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China
Spring Festival Travel Season
Lunar New Year celebration, also known as Spring Festival in China, begins on January 28 and will last until March 8. In a normal year, around 3 billion trips occur during the Spring Festival period in China, making it one of the world’s largest human migrations. Officials fear the travel season could become a superspreader event, since last year’s Spring Festival was believed to have played a significant role in the spread of COVID-19. According to BBC News, Beijing planned to vaccinate 50 million people before the peak travel period began. Recent weeks have seen small outbreaks of cases, and cities such as Tonghua in Jilin province have been put into lockdown. China’s National Health Commission stated that people returning to rural areas must produce a negative COVID-19 test issued up to 7 days before departure, and will be under a 14-day “home observation” period where individuals may leave their home but must monitor their temperature daily. Some cities like Hangzhou are giving out 1,000 Yuan (USD $154) to migrant workers who chose to stay. Companies have been encouraged to offer their workers subsidies, free food, and to arrange short cultural tours in a bid to get them to stay in. Banners with slogans encouraging people to stay have also been put up, all in efforts to limit travel and to not repeat the spreader event of 2020’s Spring Festival.
This map depicts the cities under lockdown during the Spring Festival in China. Click on the map to learn more.
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China and India
Disengagement at Border
After a months-long standoff between China and India over their highly disputed border, India’s defense minister announced on Wednesday that both countries have agreed to disengage troops at the north and south banks of the Pangong lake. Following multiple rounds of discussions between military commanders and diplomats, an accord has finally been reached. The standoff began in April of 2020 when both Indian and Chinese troops advanced far past the Line of Actual Control (LAC). While disengagement on both sides is welcome, some fear it may not be entirely two-sided—China has “refused to discuss” reports of the People’s Liberation Army soldiers crossing the LAC and whether they would also pull back. Once disengagement is complete at Pangong lake, military commanders will meet to discuss retreat from other disputed areas along one of the world’s longest shared borders.
This map depicts the areas where the shared border is disputed. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Al Jazeera
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Peru
Rivers of ‘Gold’ in the Amazon
A new image from the International Space Station revealed previously unseen flowing rivers of gold in the Madre de Dios state in eastern Peru. According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, these glistening rivers running through the Amazon rainforest are actually prospecting pits left behind from mining activity. Usually hidden from satellite imagery due to heavy cloud cover, this image provides one of the best views of mining activity in the region. Independent gold mining supports tens of thousands of people in this region of Peru, making it one of the largest unregistered mining operations in the world. Mining at this scale is considered one of the biggest drivers of deforestation, and also leads to significant pollution in nearby waterways, after mercury used to extract gold in the mines travels into local rivers and streams. The gold prospecting industry has expanded considerably since 2011, when a major highway was built connecting Brazil to Peru with the intention of boosting trade and tourism. In January 2019, a study found gold mining destroyed an estimated 22,930 acres of Peru’s Amazon – an area equivalent to nearly twice the size of Manhattan Island in New York City.
This map depicts the Peruvian landscape from the lens of NASA’s Earth Observatory. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: With a surface elevation of over 12,500 feet (3,800 m) and an area of over 3,200 square miles (8,300 sq km), what lake is considered the highest navigable lake in the world?
A: Lake Titicaca
Located within the Andes mountains along the border between Bolivia and Peru, Lake Titicaca is the second largest lake in South America, following Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. The average depth of the lake is between 400-600 feet (140-180 m), making the lake navigable to large vessels crossing from Puno, Peru, to the small Bolivian port of Guaqui. A small railway connects Guanqui with Bolivia’s Capital La Paz, granting the landlocked country trading access to Cuzca and the Pacific coast.
Source
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Q: Covering 1,900 square miles (5,000 sq km), the largest glacier in North America terminates in which body of water?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in Tuesday’s DailyGeo.
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