On World Meteorological Day,experts discuss climate change

At a seminar organised on the theme,Director of Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) Ashwagosha Ganju spoke about the shrinking winter season in the north-west Himalayas. He informed that there has been a reduction in the snow cover season and amount of water stored in snow caps.

He added that mountains were fragile ecosystems and their soil was thin,therefore,unstable which restricted the growth of plants and made them more vulnerable to human disturbance.

IMD Chandigarh centre Director Surender Paul said that 2010 was the warmest year. He added,“The mean annual temperature linear trend for the period (1950 to 2010) averaged over the states of Punjab and Haryana shows increasing trends,consistent with global and all India temperature trends. No significant trends have been observed in rainfall patterns,annual as well as in monsoon season period (1901 to 2010),in the both the states.

However,the special and temporal distribution of rainfall in the monsoon season (June-Sept) has been uneven in recent years.”

SASE Joint Director M Bhutiyani said,“Winters are setting late and spring is arriving early in north-west Himalayas . A rise in winter temperatures and decrease in precipitation has been observed in the Himalayas.”

Panjab University (PU) Department of Defence and National Security Studies Chairman Rakesh Datta gave a talk on disaster management preparedness of the government.

Meanwhile,students of the PU Geography Department and DPS School,Sector 41 C,visited the IMD centre and were briefed about the various activities of the weather department.