World: July Sets Heat Record

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World
July Sets Heat Record
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed yesterday that July was the hottest month on record globally. The global average temperature for July was 62.1 degrees Fahrenheit, beating out previous record-holder July 2016 by 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit and exceeding the average for the twentieth century by 17.1 degrees. Scientists are further predicting 2019 will be one of the five hottest years of all time. The month also saw record-low Arctic sea ice. Earlier data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service pointed to the same conclusion. This map depicts global land and ocean temperatures in the month of July. Click on the map to learn more.

Further Reading: New York Times, Time, The Hill, The Week

Graphic Source: Weather Channel
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Greenland

Trump Wants to Buy Greenland
President Donald Trump has expressed interest in purchasing Greenland, leading White House lawyers to investigate the possibility. The island’s foreign ministry ruled out the idea, however, in a statement today: “We’re open for business, not for sale.” The world’s largest island, Greenland is considered an autonomous Danish territory. This would not be the first time the United States has attempted such a deal with Denmark: it bought the US Virgin Islands (then the Danish West Indies) from Denmark in 1917, and Harry Truman later tried unsuccessfully to buy Greenland for $100 million in 1946. This map depicts the locations of Greenland, Denmark, and the United States. Click on the map to learn more.

Further Reading: Wall Street Journal, BBC, The Atlantic, CNN, FOX

Graphic Source: The Sun
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Africa
Giraffe Numbers in Severe Decline
The population of giraffes in Africa fell 40 percent between 1985 and 2015, leaving the total at just under 100,000, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The rate of decline is the highest in central and eastern regions of the continent, where human influences such as poaching and habitat destruction have left several subspecies on the brink of dying out: the Nubian giraffe population has fallen by 97 percent, while the Kordofan giraffe has seen a decline of 85 percent. At the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which will meet from from August 17 to 28 in Geneva, six African nations will begin a push to regulate the giraffe trade globally. This map depicts areas where giraffe populations are located. Click on the map to learn more.

Further Reading: Phys.org, Metro, New Scientist, The Revelator

Graphic Source: AFP

+ Check out the latest EthicalGEO video submission, “Gerrymandering and Ethical GIS.” Make sure to join the discussion and submit your video on the ethics of geospatial technologies.

+ 100 underground volcanoes developed during the Jurassic Period were discovered in Australia, suggesting that the country was more volcanic than previously believed. Check out the article’s map of Central and Eastern Australian Jurassic Volcanism.
+ Why does GIS data quality matter and how can we better manage the spatial information we generate?

Yesterday’s Answer

Q: Formed 50 to 60 million years ago by volcanic activity, the Giant’s Causeway, which consists of 40,000 polygonal-shaped basalt columns, is located in which country?

A: Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
The Giant’s Causeway lies on the edge of the Antrim plateau and consists mostly of basalt columns stretching for about 4 miles (6 km) of the northern coast of Northern Ireland. The polygonal-shapes columns vary from 15 to 20 inches (38 to 51 cm) in diameter and up to 82 feet (25 m) in height.

Source

Today’s Question

Q: Which three countries meet at Bratislava, Slovakia, the only capital city in the world located on a tripoint (a geographical point at which three countries meet)?

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

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World: July Sets Heat Record