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England
Fire Closes Heathrow Airport
London’s Heathrow Airport will be closed all day due to a power outage caused by a fire at a nearby electrical substation, affecting more than 1,300 flights, over 200,000 passengers, and flight times at airports around the globe. Firefighters are on the scene, resolving the issue as quickly as possible; however, a fire of this scale is unprecedented. Heathrow Airport has released a statement that while the airport has “multiple sources of energy,” there is no backup that can power the entire airport, which “uses as much energy as a small city.” No foul play is currently suspected, though the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism unit is leading the investigation. The airport is offering reschedules for missed flights, hotel room stays, and other minimal compensatory measures.
This map depicts air traffic bound for Heathrow Airport affected by a full day-long shutdown forced by an electrical outage. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Flight Radar
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Sudan
SAF Retakes Presidential Palace
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have recaptured the presidential palace in the capital city, Khartoum. Sudan’s military forces lost most of Khartoum in April 2023 during the early days of the war. This is a significant victory for the army over the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and may signal a turning point in the war. It is also a major symbolic victory, as the palace has been viewed as an emblem of power in Sudan for two centuries. The RSF continues to hold areas in southern Khartoum but has lost most of the capital territory it captured at the start of the war. Civilians have generally welcomed the army as liberators: however, instances of army-aligned militias carrying out human rights abuses have been reported.
This map depicts the areas of Khartoum under respective control by the SAF and RSF on March 19. The red arrows depict the recent advancements made by the SAF to retake the presidential palace. Click on the map to learn more.
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World
Glacier Meltdown Accelerating
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has released its 2025 World Water Development Report, an assessment of global freshwater resources. This year’s report focuses on the anticipated effects of continuing glacial melting and reduced mountain snowfall due to climate change. UNESCO’s report comes on the heels of the World Meterological Organization’s (WMO) annual review of 2024 earlier this week, which noted that the previous three years were the worst three-year stretch for loss of glacial ice on record. Around 2 billion people around the world are dependent on mountain waters. Rivers fed by mountain glaciers are vital sources of water for downstream farming, with future diminished glacial water flow threatening up to two thirds of global irrigated agriculture. To increase awareness of the importance of glacial water resources, the United Nations declared today the first World Day of Glaciers and 2025 the Year of Glacial Preservation.
This map depicts levels of global lowland dependency on water supplies originating in mountain glaciers. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: What island is home to the world’s largest national park?
A: Greenland
Northeast Greenland National Park (Greenlandic: Kalaallit Nunaanni nuna eqqissisimatitaq, Danish: Grønlands Nationalpark) is the world’s largest national park and the 10th largest protected area (the only larger protected areas consist mostly of sea). Established in 1974, the Northeast Greenland national park expanded to its present size in 1988. It protects 375,000 square miles (972,000 sq km) of the interior and northeastern coast of Greenland, with about 80% of it permanently covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet. This means that the national park is bigger than 166 of the world’s 195 countries. It was the first national park to be created in the Kingdom of Denmark and remains Greenland’s only national park.
Source
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Q: What is the world’s tallest mountain from the seafloor?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in Monday’s DailyGeo.
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