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India-Pakistan
Exchange of Gunfire, Threats
India and Pakistan, both countries with nuclear arsenals, have continued military maneuvers following a terrorist attack last week in Indian-administered Kashmir which India has blamed on Pakistan. Soon after the shootings on a group of tourists, both armies began building up forces along the line of contact in Kashmir, and they’ve been exchanging small arms fire across the line for the last four days. India has revoked the visas of all Pakistani nationals in India, test-fired long-range missiles, and suspended a treaty that ensured India provides water supplies to Pakistan. Water flowing from Indian territory supplies 80% of Pakistan’s agriculture through the Indus valley. In Pakistan, the air force has been mobilized to keep Indian flights out of Pakistani skies, and the railroad minister made a warning that Pakistan’s 130 nuclear weapons were all aimed at India. The militant attack near Pahalgam that killed 26 people last week was the worst outbreak of violence over Kashmir in a quarter century.
This map depicts the rivers from India that supply water to Pakistan’s Indus River Valley, which India has threatened to cut off in the wake of a militant attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Daily Mail
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United States
New Jersey Pine Barrens Wildfire
The Jones Road Wildfire in southern New Jersey’s Pine Barrens that has scorched 15,410 acres (6,236 ha) of forest is 60% contained as of Sunday, April 27. Joseph Kling, 19, was charged with aggravated arson in connection with the fire after officials alleged he left burning wooden pallets unattended. The wildfire forced evacuations and power outages for Ocean and Lacey Township residents, with its smoke affecting air quality in the New York City area. It’s peak forest fire season in the vast pine wilderness that covers more than 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) — an area roughly as large as the Grand Canyon — and firefighters are contending with low humidity and the aftermath of a monthslong drought in the region.
This map depicts the extent of the wildfire in New Jersey. Click on the map to learn more.
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World
2022 Eruption Rattled Atmosphere
New research shows that the 2022 eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai volcano produced waves that reverberated into the upper atmosphere, reaching altitudes where satellites orbit. The underwater eruption was one of the most powerful volcanic events in modern history, with a force equivalent to 61 megatons of TNT. Its ash plumes reached over 31 miles (50 km) into the atmosphere, far above the cruising altitude of commercial planes. As the plumes rose into the mesosphere, they triggered both gravity waves and Lamb waves, a unique kind of ultrasonic wave that had never before been observed from a volcanic eruption. Researchers detected the eruption’s far-reaching atmospheric impact using satellite data and atmospheric modeling.
This map depicts a simulation of the waves produced by the 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: Which lake used to be the fourth-largest lake in the world but has shrunk by 90% since the 1960s?
A: Aral Sea
The shallow Aral Sea was once the world’s fourth largest body of inland water by surface area. The remnants of it are found in the climatically inhospitable heart of Central Asia, to the east of the Caspian Sea. The Aral Sea and its demise are of great interest and increasing concern to scientists because of the remarkable shrinkage of its area and volume that began in the second half of the 20th century—when the region was part of the Soviet Union—and continued into the 21st. That change resulted primarily because of the diversion (for purposes of irrigation) of the riverine waters of the Syr Darya (ancient Jaxartes River) in the north and the Amu Darya (ancient Oxus River) in the south, which discharged into the Aral Sea and were its main sources of inflowing water.
Source
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Q: What country is home to the body of water with the highest tide in the world?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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