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United Arab Emirates
Missile and Drone Attacks
The United Arab Emirates’ defense ministry said yesterday its air defenses were dealing with missile and drone attacks from Iran. It was the second day in a row that the UAE reported being attacked after four weeks of relative calm since the U.S. announced a ceasefire. The UAE’s foreign ministry said the attacks were a serious escalation and posed a direct threat to the state’s security, adding that the UAE reserved its “full and legitimate right” to respond. On Monday evening, the UAE said its air defenses were engaging missile and drone threats as firefighters battled a blaze at a major oil industry zone following a drone attack that authorities said had originated from Iran. The Iranian Foreign Ministry denied launching missiles and drones at the UAE, claiming it was conducting “defense measures” aimed at U.S. assets in a statement released later on Tuesday.
This map depicts the United Arab Emirates and provides information on damaged energy facilities and the scale of reported Iranian strikes on its territory. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Anadolu Agency
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Ukraine
Russia Disregards Ceasefire
The Russian military launched dozens of drones at Ukraine overnight, disregarding a unilateral ceasefire declared by Ukraine to start at midnight today. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin had proposed a ceasefire for May 8-9, to allow for memorial celebrations of the victory of the Soviet Union in World War II. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to propose an earlier start to the ceasefire, in the interest of prioritizing civilian safety over political gestures, promising that Ukraine would respond in kind to Russia’s failure to observe the unilateral ceasefire and that Ukraine would not observe Russia’s proposed ceasefire if Russia attacked after 00:00 today. Within ten minutes of the midnight deadline, air-raid warnings were active in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Sumy Oblasts. Multiple ceasefire proposals have come and gone since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reflecting the deep distrust between the warring sides.
This map depicts areas in Ukraine where Russian drone and missile attacks triggered air-raid warnings after the deadline for a ceasefire proposed by Ukraine. Click on the map to learn more.
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Space
Shortcut to Mars Proposed
Using calculations based on data on the observance of asteroid movements, a physicist has calculated a potential “shortcut” for travelling to Mars. Dr. Marcelo de Oliveira Souza at the State University of Northern Rio de Janeiro analyzed the predicted movements of an asteroid called 2001 CA21, which was predicted to cross the orbital paths of both Earth and Mars. From this, Oliveira Souza tested Earth-Mars oppositions in 2027, 2029, and 2031 and found that the opposition in 2031 afforded opportunities for two round-trip missions to Mars each lasting less than a year. Travel between Earth and Mars is complicated by the reality that the two planets are in motion, requiring scientists and engineers to have to carefully calculate how a spacecraft must travel to intercept one or the other of the planets on their orbital path while also conserving available fuel. To date, the one-way journeys taking probes and rovers to Mars have lasted anywhere from seven to ten months, while a round trip proposed by Oliveira Souza would take only 153 days.
This map depicts potential paths for spacecraft to travel between Earth and Mars on a shorter timeframe than has been previously capable. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: Straddling the border between which two countries can you find Europe’s largest remaining lowland old-growth forest?
A: Poland and Belarus
Bialowieza Forest is the last large remaining tract of relatively undisturbed temperate lowland forest in Europe. It straddles the border between Poland and Belarus in central Europe, on the watershed between the Baltic and Black Seas. The site protects mixed stands of conifer and deciduous broad-leaf trees, much of which is old-growth forest with an abundance of dead wood. This provides for an exceptional diversity and abundance of fungi and saprophytic invertebrates (organisms dependent on dead or decaying wood), as well as a great diversity of species at higher trophic levels. These include at least 59 species of mammals, 250 birds, 13 amphibians, 7 reptiles and over 12,000 invertebrate species. The most iconic species is the European bison, which was exterminated in 1921, reintroduced in 1952 (from captive-bred stock) and now numbers some 900 individuals (over 30% of the world’s free-living European bison).
Source
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Q: What ecosystem covers only about 6% of the Earth’s land surface, but contains 40% of all plant and animal species?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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