced by
humanity today, with its implication on natural ecosystem, food production
systems, fresh water supply, health and weather related calamities.
India’s
weather and climatic conditions are naturally controlled by her geographical
location (i.e. its latitudinal and longitudinal extents) and the conditions
along her boundaries. (Himalayan ranges from northwestern to northeastern
corner in the northern side, existence of Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea as well
as Bay of Bengal in southwest to southeast). The country also encompass the Western Ghats, which is one of the 34
Biodiversity hot-spots of the world;
extending along the West coast of India from the Vindya Satpura ranges in the
North to the Southern tip of the peninsula to a stretch of 1,600 km, receiving
an average of nearly 6000 mm of rainfall every year.
The
latitudinal and longitudinal extension within the country has greater
implication on variation of solar days or sunshine hours from east to west,
which is one of the fundamental factors regulating weather and climatic
variations in the country. Further, within the country, there are variations in
distribution of land and water, altitudinal differences, vegetation type and
coverage. All these together have given rise to six different climatic zones
and twelve agro-climatic zones.
However,
these climatic and agro-climatic zones are facing serious problems of various
kinds due to the impact of climatic/ weather changes. For more than a decade,
weather and climatic anomalies are taking place in all the agro-climatic
regions of the country. Moreover, winds during monsoon mainly control Indian
climate; highly influenced by the summer monsoon. But in the last few decades,
onset of monsoon over India is changing resulting in variations in the amount
and distribution of rainfall.
In
this context, there is a need to have proper understanding of weather and
climate and its
changes,
mainly oriented towards different aspects, factors, and attributes of weather
and climate along with their implications on the natural ecosystem and on the
way of life of living beings. At the same time, focus on climate change
aspects, including mitigation and adaptation are also strongly recommended
Sub-themes:
I:
Weather around You
Weather
is the immediate physical environmental spur and situation we face in our
day-to-day life and it influences our decisions, like what to eat, what to
wear, where to live, etc. However, rarely do we make a systematic effort to
understand it better. Therefore, systematic approach for understanding weather
of a locality/area will be the main concern of this sub-theme, which can help
the children to make their decisions more precise and pragmatic, particularly
adjusting with the weather conditions.
Such
systematic studies can be carried out through methodological approaches of
observation, measurement of weather attributes (like temperature, daily sun
shine hours, humidity, wind, precipitation, etc along with other elements like
presence of gaseous components, suspended solid particles, etc), analysis of
collected information and results of measurement followed by forecasting and
interpretation of findings and correlating the same with decision making
context and processes. In doing so, children can also design and develop their
own tools and instruments for measurement and analysis. However, there are many
sources where daily weather information are available (like website of Indian
Meteorological Department, News Paper, TV /Radio weather bulletin, etc), one
can go for comparison of the collected with available information from such sources; time period based trend
analysis and its impact in local
context, etc.
Instead
of simple information collection from secondary sources, analysis of long-term
trends or some experimental and field based measurement of components must also
be there in such study. Such trend
analysis will make children understand the difference between weather and
climate.
II: Impact of Human Activities
on Weather and Climate
Human
population has been growing in geometrical proportion in the last two
centuries. Growing population and
increasing consumption of goods and services per head after the industrial
revolution requires in increasing manner environmental resources (life support
systems like air, water, and soil and other natural resources) for its survival
and sustenance. The pressure on these has also influenced the weather
conditions and climate locally and globally. The growth in agriculture, animal
husbandry, fisheries, urbanization, transportation, deforestation, and
industrialization caused changes in land use and bio-geo-chemical cycles.
Exploration and utilization of energy sources for the increasing demands
of the growing society pumped in large
quantities of green house gases to the atmosphere causing global warming.
