UPSC Daily Quiz | 9 April 2024

Explanation: 

• In 1792, the British East India Company established the Madras Observatory, a first of its kind in this part of the world.
• Here, astronomical observations of the Sun, the Moon, bright stars and planets recorded during 1812-1825 were preserved in two large data volumes.
• For the first time, celestial and solar photography were attempted from the Madras Observatory during the total annual solar eclipse on December 12, 1871.
• The KoSO (Kodaikanal Solar Observatory), which has been imaging the Sun for almost a century, contains a vast amount of data. This is incredibly valuable not only for reconstructing the Sun’s historical past, but also for linking its behavioural changes in order to better understand and anticipate its future, as well as its impact on life on Earth and space weather.
• The Poona observatory closed down and the telescope was sent to KoSO in 1912. Some of the early solar observations at KoSO included the examination of the Sun’s disc from spots and faculae; tracing bright lines from the Sun’s chromospheres.
• The radial motion of sunspots, better known as the Evershed Effect, was discovered from the sunspot observations made at KSO by John Evershed, KoSO director from 1911-1922.
• KoSO was a solar physics observatory until 1945, when World War II ended. Later, it broadened its scope to include cosmic rays, radio astronomy, ionospheric physics, stellar physics, and other topics.
•  The Government of India separated Astrophysics from the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in April 1971. The KoSO was brought under the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru on April 1, 1971.

Explanation: 

• The Uttarakhand government has constituted two teams of experts to evaluate the risk posed by five potentially hazardous glacial lakes in the region. These lakes are prone to Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs).
• The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), which operates under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, has identified 188 glacial lakes in the Himalayan states that can potentially be breached because of heavy rainfall. Thirteen of them are in Uttarakhand.
• GLOFs are disaster events caused by the abrupt discharge of water from glacial lakes — large bodies of water that sit in front of, on top of, or beneath a melting glacier. As a glacier withdraws, it leaves behind a depression that gets filled with meltwater, thereby forming a lake.
• GLOFs can unleash large volumes of water, sediment, and debris downstream with formidable force and velocity.
• The floodwaters can submerge valleys, obliterate infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and buildings, and result in significant loss of life and livelihoods.
• Uttarakhand has 13 glacial lakes which are prone to GLOF. These include Vasudhara Tal in the Dhauliganga basin in Chamoli district, and four lakes in Pithoragarh district — Maban Lake in Lassar Yangti Valley, Pyungru Lake in the Darma basin, an unclassified lake in the Darma basin, and another unclassified lake in Kuthi Yangti Valley.

Explanation: 

• The Ring of Fire is essentially a string of hundreds of volcanoes and earthquake-sites which runs along the Pacific Ocean. It is a semicircle or horse shoe in shape and stretches nearly 40,250 kilometres.
• The Ring of Fire traces the meeting points of numerous tectonic plates, including the Eurasian, North American, Juan de Fuca, Cocos, Caribbean, Nazca, Antarctic, Indian, Australian, Philippine, and other smaller plates, which all encircle the large Pacific Plate.
• It runs through 15 more countries including the USA, Indonesia, Mexico, Japan, Canada, Guatemala, Russia, Chile, Peru, and the Philippines.

Explanation: 

• Statement 1 is correct: The Akashteer Project is a cutting-edge initiative designed to automate air defence control and reporting processes by digitising the entire process. Hence, statement 1 is correct.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: It is developed by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), the project is aimed at significantly enhancing the operational efficiency and integration of the Army’s air defence mechanisms. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
• Project Akashteer would provide the Indian Army’s Air Defence Forces with an indigenous, cutting-edge capability for effective integrated operations.
• Statement 3 is correct: Akashteer will allow for the monitoring of low-level airspace over Indian Army conflict regions, as well as effective management of ground-based Air Defence Weapon Systems.

Explanation: 

• Statement 1 is correct: India’s first foray to Antarctica, its first post office on the icy continent was set up at Dakshin Gangotri. 
• Statement 2 is incorrect: Dakshin Gangotri submerged in ice in 1988-89 and was subsequently decommissioned. On January 26, 1990, a post office branch was set up at India’s Maitri research station on Antarctica.
  •  Almost four decades later, correspondence to Antarctica will have a new PIN code, MH-1718, thanks to the Department of Posts opening a second branch of the post office at the Bharati research station in Antarctica.