2016 was the Warmest Year for India in the Last 116 Years
- The latest data released by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) reveals that 2016 was the warmest year for India in the last 116 years since 1901 on January 15, 2017.
- The climate of India was significantly warmer than normal during 2016 in line with the warme r – than – normal global climate observed during the period.
- The annual mean land surface air ‘ temperature for 2016 was around 0.91° Celsius above the 1961-90 average, thus making the year 2016 the warmest year on record since 1901.
- The strong El-Nino event of 2015-16, which continued till early March, 2016, and the global warming trend likely caused the significantly warmer temperature during winter and pre-monsoon seasons.
New Ginger Species with Medicinal Properties found in Andamans
- The scientists of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have found a new species of Zingiber (commonly referred as Ginger) from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on January 9, 2017.
- The species Zingiber pseudosquarrosum, new to science, belonging to genus Zingiber, was already used by the local Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) of the Andamans for its medicinal values.
- Like other species of Gingers, this new species is edible and can be propagated vegetatively from the rhizome.
- The planted rhizomes were successfully vegetavively propagated at the BSI garden at Port filair after transplantation.
- Species belonging to genera Zingiber are monocotyledonous flowering plants whose rhizomes are widely used as a spice or a traditional medicine.
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SPACE CURRENT AFFAIRS
A Sunspot Spotted with Centre Twice the Size of Earth
- A new view, of the dark, contorted centre of a Sunspot that is nearly twice the diameter of the Earth, along with other invisible details of our Sun, unveiled by scientists on January 23, 2017.
- The Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) antennas had been carefully designed so that they could image the Sun in exquisite detail using the technique of radio interferometry.
- Astronomers have harnessed ALMA’s capabilities to image the millimetre-wavelength light emitted by the Sun’s chromosphere.
SpaceX Rocket Company Launched a Falcon 9 Vehicle
- The American SpaceX rocket Urtnpar resumed flights, launching a Fakon o vehicle from the Vandenberg Air f Base on the California coast on January 15, 2017.
- SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California (USA).
- It was founded in 2002 by Tesla Motors CEO and former PayPal entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of creating the technologies to reduce space transportation costs and enable the colonisation of Mars.
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