At
the first level, children need to understand what greenhouse gases (GHG) are
and how they allow the radiated heat of the Sun to come through at high
temperature, but do not let the return radiation from earth at lower
temperature to pass through easily. Children also should know how
the
warm blanket around us keeps us comfortable at the current earth’s temperature,
instead of freezing us to death at an average minus
15 o C. There
also a need
to understand the
Carbon cycle, the manner in which Carbon Dioxide, the major GHG cycles
between the earth and the atmosphere.
At
the second level they need to understand that the trend has become clear in
recent years that climate – the long term weather pattern – is changing,
and changing so rapidly, that life forms on earth including
humans face a huge challenge in adapting to this change. (The last
time the earth heated up by 2 o C, coming up to the
current level from the ice age, it took 18,000 years. It is now set
to go up by another 2 o C within a matter of 200
years.)
The
third aspect to realise is that this rapid increase is caused entirely by human
activity – the activity of digging up millions of years of energy buried deep inside
earth in the form of carbonaceous fuels, coal and oil, burning them in
increasing quantities each year and sending up carbon dioxide, ever since the
industrial revolution. This changing lifestyle has also resulted in
other GHGs too going up in increasing quantities.
Children
need to be made aware of the results of this human induced climate change such
as weather disasters, disease spread, heat stress, drought, water
shortage, crop yield decline, sea level rise, large scale migration and such
other.
Children
are expected to observe and analyze the human activities which contribute to
weather and climate changes in their locality and they can review the
situation, scientifically /logically design and propose alternatives to improve the human life as well as control
/reduce the negative impacts of human activities on weather and climate. Children
also need to look at the impacts of human induced climate change or weather and
climate related disasters like drought, cloudburst, landslide , flood,
thunderstorm, cyclone, etc, which in
turn could be linked to
disease spread, stress due to heat and cold waves water shortage, crop yield decline, crop
loss, weather and climate induced migration/refugee situations etc.
III:
Weather, Climate and Ecosystems
Weather and climate have various
significant elements such as Rain, Temperature, Wind and Humidity that impact
the occurrence, abundance, seasonality and behaviour of living organisms as
well as quality of air, water and soil. They have direct or indirect effect on
the various components of ecosystems. With the variation of temperature,
humidity and precipitation the quality of water, soil forming process, floral
growth, and faunal composition may undergo change.
India’s
weather and climatic conditions change from region to region on their
geographical locations and conditions; hence the parameters of weather vary
from place to place. Due to such variations, the distribution of life forms,
soil quality and water quality also vary from place to place.
All
weather and climatic parameters affect the ecosystem elements in various ways.
In turn, biotic elements influence the development of microclimate of an
ecosystem. Phenology of plants,
occurrence, populations, and behaviour of various floral and faunal elements
change according to weather and climate.
Disasters such as floods, droughts, unprecedented rains, inconsistencies
in seasonal temperature etc on various ecosystems are the consequences of
climate variability at a macro level
Under
this sub-theme, we need to understand and observe the changes in weather
parameters as well as the changes in biotic and abiotic parameters around us.
This will enable us to study the effect of weather/climate on ecosystems. Systematic observations, measurement, and
analysis of weather parameters and the biotic and abiotic elements make us
understand effect of these parameters on the functioning of ecosystem.
There
is a need to study basic elements of weather first, viz. temperature, air
pressure, wind, humidity and precipitation before concentrating on their impact
assessment or relationship with abiotic and biotic components.
The
projects encompassing effect of weather parameters on abundance of flora and
fauna and seasonality, movements, breeding, feeding and other behavior patterns
falls under this sub-theme, Behaviour of
animals, seasonality of occurrence and flowering of plants, migration of
animals, birds, fishes and insects etc are climate dependent.
Similarly,
variable weather conditions can affect quality of air, water and soil which in
turn affect biotic elements. Some of the changes such as pH, amount of
dissolved salts, organic matter in soil and water etc. are measurable. Quality
of air in terms of pollutants such as carbon dioxide, methane, NOX
content is measurable.
