Climate which changed the world 56 million years ago.

Are we heading towards the same disaster?

By

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

The Eocene was much like the garden of Eden.

56 million years ago a mysterious surge of carbon into the atmosphere sent global temperatures soaring. In a geologic eyeblink life was forever changed.

Climate change is changing the world. Either it is in the form of temperature rise or in the form of severe floods. Many times question arises in my mind whether this climate change is the out come of present human activities on the earth or it has happened in early geological ages too. Answer is “yes” climate change has occurred several times from the beginning of the earth formation. Evidences are preserved in from of rocks, sediments, and fossils.

Studying the records of past climate change will fill you like reading thriller novel in which every chapter is full of suspense and thrill. Every chapter of this novel denotes different geological periods with different stories of climate change.

My article is about the chapter which covers the story of climatic conditions around 56 million years ago.

The Atlantic Ocean had not fully opened, and animals, including perhaps our primate ancestors, could walk from Asia through Europe and across Greenland to North America. They wouldn’t have encountered a speck of ice; even before the events we’re talking about, earth was already much warmer than it is today. But as the Paleocene epoch gave way to the Eocene, it was about to get much warmer still-rapidly, radically warmer.

The cause was a massive and geologically sudden release of carbon. Just how much carbon was injected into the atmosphere during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, as scientists now call the fever period, is uncertain. But they estimate it was roughly that amount that would be injected today if human beings burned through all the earth’s reserves of coal, oil and natural gas. The PETM lasted more than 150,000 years, until the excess carbon was reabsorbed. It brought on drought, floods, insect plagues, and a few extinctions. Life on earth survived-indeed, it prospered- but it was drastically different. Climate zones shifted toward the poles, on land and at sea, forcing plants and animals to migrate, adapt or die. Some of the deepest realms of the ocean became acidified and oxygen-starved, killing off many of the organisms living there. It took nearly 200,000 years for the earth’s natural buffers to bring the fever down. Today the evolutionary consequences of that distant carbon spike are all   around us; in fact they include us. Now we ourselves are repeating the experiment.

The PETM is significant because it marks the beginning of a 20+ million year warming trend that takes place in the Eocene, and continues on through the Oligocene. That isn't to say that the PETM lasted for 20+ million years, and was responsible for the warm balmy weather in the Eocene, but it did have an effect on the creatures living at the time, especially microscopic ocean organisms.

30-40% of foraminifera species went extinct during this time. Foraminifera are microscopic plankton-like organisms that feed much of the rest of the food chain.

According to a recent study led by Goethe University and the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BIK-F) in Frankfurt, Antarctica had a much warmer climate during the Eocence Epoch (56-34 million years ago), enough to support subtropical flora and fauna.

Published in Nature, the study looked at sediment from cores dating back between 55 and 46 million years ago drilled off the coast of Antarctica near Wilkes Land (part of Antarctica located south of Australia) in 2010 as part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme.

Scientists believe that global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations were significantly higher (as much as 1,000 parts per billion) than present (which are just under 400 parts per billion). They don’t yet know what caused the major surge in CO2 levels at the start of the Eocene and exactly why they began to abate.

Hundreds of scientific papers have been published on the PETM, but because of the scarcity of paleo-data from this time, there has been no clear scientific agreement over what initiated this warming, or where all the CO2 came from.  

Where did all the carbon come from? We know the source of the excess carbon now pouring into the atmosphere: us. But there were no humans around 56 million years ago, no cars no power plants. Many sources have been suggested for PETM carbon spike, and given the amount  of carbon, it likely came from more than one. At the end of the Paleocene, Europe and Greenland were pulling apart and opening the North Atlantic, resulting in massive volcanic eruptions that could have cooked carbon dioxide out of organic sediments on the seafloor. Wildfires might have burned through Paleocene peat deposits, although so far soot from such fires has not turned up in sediment cores. A giant comet smashing into carbonate rocks also could have released a lot of carbon very quickly, but as yet there is no direct evidence of such an impact.

The oldest and still the most popular hypothesis is that much of the carbon came from large deposits of methane hydrate, a peculiar, ice like compound that consists of water molecules forming a cage around a single molecule of methane. Hydrates are stable only in a narrow band of cold temperatures and high pressures; large deposits of them are found today under the Artic tundra and under the sea floor, on the slopes that link the continental shelves to the deep abyssal plains. At the PETM an initial warming from somewhere –perhaps the volcanoes, perhaps slight fluctuations in Earth’s orbit that exposed parts of it to more sunlight- might have melted hydrates and allowed methane molecules to slip from their cages and bubble into the atmosphere.

