Passage 1
Mostly attributable to global warming, the tropical Indian Ocean will likely be in a “near-permanent heatwave state” and accelerate coral bleaching, seagrass destruction, and loss of kelp forests, affecting the fisheries sector adversely, said an analysis led by scientists at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).
The heating of the ocean was not merely restricted to the surface but went deeper and increased the overall “heat content” of the ocean. The heat content of the Indian Ocean, when measured from surface to a depth of 2,000 meters, is currently increasing at the rate of 4.5 zetta-joules per decade, and is predicted to increase at a rate of 16–22 zetta-joules per decade in the future. Joule is a unit of energy and one zetta-joule is equal to one billion-trillion joules (10^21). “The future increase in heat content is comparable to adding the energy equivalent of one Hiroshima atomic bomb detonation every second, all day, every day, for a decade,” said RoxyThe Mathew-Koll, scientist at the IITM and lead author of the study.
Source – https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-
Get CLAT Online Coaching!
Passage 2
Japan’s Prime Minister’s address to the United States Congress earlier this month, and the developments from his summit meeting with President Joe Biden, announced the arrival of a new, assertive Japan to the world. Japan is changing — and why this matters.
After World War II, a defeated and chastened Japan adopted a policy of pacifism — it avoided building significant armed capability, limited its defence expenditure, and refused to participate in military conflicts anywhere. This pacifism was rooted in Japan’s determination to expiate its militarism and imperialism in the pre-War decades.