Simple
experiments can be conducted on the effect of light period, light intensity,
atmospheric temperature, humidity and soil moisture on growth of plants.
Stomata count as surrogate for the production of Oxygen, Rate of Carbon
sequestration in different urban and rural situations etc. also can be done by
the children.
IV: Weather, Climate - Society and Culture
Weather
and climate determine the physical environmental condition of an area through
their impact on abiotic and biotic elements and that condition in turn
influences human way of life in the forms of belief, livelihood, and social,
institutional, as well as cultural practices. These together reflect the social
and cultural system of a locality/area/region. The social and cultural systems
have an adaptation mechanism to local weather and climatic situation through
their practices fulfilling basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing through
designed livelihood activities, food system, settlement and housing, management
of natural resources etc. However, there are many practices associated with
social and cultural system, which have negative impact on natural resources and
in turn responsible for anomalies of weather and climate, such as human induced
climate change. On the other hand there are many examples that human beings
face up to extreme weather situations through their social and cultural practices
based on Indigenous Knowledge and try to cope up with such weather conditions
and disasters.
In
broad perspective, this sub-theme will cover issues for systematic studies,
like, local food practices, its seasonality and adjustments to weather
situation, local calendar system and agricultural cycle and adjustments with
weather, flood/drought adjustment approaches of different community/ locality,
traditional knowledge on weather prediction, cultural practices, modern
consumption practices and their impact on ecosystem and further impact on
climate patterns etc. Studies taken up would try to establish the science
behind these practices and the societal efforts to adopt with climate change as
well, are expected
V: Weather, Climate and Agriculture
Agriculture
is the backbone of our country. Weather and climatic condition determine all
the aspects of agricultural practices, which is very much vivid in all agro-
climatic regions of the country. In present day context, agriculture is most vulnerable to weather and
climate changes because of its seasonality and narrow range of weather
conditions influencing crop and livestock production. Last several decades people across the
globe witnessed above normal temperatures and more rapid warming that
occurred during the last half of the 20th century. Climate change presents a profound
challenge to food security vis-a-vis livelihood and development all around as
well.
As an effect of climate change, heavy rainfall events
increased resulting in floods, and more intense droughts occurred affecting
agricultural and allied sectors (cropping cycle,
population, and density of pollinators, flowering pattern, agricultural produce
including animal production etc). On the contrary, modern agricultural
practices (both above and below the ground) also play vital role in spurring
climate change through release of green house gases, depletion of soil carbon,
desertification, salinization etc. Under this sub-theme, children can observe changes in the weather regulating
factors and their impact on agricultural system in their own area and find out
some method/technique to mitigate. Moreover, there are many practices related
with seed selection, irrigation, soil management etc., which help in adaptation
process.
Children can
also carry out study in different aspects of agriculture, right from seed
selection, land preparation to harvesting and processing etc. It may be on how weather conditions
influence our agricultural practices; impact of changing conditions on
agriculture; impact of agricultural practices on local weather conditions, how
to overcome the adverse climatic weather condition for agricultural
practices. Age old practices in
agriculture in different areas and how these are related to local weather
conditions can also be studied.
VI: Weather, Climate
and Health
Weather
and climate influence environmental and social determinants and also affect
health of the living beings. Health - as defined by World Health Organization
is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well being and not merely
absence of disease. Health, whether of human or animal, mainly depends on safe
drinking water, nutrition, sanitation or hygiene and the likes.
Likewise, any variation in weather or climatic conditions
adversely affects the health of living beings. Outcome of these changes; heat
or cold waves, drought or flood, storms etc., takes its toll on the health,
manifested by occurrence of diseases, or even sometimes an outbreak of
epidemics.
