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Egypt-Israel
Aid Waits for Border Opening
US President, Joseph Biden, stated yesterday an agreement had been reached with Israeli authorities to deliver $100 million in humanitarian aid to residents of the Gaza Strip as early as Friday. Trucks carrying goods and aid have been lining up at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt for days, in anticipation that the promised opening will happen soon. Rafah is the only border crossing from Gaza to somewhere other than Israeli territory. Egypt has helped Israel maintain a blockade on Gaza since Hamas took control there in 2007. Since that time, the majority of crossings into Gaza have been permanently closed, with only three heavily restricted crossings working prior to the attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians on October 7.
This map depicts the location of current and former border crossings of the Gaza Strip. An agreement has been reached to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt as early as Friday. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: The Guardian
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Iran
New US Missile, Drone Sanctions
The US government has announced new sanctions and other measures designed to prevent Iran from selling or acquiring parts or technology related to ballistic missiles or drones, after UN Security Council sanctions on Tehran’s missile arsenal expired Wednesday. It also issued an advisory to private industry citing dual-use technologies that could be used for Iran’s arsenal. The administration released a joint statement from 46 countries pledging to take action to prevent the supply, sale, or transfer of ballistic missile-related or drone-related items to and from Iran, including bolstering interdiction efforts. US President, Joseph Biden, has faced criticism over past diplomatic decisions to try to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and grant Iran access to $6 billion in frozen Iranian oil revenue to secure the release of five American prisoners in Tehran.
This map depicts the maximum estimated/calculated range of Iranian ballistic missiles. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Newsweek
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Antarctica
Ice Shelves Shrinking
According to recent research using satellite imagery, 40% of Antarctica’s floating ice shelves have seen a significant loss of volume in the past 25 years. The study shows that of the 162 ice shelves in the Antarctic region, 71 have lost volume between 1997 and 2021. The ice frozen into these shelves is also freshwater, which could potentially disrupt ocean circulation when it melts. The melting is not uniform across all of the ice shelves; the Western side of the continent is exposed to warm water, causing a higher melt rate than on the Eastern side. Ice shelves surrounding Antarctica block the flow of ice into the ocean, acting as plugs. When the ice shelves decrease in volume, the plugs become weaker, causing the rate of loss of ice to increase. Antarctica’s ice loss aligns with global patterns of melt attributed to climate change.
This map depicts where ice shelves in Antarctica have lost and gained volume. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: The world is divided into six Floral Kingdoms, recognized by plant geographers for their distinctive plant life. What country is home to the smallest—by far—and possibly most unique Floral Kingdom?
A: South Africa
The Cape Floral Kingdom in South Africa is one of six floral kingdoms, or floristic regions, in the world. (The others are the Boreal, Paleotropical, Neotropical, Australian, and Antarctic.) Each of these areas has distinctive, or special, plant life. The Cape Floral Kingdom is the only floristic region within a single country. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. It covers a total area of about 35,000 sq mi (90,000 sq km). Despite its small size, the Cape Floral Kingdom has a larger variety of plants than any of the other floral kingdoms. The Cape Floral Kingdom covers 0.5% of Africa’s land but contains 20% of Africa’s plant species. It contains 9,000 plant species, 70 percent of which only grow in this floristic region. Most of the vegetation in the Cape Floral Kingdom is known as fynbos, or scrubland. The fynbos is a unique mixture of plant species. It consists of four main types of plants: heaths, plants that look like reeds, plants that grow from bulbs, and large woody trees and shrubs. Most of the plants are evergreen with hard leaves. Plants such as rooibos and honeybush are used to make tea and other products. This floristic region is threatened by the growth of farming, pine tree plantations, and cities.
Source
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Q: The monarch is the only butterfly known to make a two-way migration as birds do. What country do monarchs go to when it is time to travel south for the winter?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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