Many of the other climate feedbacks that we either already observe today or expect to experience probably took place during the PETM warming, as well. Severe drought would have led to increased wildfires, injecting more carbon into the atmosphere. Some research shows that permafrost on a then glacier-free Antarctica thawed, which would have also released carbon dioxide and methane. Another interesting source of carbon that some scientists hypothesize is the burning of peat and coal seams. Peat is decayed vegetation and has a very high carbon content. Peat, which is found in the soil beneath the surface, can be ignited by something like a wildfire and continue to smolder for as long as centuries. Coal seams can be ignited in a similar way, and burn for decades to centuries, releasing huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.

The consequences of the PETM were significant in magnitude and truly global in scope:

1. Global warming; atmospheric temperatures warmed by 5°-9°C globally (6°-9°C warming of southern high latitude sea surface temperatures, 4°-5°C warming of the deep-sea, tropical sea surface temperatures, and Arctic Ocean, and ~5°C warming mid-latitude continental interiors).

2. Perhaps the most staggering result was that at times during the early Eocene warm episode the Arctic sea surface temperature soared to 24°C. The evidence suggests that the PETM marked possibly the warmest time at the North Pole for over 100 million years—certainly it has not been as warm since. Today's circum-polar ecosystems could not exist in such a climate regimen.

3. Ocean acidification (the carbonate compensation depth [CCD] rapidly shoaled by more than 2 km [<10 and="and" gradually="gradually" recovered="recovered" years="years">100,000 years)).

4. Sudden onset of anoxic conditions in deep ocean waters..

5. Increased intensity of the hydrologic cycle and erosion rates (based in part on changes in clay mineral assemblages).

6. Major extinctions of benthic foraminifera in the deep-sea (30-50% of species). Turnover and evolution of calcareous plankton (calcareous nannofossils and planktic foraminifers).

7. Migration of terrestrial organisms to the high latitudes.

8. Turnover and evolution of terrestrial animals and plants. New mammal lineages first appear in the earliest Eocene, including the earliest horse in North America.

The hypothesis is alarming. Methane in the atmosphere warms the earth over 20 times more per molecule than carbon dioxide, then after a decade or two, it oxidizes to C02 and keeps on warming for a long time. Many scientists think just that kind of scenario might occur today: The warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels could trigger a runway release of methane from the deep sea and the frozen north.      

References:

http://www.wunderground.com/climate/PETM.asp#petm

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-last-great-global-warming

http://www.theresilientearth.com/?q=content/could-human-co2-emissions-cause-another-petm

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2011/10/hothouse-earth/kunzig-text

http://geology.fullerton.edu/whenderson/Fal201L2005/EoceneWarming/index.htm

http://www.sciencepoles.org/news/news_detail/antarctica_had_much_warmer_climate_some_50_million_years_ago_according_to_s/

More population more global warming.

Population Explosion may trigger Global Warming.

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Image credit: http://webecoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/population-explosion1.jpg

The earth’s population has nearly doubled since World War II. More babies than ever than ever have been born, but this is only part of the reason for the increase. More and better food and medical care have kept alive many people who would otherwise have died. This enormous increase in the number of people is called ‘population explosion.’ Many experts believe it is the greatest danger facing mankind. A doubled population means a greater drain on the world’s limited resources.

Increasing in population size, age and distribution is affecting climate by producing more green house gases, either in the form of automobile or in the form of thermal energy to meet increasing electricity demand. A larger global population means a larger demand for everything--most urgently, energy. The world population is growing by 75 million people each year. That’s almost the size of Germany. Today we are nearly 7 billion people. At this rate we will reach 9 billion people by 2040. According to other report, if current fertility rates continued, in 2050 the total world population would be 11 billion, with 169 million people added each year. Almost all growth will take place in the less developed regions, where today’s 5.3 billion population of underdeveloped countries is expected to increase to 7.8 billion in 2050.

More people means more food, and more methods of transportation. That means more carbon and methane because there will be more burning of fossil fuels. If we take the case of Jharkhand state of India, to meet the demand of electricity more and more coal mines are being opened which has thrust more carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere.