In the light of the fact that
weather and climate have potential impact on the health of human beings and
animals, child scientists can undertake studies to understand the causative
factors, the concerns arising and the corrective measures to be adopted to
lessen the adversity. Ailments like water / air / vector borne diseases
(diarrhoea, malaria..), infections (bacterial or viral...) and infestations
(parasitic..), zoonosis, reemergence of certain diseases and others which are
influenced by the variability of weather and climate are some of the areas for
the child scientists to ponder upon and take up project works.
----
Annexure
Annexure
List
of Experts who can be contacted in relation to the Focal Theme as well as the
Sub themes (Participants in the National Brainstorming Workshop held at
Puducherry
from 1st to 4th of May 2014).
|
SL.NO
|
Name
of the Participants Address &Contact details
|
|
1.
|
Prof.
E KUNHIKRISHNAN
University college Trivandrum
TC
1/2021, JAYAMANJU, KUMARA PURAM, TRIVANDRAM
|
|
2.
|
Dr.P.
Pramod, Senior Scientist
Sálim
Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Anaikatty. P.O. Coimbatore,
Tamilnadu. Phone 91 422 2203115 Cell.09443167773
|
|
3.
|
Dr.M.R.
Ramesh kumar
Chief
Scientist,National Institute of Oceanography, Goa-403004
|
|
4.
|
Prof.
A.S. Unnikrishnan,
Chief
Scientist, National Institute of Oceanography,
|
|
5.
|
Dr.S.
Dinakaran,
Associate
Proff,The Madura College , No120\3, Siva Siva st, Alagappan Nagar,
|
|
6.
|
Harish
Bhat, Scientist ,
Centre
For Ecological Sciences, IISC, Bangalore 560012
|
|
7.
|
Dr.K.Sambandhan,
Associate
Prof,P.G.Department of Plant Science ,
Avvaiyar College, Karaikkal, Puducherry UT, Mob. No.9489260386., Email: sambandhan@gmail.com
|
|
8.
|
Prof.(Mrs.)V.
Geethalakshmi,
Agro
Climate Research Centre,Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil
Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003
|
|
9.
|
Dr.
Pulin Bihari Chakraborty,
Bidhan
Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya A/81 Lake Gardens, Kolkata. 700045
|
|
10.
|
Dr.
Jayanta Kr. Sarma
Freelance
consultant (Environment and Development), Debasis Residency Near N.HNO.34
Manikachanpath Kailash Nagar
|
|
11.
|
Dr.
Hemchandra.C. Pradhan
Former
Director, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, 702/B-1, Geetanjali
Krishna Kamal CHS, Sector-21, Nerul East,
Navi Mumbai – 400706
|
|
12.
|
Dr.
Lalit Sharma,
Science
Communicator, Veterinary Consultant,
Managing
Trustee- Vigyan Setu Foundation
D-28/1:1,
Sector-3, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai-400705.
|
|
13.
|
Dr.
Sunil Nautiyal,
Associate
Professor of Ecology,
Institute
for Special and Economics Change
Dr.VKRV Rao Road,
Nagarabhavi
P.O. Bangalore-560072, Tel.:080-23215468, 23215519,
Extn:
246(O), 09731564784, Fax:080-23217008 09886092494(M)
|
|
14.
|
Dr.
Sudip Mitra
Asst.
Prof,Department of Environmental Science, Tezpur University, Assam- 784028,
Mobile:8486066392, Email- sudipmitra@yahoo.com
|
|
15.
|
Er.C.E.
Karunakaran,
Senior
Scientist , Centre for Ecology & Rural Development, Puducherry
No.26,
Spurtank road,Chetpet, Chennai.Mob. No.9381041615.
|
|
16.
|
Prof.
K.R. Janardhanan,
Chithrawariamlane,Thrissur,Kerala.Mob.No.
94479-91392
|
|
17.
|
Prof.
U.C. Mohanty
Indian
Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar
School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences, Bhubaneswar-751 013
Phone
No.(O) 0674 2576117
|
|
18.
|
Dr.
