13 Oct

United Kingdom: New Measures to Combat COVID-19

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United Kingdom
New Measures to Combat COVID-19
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a three-tier system in combatting COVID-19, with the tiers classed as medium, high, and very high. This map by the Daily Express shows the tier currently assigned to counties in England and Wales. Tier one (medium alert) level covers most of the U.K. as the British people adjust their lives to living alongside the virus until a vaccine is found. The tier two (high alert) level is where local lockdowns are being implemented in reducing household to household transmission. The tier three (very high alert) level is currently in place in Liverpool and the surrounding Merseyside areas, where transmission is rising rapidly and restrictions are returning to what was seen in April and May of this year. Health policy is decentralized in the United Kingdom and each administrative division in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales has its own systems of public-funded healthcare and policies that differ from those implemented in London.
This map depicts the counties in England and Wales and their assigned tiers by the British government in combatting COVID-19. Click on the map to learn more.

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Poland
Evacuations as Bomb is Defused
More than 750 people have been evacuated from their homes in northwestern Poland as Polish Navy divers begin to defuse a remaining World War II bomb. The bomb was discovered last year in the Piast Canal near the city of Swinoujscie by workers dredging a nearby channel. Known as a Tallboy or earthquake bomb, the missile weighs in at 5,400 kg (nearly six tons) and is packed with 2,400 kg (2.6 tons) of explosives. It is the largest unexploded World War Two bomb ever found in Poland. This Tallboy was dropped by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1945 during an attack on the German cruiser Lutzow, when Swinoujscie and the nearby town of Szczecin, served as important military ports and bases for the Nazis in the Baltic Sea. Divers are expected to take five days to defuse the bomb in the first known underwater operation on a Tallboy.

This map depicts the evacuation areas near the town of Swinoujscie. Click on the map to learn more.

Further Reading: Reuters, Deutsche Welle, VOA, FOX, CNN
Graphic Source: Daily Mail 
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Arctic
Expedition Analyses Arctic Melt
The largest Arctic expedition ever has concluded after twelve months of study. The MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition consisted of researchers from twenty countries allowing themselves to be carried by the natural ice drift while collecting data on the region’s environment and the effects of climate change. This is the first expedition of its kind; no other researchers have been able to collect comparable evidence. The research team says they have collected enough information for years of analysis, but have already noticed the temperatures of the Arctic winter were consistently 18°F higher than they were recorded to be 125 years ago. Outside the data, the team reported signs of ice melt even at the North Pole. 

This map depicts the Arctic ice extent minimums in 1980 and 2020. Click on the map to learn more.

Click here to learn more about our upcoming Fall Symposium Geography 2050: The Future of the World Ocean.

             

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Yesterday’s Answer

Q: What is the only Mayan city built on a coast?

A: Tulum
Located 131 km (78 miles) south of Cancun in the Quintana Roo state of Mexico, the walled city of Tulum sits on a 40 ft cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea and is thought to date from 400-900 A.D. The city had access to both land and sea trade routes, making it an important trade hub during its height between the 13th and 15th centuries. It was protected on one side by steep sea cliffs and on the landward sides by a wall that averaged about 3–5 meters (9.8–16.4 ft) in height. The city’s strategic location and wall managed to survive for 70 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico.

Source

Today’s Question

Q: Discovered in 2008, what is the largest cave in the world which also produces its own localized weather system?

Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.

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