Life on Earth is dependent on carbon dioxide (CO2) to regulate the temperature of our planet, but too much can create a heat-trapping blanket over our atmosphere. In the last century, unsustainable population growth and excessive consumption have raised levels of CO2 so dramatically that the earth's climate has been altered in ways never experienced before. Agricultural expansion and forest depletion have multiplied emissions of greenhouse gases like CO2, but it is our dependence on fossil fuels that propels monumental atmospheric change. When we burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas, we release unsustainable levels of CO2—the primary global warming culprit. Those of us living in the developed world bear a majority of the responsibility for reversing this disturbing trend.

The relationships among humans, their activities and global temperature can be assessed by making the appropriate measurements and analyzing the data in a way that shows the connections and their magnitudes. Human population can be closely estimated and the consequences of their activities can be measured. For example, the volume of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions is an indicator of human's energy and resource consumption.


Population does appear to be a vital factor in the increase in carbon dioxide emissions. According to an estimate, over a third of the doubling of fossil fuel emissions in developed countries between 1960 and 1988 was due to increased population. The significance of this change is its potential for raising the temperature of the earth through the process known as the Greenhouse Effect. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere prevents the escape of outgoing long wave radiation from the earth to outer space. As more heat is produced and less escapes, the temperature of the earth increases.

The threat of climate change and global warming has therefore, been heavily influenced by population growth. As developing countries, with rapidly increasing populations follow the Western path of development, it is likely to add greatly to the problem. A country like China, for example, which has rapid industrialization and has the largest population in the world is projected to increase its population further, and is expected to become the leading source of global- warming gas emission by 2050.

Increasing population is decreasing forest cover, which happens to be major absorbent of carbon dioxide. Experts agree that population pressure contributes directly to the continuing loss of forest cover. Based on UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) land use estimates, it would appear that in the past three decades or so 59% of the forests cleared in developing countries were for human settlements, roads and other non-agricultural developments- almost entirely related to population growth.

The act of cutting trees to generate farmland, has a great impact on global warming. The cutting of trees is mainly done for paper production, livestock farming etc. Deforestation is responsible for about 20% emission of global warming. Experts opine that deforestation has greater impact on global warming than emissions from factories and automobiles.

Each day the average person breathes in about 15,000 liters, or approximately 35 pounds, of air. (http://www2.envmed.rochester.edu/envmed/TOX/faculty/frampton.html) Since air is 21% oxygen (molecular weight 16) and 78% nitrogen (molecular weight 14) by volume, oxygen is 23.5% by weight and nitrogen is 76.5% by weight in air. So the amount of oxygen breathed in per day by the average person is about 35*0.235 = 8.2 lbs.

Humans breath out about 16% oxygen by volume, so about 5% of the air by volume is converted to CO2, which is about (5/21)x8.2 = about 2 lbs of CO2 every day.

The molecular weight of O2 is 32 and the molecular weight of CO2 is 12+32=44. Therefore, humans emit 44x2x/32 lbs = about 2.8 lbs of CO2 breathed out every day or about 1005 lbs = about 0.5 tons per person per year.

In 2005 the Earth population was about 6.66x109. So the emitted CO2 per year by their breathing was about 3.3x109 tons.
In 2002 CO2 emissions due to human activities were about 25x109 tonnes = 27.6x109 tons (http://www.unep.org/geo/yearbook/yb2006/077.asp). Breathing comprises about 3.3x109 tons of that amount, or about 12% of it.

Globally, annual average emissions of carbon dioxide per capita due to human activities (other than breathing) have been fairly stable since 1990. For 2002, this figure was up to 3.93 tonnes from 3.85 tonnes in 2001 (http://www.unep.org/geo/yearbook/yb2006/077.asp).


Scientists have predicted that the day is not far when nations would fight for drinking water and people would perish due to floods and climate changes. Population explosion, though undeniably the root cause of global warming, has so far been largely overlooked.

UN estimates forecast around 8 to 10 billion population on the planet by 2050 — a galloping 50 per cent increase from the present world population, which is estimated to be 6.5 billion. Scientists have proved that human activities do influence climatic conditions. Therefore, any long-term planning to combat the threat of climate change would not succeed without first finding solutions to rectify the demographic trends.

