Bangalore in 2020: 40o and rising

Bangalore in 2020: 40o and rising
R Jayaprakash | TNN

Bangalore: For a city which is among the 10 most-polluted in India and Asia, second only to Delhi in vehicle population, Bangalore — with its rising mercury level — is a contributor to the global warming phenomenon. Difficult to digest? Here are some hard-hitting facts.
The air-conditioned city is under severe threat. In a decade, it will be mentioned in the same breath as Raichur, Gulbarga and Bijapur! The city has seen an unprecedented mercury movement which will touch 40-plus degrees by 2020, a clear indication of the city’s lead in global warming.
From a minimum of 32 degrees in 1901 to 36 degrees in 2007, the pattern has shaken up the science fraternity. The worst part is the unusual rise in temperature over 20 years — a phenomenal 3 degrees rise since 1988. Each city, irrespective of its geographical location, has a bearing on global warming. Rapid urbanisation, dense population, use of fossil fuel, change in land use pattern and air pollution are the main culprits behind the scenario in Bangalore. With a vehicle population of over 28 lakh and over 80 lakh people in the city, the land use pattern is definitely abused. And the less said the better about air pollution.
Research by IISc’s Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences has also thrown up facts that clearly shows that we are reaching the tipping point. Though global warming is a universal phenomenon, the local effect is inevitable, their data collected over 100 years indicates. Bangalore soaring to tipping point: IISc
Bangalore: A research study carried out by IISc’s Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences has thrown up facts about global warming that will shake up all residents. The city, say scientists, is set to see temperatures that could rob it of its best feature — the cool city image.
“We are reaching the tipping point. The global mean temperature in 2005 was 14.5 degrees, the second warmest year in 125 years. During the last decade, 9 out of the 10 years were the warmest. Hence the impact of global warming may become the most important environmental issue in the 21st century. And Bangalore in the bargain will lose out its most envied feature — weather,’’ Prof J Srinivasan said. His department is carrying out extensive research in global warming.
The department has arrived at the inference through data collected from Met department for the last 100 years and carried out researches on the linear and non-linear pattern, which fell through after close observation. Though global warming is a universal phenomenon, the local effect is inevitable. During the past 15 years, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has kicked up the debate on global warming, has produced many reports that document the scientific evidence for the phenomenon.
IISc’s findings on North India
The surface air temperature in most parts of India has increased by half a degree centigrade during the second half of the 20th century. But it has increased by a degree centigrade in the Himalayas.
This has led to the rapid melting of glaciers, in turn resulting in increase in volumes of glacial lakes. Some of these lakes are dammed by thin walls of ice. Hence these lakes can cause glacial floods in North India. After all the Himalayan glaciers melt, there will be a major water crisis in most of North India. This water crisis is just a few decades away if the rate of global warming continues to be as fast as that witnessed in the last 20 years.