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Yemen
BP Pauses Red Sea Shipping
Global oil giant, British Petroleum (BP), has announced a pause of all shipments of oil through the Red Sea following a series of attacks on shipping vessels there by Houthi rebels. BP’s move came roughly at the same time the global shipping company, Evergreen Line, announced a temporary stop to accepting Israeli cargo and a suspension of navigation of its container ships through the Red Sea. This follows the lead of other large shipping companies such as MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, and Maersk. Global oil prices have risen on BP’s announcement. The Houthis, a Yemeni rebel group backed by the Iranian government, began attacking shipping through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait which connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis have promised continued attacks as long as Israel maintains its military campaign to destroy Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
This map depicts the respective routes from Europe to East Asia through either the Suez Canal, which takes ships through the Red Sea, or past the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of the African continent. Attacks by Houthi rebels on ships passing through the Red Sea have prompted a pause in sending vessels through the area by major shipping companies. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: S&P Global
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Australia
Intense Flooding in Queensland
Floodwaters brought by northern Australia’s heaviest rain in decades left a number of families stranded on rooftops overnight. Cairns, a city of more than 150,000 people known as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, has been almost entirely cut off by heavy rains brought by the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Jasper, which made landfall last week before stalling over Queensland. Some 300 people were rescued in and around Cairns on Sunday. No deaths or injuries have been reported, according to authorities. Cairns recorded more than 11.8 inches (300 mm) of rain in six hours, and more than 25.6 inches (650 mm) over 19 hours.
This map depicts rainfall in northern Queensland in the past week, causing heavy flooding, with the city of Cairns particularly affected. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: BBC
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United States
Particle Physics Plan Advanced
A committee of American experts called the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) debuted a draft report earlier in the month to outline research priorities for the next two decades. The P5 group made a number of key recommendations for projects they believe will advance human understanding of how the universe works at the most fundamental level. Among the recommendations made is the expansion of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. The IceCube looks for nearly-massless subatomic particles called neutrinos, which are among the most abundant in the Universe. Being able to pass through normal matter, they are incredibly difficult to detect. The IceCube observatory’s instruments are shielded by a massive block of ice from interference that would otherwise corrupt readings for the neutrinos. Under the P5’s plan, expansion of the IceCube observatory would be complemented by greater support for projects at facilities in Illinois, Chile, Spain, and Switzerland, among others.
This map depicts the location of the IceCube observatory at the South Pole, where scientists search for elusive subatomic particles called neutrinos by using instruments protected from interference by a massive block of ice. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: Tulips, associated with the 1630s ‘Tulip Mania’ of the Dutch Golden Age, traveled westward along the Silk Road from their origin point in what mountain range?
A: Tien Shan
The tulip is a cup-shaped emblem of spring, among the most popular of garden flowers. The origin and center of diversity for tulips is the Tien Shan Mountain range, a western outcrop of the Himalayas which straddles Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, China and Uzbekistan. Native to harsh landscapes in hard-to-reach corners of the world, they’re often found clinging to barren mountain ledges exposed to wind, cold, and drought. All tulips escape long, hostile dry summers by dying back and storing all next year’s growth and energy in a geophyte we call a bulb. As the climate transitions to spring, the tulips break their slumber. Tulip cultivation likely began in Persia (Iran) in the 10th century, and it eventually became a symbol of the Ottoman Empire. In the 1550’s, tulips were introduced to Europe, beginning a lively tulip trade. A speculative frenzy over them in the Netherlands, known as Tulip Mania, occurred from 1633-37. Today, the Netherlands is the largest producer of tulip bulbs in the world.
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Q: Known by its modern name, Poinsettia, coined by U.S. botanist Joel Roberts Poinsett, this popular Christmas flower was first cultivated for red dye and medicine by what Native tribe?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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