While industrial nations have been primarily responsible for high emissions levels in the recent past, the rapidly growing population of the developing world will be a major factor in future emissions levels. As we look to the developed world to curb and reduce emissions, many in developing countries need to increase their energy use to meet basic needs and improve their quality of life. Countries such as India and Brazil are looking for solutions to balance the needs of people and the planet. Therefore, all national policies and international agreements on global warming must take population growth into account.

POTENTIAL OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN JHARKHAND STATE OF INDIA.

POTENTIAL OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN JHARKHAND STATE OF INDIA.

by

Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi

Till a couple of decades back geothermal energy was not playing any significant role in the scenario of world energy production. Even now, it hardly constitutes 1% of the total electricity output. Lately, however, geothermal energy scene is changing very fast with a rapid spurt in its direct and indirect use, primarily due to Eco-friendly, renewable and pollution free character. Also, geothermal resources are abundantly available throughout the globe.

Geothermal water has a temperature appreciably higher than that of the local average annual air temperature. However, in general, a spring is considered hot when its temperature is about 12.2 0c higher than mean annual ambient temperature . The relative terms geothermal water, warm springs and hot springs are common.

Geothermal water discharges from numerous springs located mostly in mountanious or plateau areas. The springs are connected by faults to deeply buried reservoirs that contain geothermal water, which moves upward along the fault zones to discharge at the land surface. Much geothermal water discharges as hot springs that flow steadily instead of erupting at intervals.
One theory use to explain how geothermal water becomes heated in areas that are underlain by complex geologic structures is that when precipitation falls in highland areas recharges the aquifer system. Some of the water moves downward along faults and fracture zones to great depths. As the water descends, it becomes heated because of the geothermal gradient. At some depth, the heated water becomes lighter than the overlying water and then moves upward along faults to discharge as spring flow.

Jharkhand has the good reservoir of geothermal energy in its earth’s interior, whose surface manifestations are the steaming grounds and hot springs. The hot springs in Peninsular Shield of Jharkhand are located along a zone running more or less parallel to Damodar Valley Coalfield, i.e. along faulted boundaries.

In Jharkhand the thermal springs are found in Tatta- Jarom of Palamau district and Surajkund, Duari, Bagodar of Hazaribag district. The Tatta spring occurs within the Gondwana rocks and Jarom occurs within Proterozoic rocks. The temperature of the thermal discharge at Jarom is 50 degree c. (centigrade) to 57 degree c. while at Tatta it varies from 61 degree c. to65 degree c. in different spouts. All the thermal springs in Hazaribag district are grouped in Damodar valley graben geothermal province.

Needless to emphasis that geothermal energy is presently recognized as the only one of the so-called alternative renewable energy resources which is technically, commercially and economically viable for generation of electricity. There is another important aspect. Unlike, other power projects-a ‘geothermal plant’ has a minimum negative impact on the environment. It is thus necessary to promote such alternative sources in Jharkhand to combat with power crisis.
Surajkund main spring in Hazaribag district records the second highest temperature 88 degree c. after Tattapani hot spring of Madhya Pradesh. The other hot springs are Lakshmikund (53 degree c.), Brahmakund (45 degree c.), Ramkund (62 degree c.), Satrughnakund (68 degree c.) and Sitakund (53 degree c.) and they discharge thermal fluids up to 4 liter per second. Tatta discharge 2.1 liter per second and Jarom discharge 1.8 liter per second.
Most of the hot springs of Jharkhand are not potable due to high concentration of floride. Concentration of Helium is highest in the thermal gases of Surajkund. Where as Methane is highest in Barkagaon. In Jarom Mercury concentration in soil around the hot springs varies from 20 ppb (parts per billion) to 125 ppb. Cawa Gandhwani and Duari hot springs are more radioactive.
Excessive concentration of certain dissolved minerals in geothermal water pose water-quality problems. The most common of these minerals are dissolved fluoride, arsenic, and iron. Concentration of dissolved fluoride in excess of 4 milligrams per liter can cause mottling of teeth, especially children’s and can cause bones to become brittle.
The geothermal energy can be used for space heating, development of cold storage for preservation of bio and agro products, setting up of plants for drying, processing, preserving and canning of fruits and fruit products.