A.V.M.Subba Rao
Senior
Scientist (Agromet)
Central
Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Santoshnagar,
Hyderabad-500059Mob.No.9640386358
|
|
19.
|
Dr.V.R.S.
Rawat ,Additional Director,
Indial
Council of forestry Research and Education, Dehradun-248006
Phone
: 0135-2224805 Mob. No.9412058405.
|
|
20.
|
Dr.Hemant
Pande,
Proffesor,
Head, Dept. of Chemistry, Hislop College Nagpur, (M) Mob.No.9096050151,
Email: pandehm@gmail.com
|
|
21.
|
Dr.M.A.
Haque.
Director(Ret),
Ministry
of ENV.& Forest,C-1713 Palam Vihar,Gurgaon - 122017
|
|
22.
|
Dr.V.Krishnan,
OSD,
STC, DSE.
No.7,
Nethaji Street,Sorna Nagar, Ariyankuppam, Puducherry -7
|
|
23.
|
Dr.
Sultan Ahmed Ismail,
Mananging
Director, ERF
98,Baaz
Nagar,3/621, East Cost Road,Palavakkam, Chennai-600041
044
24920786, Tel.: 09384898358
Email:
sultanismail@gmail.com
|
|
24.
|
Dr.
K.V. Devi Prasad
Professor
, Department of Ecology & Environment Science, Pondicherry University, Mob.No.8220933094,
Email:kv.deviprasad@gmail.com
|
|
25.
|
Er.P.K.Rajan,
Writer, Science Publication,TNSF,
W481\C1,
Praveen Virata flats, 2nd Avenue, Anna Nagar, West Ext. Chennai.
|
|
26.
|
Khwaja
Mohd Rafi,
General
Secretary,NCSTC Network,
E56,
Pandav Nagar,Samuspur Road, Delhi., Mob.No..9873717806.
|
|
27.
|
M.C.Arunan,
Visiting
Scientist,HBCSE, TIFR, Mumbai,
D3,
Gurukul Sophia College,Mumbai- 400026, Mob.No..9969262050.
|
|
28.
|
Mr.Charles
Emmanuel,
RITIMO
Network for information,21 ter Rue Voltaire, 75011 Paris, France.
|
|
29.
|
Prof.S.Mohana
State
Coordinator NCSC Tamilnadu, Tamil Nadu Science Forum. Palani, Tamilnadu
|
|
30.
|
Prof.Rajamanickam
Tamil
Nadu Science Forum, M.428 TNHB Colony, Ellis Nagar, Madurai-625010
|
|
31.
|
Dr.
D.C. Uprety
Emeritus
Scientist, IARI New Delhi
|
|
32.
|
Raghunath.T.P
Programme
Coordinator, Pondicherry Science Forum
10,
IInd Street, P.R.Gardens, Reddiyarpalayam
|
|
33.
|
M.Sudurshan
State
Academic Coordinator -NCSC, Pondicherry Science Forum
10,
IInd Street, P.R.Gardens, Reddiyarpalayam, Puducherry-605010
|
|
34.
|
Dr.P.Iyamperumal
Excutive
Director, Tamilnadu Science & Technology Centre
Gandhi
Mandapam Road, Chennai-600025, Mob.No.9840014412
|
|
35.
|
Dr.S.Soundrarajaper
Joint
Director, Tamilnadu Science & Technology Centre
Gandhi
Mandapam Road, Chennai-600025, Mob.No.9444413200
|
|
36.
|
Dr.R.Srinivasan
Scientific
officer, Tamilnadu Science & Technology Centre
Gandhi
Mandapam Road, Chennai-600025, Mob.No.9444455819
|
|
37.
|
S.Sekar
,General Secretary
Pondicherry
science Forum, 10, IInd Street, P.R.Gardens
|
|
38.
|
B.Ravichandrane
State
Coordinator -NCSC, Pondicherry Science Forum
10,
IInd Street, P.R.Gardens, Reddiyarpalayam, Puducherry-605010
|
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