The hot springs in Jharkhand are situated mainly in hilly tribal belt or in isolated and remote region of the state. Obviously these rural areas are backward and poor. The energy needs of the people of rural and backward area are primarily for irrigation, farm inputs, processing and preservation of agro products, cooking, lighting and space heating. Hot spring water of low temperature has been directly used for irrigation of field/farm and to increase the soil temperature for obtaining early maturity and bumper crops as done in China and Russia. Waters of low temperatures of hot springs can be directly used for irrigation of field/ farm to increase the soil temperature for obtaining early maturity and to increase production of vegetables and mushroom growth under controlled conditions. The hot springs area can also be used for development of tourism and health resorts.

Regarding Helium concentration assessment of Helium reservoir may be undertaken in the area studied to see if Helium can be mined and Methane content may be evaluated to determine whether it is a usable resource in the region.

As a matter of fact, our resources are quite similar to that of China, who are exploiting them on large scale. They rank number one in installed thermal power capacity. It is, therefore necessary to give serious thought to exploit our resources too, at least those situated in power starved hilly areas, where due to lack of infrastructure and adequate demand, conventional power plants would not be economically viable.

Reference:
Dunn, J.A., 1942, The economic geology and mineral resources of Bihar Province: Mem. Geol. Surv. India, v. LXXVIII, p. 197-204.

Ghosh, P.K., 1954, Mineral springs of India: Rec. Geol. Surv. Ind., v. 80, p. 545-558.

Prasad, J.M., 1996, Geothermal energy resources of Bihar, in U.L. Pitale, and R.N. Padhi, eds., Geothermal energy in India: GSI special publication 45, p. 99-117.

Priyadarshi, N., 2002, Potential of geothermal energy in Jharkhand State, India, in Proceedings of the 1st conference and exhibition on strategic challenges and paradigm shift in hydrocarbon exploration with special reference to Frontier Basins, held in Mussoorie, India. Published by Association of Petroleum Geologists, v. 2 p. 261-265.

PROSPECTS OF COAL BED METHANE GAS IN JHARKHAND STATE OF INDIA.

PROSPECTS OF COAL BED METHANE GAS IN JHARKHAND STATE OF INDIA.

By
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi


Coal contains methane gas as an inherent component but in widely variable proportions depending on the rank of coal and depth of occurrence. Its presence in coal has so far been considered a hazard as it is an inflammable and explosive gas and there have been many fire accidents in coal mines throughout the world due to this gas. In recent years, coal bed methane has become a good source of clean thermal energy for its easy inflammability and it has come up as an additional energy resource from the coal basins especially in the countries like USA, Australia and China.

Deep seated coal seams of comparatively high rank contain considerable volume of methane adsorbed on coal surfaces.

Unlike much natural gas from conventional reservoirs, coal bed methane contains very little heavier hydrocarbons such as propane or butane, and no natural gas condensate. It often contains up to a few percent carbon dioxide.
India is struggling to find enough energy sources to meet up the growing energy demand coupled with economic growth. Indian government is now exploring alternative sources too. Indian government has received 54 bids to extract coal-bed methane (CBM) from various domestic and foreign energy companies. This is the highest amount of bids the government has ever received. 18 domestic companies and 8 foreign companies have submitted their bids to extract methane from ten areas. It shows CBM has a good prospect in India.

At present, many foreign companies are setting up their plants in India. In addition, Indian companies are targeting the global market. This rapid industrialization has made India an energy hungry country. As the price of oil continues remain high in the international market, CBM can be a good source of energy for India in future. In fact, India is going to start commercial production of CBM from 2007. Some states of India contains good reserve of coal.

The prospect for coal bed methane is mainly related to the coal resources of the country. India has huge Gondwana (mainly Permian, 99.5%) and Tertiary (Eocene and Oligocene) coal deposits distributed in several basins located in peninsular and extra-peninsular regions. About 204 billion tons of coal reserves have been established and approximately 200 million tons or so are likely to be added in the near future by further explorations.

CBM IN JHARKHAND:

In India prospects of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) is not very bright, as most of the Indian coals are of inferior quality and of low rank. However, some of the coal basins contain high rank coal where sizeable reserves of CBM may be expected. A recent assessment has identified certain areas of Gondwana coalfields where gas -in-place reserves of 564 billion cubic meters have been indicated.

In 1990, efforts to exploit coal bed methane were initiated by Essar Oil (a private oil company) under the advice of American experts. The methane emission and desorption studies on Gondwana coal samples from Jharia Coalfield (Jharkhand) were carried out by Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (Ranchi) and Central Mining Research Institute (Dhanbad). The content of gas and gas emission rate from these samples were found to be 1.8–2.3 m3/1000 m2 of surface and 12.7–17.3 m3/min, respectively. The studies carried out by Bharat Coking Coal Limited in the same area with the help of French experts indicated 0.68–1.45 m3/min gas emission rate.

In Jharkhand State areas identified for CBM are Jharia, East Bokaro, West Bokaro, North Karanpura and Rajmahal Basins.

The estimate reserves in Jharia coalfield is 4.82 trillion cubic feet, in East Bokaro it is 3.2 trillion cubic feet and West Bokaro it is 0.38 trillion cubic feet. Some of the new areas has also been identified like North Karanpura coalfield for the CBM which needs more survey.

Potential of CBM production in Jharia coalfield is 3.5 million cubic metres/day , East Bokaro has the potential of 2.5 million cubic metres /day, North Karanpura has the potential of 6.0 cubic metres /day and the Rajmahal Basin has the potential of 4.5 cubic metres/day.

Thick Tertiary coal of Makum area, Assam, and thick lignite seams of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat may also be positive areas for methane prospects. These factors need to be considered in future.

Reference:

Acharyya, S.K. Coal and Lignite Resources of India,2000, 41-43.
Biswas, S. K., Indian J. Petrol. Geol., 1995, 4, 1–23.
http://www.cmpdi.nic.in/cbm.htm
http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/jun25/articles15.htm

http://envfor.nic.in/cpcb/newsletter/coal/cmetha.html

http://www.indianraj.com/2006/07/coalbed_methane_cbm_indias_fut.html

GLOBAL WARMING THREATS JHARKHAND,INDIA

GLOBAL WARMING THREATS JHARKHAND- SOME FACTS

Reforestation is not going to help much
Different diseases may rise

By
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi


Are we already seeing the effects of global warming in Jharkhand State. From last several years Jharkhand is facing extremes of the climate. In year 2005and 2006 Jharkhand had spells of excessive rainfall. In the month of February and March 2007 Jharkhand faced heavy rainfall followed with hail storms which is unusual in Jharkhand at this time. We have faced extremes of climate in very quick interval this year till now. Few years earlier people of Jharkhand used to keep away the blankets and warm clothes in the month of March especially during Holi festival. But this year every thing was unusual. Big sizes of the hails indicated big turbulence in the upper atmosphere. Hail storms affected many parts of the state. This happened because temperature increased earlier above the normal in the month of February which is not a normal phenomenon.
On June 13th more than 15 people were killed due to lightning including 5 children. Recent researches has shown that global warming is the major cause of such phenomenon. One of the major cause of global warming is carbon dioxide. Models have been developed that predict atmospheric increases in carbon dioxide. One such model predicts that a doubling carbon dioxide could increase the amount of lightning occurrences by 30-77%. With the growing effects of global warming, potential increases in severe weather will certainly result in more lightning activity leading to more damage to human life.

In 1960's and 1970's peoples of Ranchi (the then summer capital of Bihar Jharkhand united) rarely used fans even in summer seasons. This facts can be justified by the following statements published in Ranchi Gazetteers in the year 1970- " The climate of the Ranchi plateau is cool and pleasant. It is only during the month's of April or May that the temperature rises occasionally. The general elevation of 2,180 feet above sea level gives it a uniformly lower range temperature than the plains."

According to the report maximum temperature rises above 40 degree centigrade in the last month of April or May but only for few days. But at present in Ranchi the trend in rise in temperature starts from March itself. And now use of A.C. and cooler is very common.
Jharkhand is already facing storms, flash floods, droughts, heat waves, drastic increase in disease transmissions, etc. This doesn't mean that Jharkhand has not faced this phenomenon earlier but now the fact is that this is happening frequently. All this indicates that global warming or in other way it will be more justified to call as Regional Warming, is slowly sowing its impact on Jharkhand.

In Jharkhand Warming may caused primarily by the very foundation on which modern civilisation is built- the burning of coal and oil.

There is no doubt that climate is changing in Jharkhand and we are responsible for it by emitting green houses gases like carbon dioxide and methane in larger amount.

Since 1970 mean temperature is rising with little variation. This doesn't mean that this warming phenomenon is recent. Earlier too Jharkhand has passed through different phases of warming. It happened million years ago. Jharkhand has already passed through different climatic changes in the geological past. From cold to hot and dry. This has been researched by different geologists in different coal basins of Jharkhand where the evidences of the climate changes are found in the rocks. Global Warming is natural phenomenon but now it is being triggered by the civilisation.

In Jharkhand main source of increasing carbon dioxide is burning of fossil fuels, especially coal through Thermal Power Plant. Coal fired electricity generation gives rise to nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as natural gas.

A 1,000 (one thousand) megawatt electrical coal-fired power station burning coal has typical fuel requirement of almost 3.2 million tonnes of black coal a year. Burning of brown coal would require 9.3 million tonnes of fuel. Each year the 1000 MW coal-fired power station produces about 7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide , perhaps 200,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide.

In Jharkhand thermal power generation capacity is 1260 MW which includes Patratu Thermal, Tenughat Thermal and Bokaro Thermal. If they are working in full capacity you can imagine how much carbon dioxide is coming in our atmosphere from the last 40 years i.e. from the year of working.

The figure is dangerously high i.e. more than 7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. If we calculate the total 40 years ± 5 years it crosses to more than 280 million tonnes. Only relief is that Jharkhand coal contain less sulfur. So the contribution of sulfur to the atmosphere is less.

Even the coal burning in the open coal mines like that of Jharia, Dhanbad, North Karanpura coalfield is contributing carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. So we can easily imagine the serious conditions regarding drastic climatic changes in the Jharkhand due to this carbon emission.

When the electricity comes from coal, every kilowatt hour of it results in about a kilogram of carbon dioxide being emitted.

With higher temperatures there is more energy driving the Jharkhand climatic systems which in turn causing more violent weather events.

One dreadful fact regarding carbon dioxide is that a large proportion of the carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere remains there, warming the planet, for around 200 (two hundred) years.

The other green house gas giving threat to Jharkhand is Methane. It is some 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. It is being contributed through the leaks from the coal mines containing Methane gas. Ranchi and other cities in Jharkhand many open and abandoned areas are being used as landfills which are also the main contributors of Methane gas to the atmosphere. Even the termite mounds which are common in Jharkhand contributes Methane gas, but they are known to be natural sources not Anthropogenic. Methane's residence time in the atmosphere is approximately 12 years.

Earlier in Jharkhand forest played major role in absorbing excess carbon dioxide and balancing the temperature difference. But unfortunately due to deforestation in large scale in Jharkhand may have increased the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere many fold. Today the remaining forest areas are unevenly distributed. Bokaro has only 4.4% of area under forest. Similarly Sahebganj has only 2.31%, Dhanbad 12.72%, Deoghar 9.5% and Ranchi only 23.37% of area under vegetation.

At the Survey and Settlement (1902-1910) the area under forests in the Ranchi districts approximated to about 2,281 square miles, i.e. about 32 percent of the total land area of the district. At the Revisional Survey and Settlement (1927-1935) this area shrank to about 1,956 square mils, i.e. 27 percent of the total land area. Thus during a period of 25 years, 325 square miles of forests had disappeared. When the forests were notified under the Bihar Private Forests Act,1946 and demarcation was done only about 1,065 square miles were found under forests in this district. Adding 213 square miles of reserve forests to this, the total area under forest in this district came to 1,278 square miles. Thus in course of a decade over 600 square miles of forests disappeared. Now it has reached upto 23 percent and gradually decreasing further.

This doesn't mean that deforestation is causing warming phenomenon. Fact is that with deforestation green house gases especially carbon dioxide is also increasing. Earlier these forests use to trap excess carbon dioxide to some extent which balanced the temperature.

The lower percentage of forest cover in the districts has been influenced by the nature of land as well as by the human interference in the form of mining activities and industrial-cum-urban development. In Sahebganj, Pakur and Godda districts, the forest has not been spared even on hills. The Damodar Basin has also recorded remarkable depletion of forest cover because of wanton cutting of forests, exploitation of mining areas and development of urban localities. The forest in this area is confined to the north and west.

Now comes the motor vehicles which is also contributing green house gases in the form of carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide etc. After the formation of Jharkhand motor vehicles have increased many fold. The districts with the largest number of registered vehicles in Jharkhand are East Singhbhum with 2,75,121 followed by Ranchi (2,15,794) and Dhanbad (1,72,033).

Ranchi topped the list of increase in vehicle registrations in 2001-2002, the largest in buses, cars, taxis, jeeps, two-wheelers and three wheelers were recorded in Ranchi.

East Singhbhum was number two districts in buses, cars, jeeps, two wheelers and three wheelers. But the maximum number of trucks increased in Dhanbad (344), followed by Giridih (244) and Hazaribagh (191) during 2001-2002.

Most part of the place in Jharkhand is a plateau area having heights of 400 meter to 800 meter above the mean sea level. Such height receives more solar radiation than plains. Generally it is in the form of sunlight and whose warmth we can feel. The place will have stable temperature so long as there is an approximate balance between the energy received from the sun and that returned to space. In Jharkhand State excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere prevents some of the extra energy going back to space. This phenomenon increases the temperature of the place either for short period or sometimes for long period.

Effects due to this warming:

Major health problems may spread in Jharkhand due to gradual warming in the State. They are likely to be severe and many many people are going to be affected.

The health effects can be divided into two categories: direct and indirect. Direct effects will result from direct exposure to the weather extremes that climate change will cause, for example: heat stroke, death or injuries due to storms and also some times flash floods in different drainage basins, rivulets and rivers. In year 2006 we saw the fury of Damodar river near Rajrappa temple were most part of the temple was submerged and many shops were gutted.

Indirect effects will result from subsequent changes in environment and ecosystems- for example: the spread of vector borne diseases into new areas, nutrition problems resulting from crop faliure and even the mental health problems which may result from social and political dislocation.

Regarding direct effects, death from stroke, various cardiovascular illness and influenza in particular may become more common during extremes of weather.

Malaria (mosquito borne disease) is already on rampant in very big area in Jharkhand affecting millions. Due to the warming it is no doubt that this disease will multiply and spread in new areas. In year 2006 many cases of Dengu fever was also reported in the State which was never reported earlier.

Other diseases which may threat the people of Jharkhand are Lymphatic Filariasis, Guinea worm, etc. Old and children are to be worst affected.

Different water borne disease is already on the rampage and is increasing gradually. The new threat may be Cholera, often assumed to be a largely a disease of the past. Water related diseases like typhoid, hepatitis A, diarrhoeal diseases are likely to multiply and spread too. One obvious, but often overlooked, consequence of the health problems which climate change is preparing to visit on us, is the financial cost of dealing with the problem.

Continuous depletion of ground water and increase of contamination in the water of different rivers like Damodar, Swarnrekha etc. are also the outcome of this warming. As the temperature rises the water evaporates speedily decreasing the water level and quantity and thereby increasing the toxicity.

Many sensitive ecosystems, however, may disappear in the face of hotter, dryer conditions. Changes are not expected to be evenly distributed through out Jharkhand. Night will be more warmer. Some animal and insect species may migrate or vanish as the climate warms. Many wild plant and medicinal plant may go extinct. Many scientists have reported that nitrogen oxide in carbon dioxide enriched air reduced the growth of several horticultural species. Scientists found that, with tomato, 1 ppm (parts per million) nitric oxide reduced the photosynthesis rate by 38%.
How can we reduce the threat of Climate Change.

Once greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere, most are therefore 50-12- years. So a delay of even a decade or so in reducing these emissions can make it much more difficult and costly to slow the rate and momentum of global warming and avert or lessen the more extreme consequences.

One way is to plant trees to remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Unfortunately studies indicate that a reforestation program in which each person in the world planted and tended an average of 1,000 trees every year would offset only about 3 years of current carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. Also, this is only a temporary approach because the rate of removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by photosynthesis decreases as trees mature and grow at a slower pace. In addition, trees release their stored carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere when they die and decompose or if they catch fire.

So reforestation in Jharkhand is not going to solve this problem in great amount. Now it is essential to find out the other possibilities to reduce the increased carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Alternative methods for generating electricity other than thermal power plants are nuclear plants as there is no emission of carbon dioxide from such plants, or to establish hydro electric plants or geothermal plants.

This research report has been prepared by
Dr. Nitish Priyadarshi
Geologist
Fellow Member Geological Society of India
Lecturer in Department of Environment and Water Management
J.N. College, Ranchi University.