Current News Science & Technology

Magneto-Coriolis Wave: A new type of Earth’s Waves

Recently, scientists have detected a completely new type of magnetic wave that surges through Earth's outer core every seven years, warping the strength of our planet's magnetic field in the process.

• The waves — dubbed "Magneto-Coriolis" waves because they move along the Earth’s axis of rotation, per the Coriolis Effect — creep from East to West in tall columns.

The Study

• Scientists used data from the European Space Agency's Swarm satellites - a trio of identical probes, launched in 2013 and hanging out in Earth orbit to study the activity inside Earth – with a specific eye on the magnetic and dynamic activity coming out of the core.
• By studying this data scientists discovered the fascinating new waves.
• They then studied data from other ground- and space-based observatories, collected between 1999 and 2021, and found a pattern.

About the New Waves

• These waves, known as Magneto-Coriolis waves, are huge magnetic columns aligned along Earth's rotational axis, strongest at the equator.
• They sweep around the boundary between the core and the mantle with an amplitude of around 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) per year, and move westward at a rate of up to 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) per year.

Other Assumptions

• The existence of these waves suggest that other Magneto-Coriolis waves might exist with different oscillation periods, which we are unable to detect to date, due to a lack of data.
• Magnetic waves are likely to be triggered by disturbances deep within the Earth's fluid core, possibly related to buoyancy plumes.

Significance of this Study

• For now, because waves carry information about the medium through which they travel, new discovery could be used to probe the interior of our planet in new ways – including the core, which is difficult to study, as well as the core-mantle boundary.
• The existence of these waves could help explain mysterious fluctuations in the planet's magnetic field, which is generated by the movement of liquid iron in the planet's outer core.

News Crux Important Days/Weeks

31 May: World No Tobacco Day

Every year World No Tobacco Day is observed on 31st May.

• This yearly celebration informs the public on the dangers of using tobacco, the business practices of tobacco companies, what WHO is doing to fight the tobacco epidemic, and what people around the world can do to claim their right to health and healthy living and to protect future generations.

Theme

• The theme for the No Tobacco Day 2022 is ‘Tobacco: Threat to our planet’. The theme marks the impact of tobacco on our environment from cultivation, production, distribution and waste after consuming it.

Major Concerns

• Every year the tobacco industry costs the world more than 8 million human lives, 600 million trees, 200 000 hectares of land, 22 billion tonnes of water and 84 million tonnes of CO2.
• The majority of tobacco is grown in low-and-middle-income countries, where water and farmland are often desperately needed to produce food for the region. Instead, they are being used to grow deadly tobacco plants, while more and more land is being cleared of forests.
• The WHO report “Tobacco: Poisoning our planet” highlights that the industry’s carbon footprint from production, processing and transporting tobacco is equivalent to one-fifth of the CO2 produced by the commercial airline industry each year, further contributing to global warming.

The Menace in India

• India is home to approximately 267 million tobacco users (99 million smokers and 199 million smokeless tobacco users).
• The findings of the Tobacco Control Policy (TCP) third round survey in India about tobacco use and the implementation of tobacco control policies has shown that among tobacco users, the proportion of smokeless tobacco use has increased from 72% (2010- 2011) to 80% (2018- 2019) whereas mixed tobacco use (smoked and smokeless) decreased from 11% to 7%, and smoking decreased from 17% to 14% during the same period.

Sin Tax in India

• Currently, the government levies GST of 28 per cent, the highest in the tax slab, on cigarette and tobacco products. Further, there are additional taxes taking the total tax incidence on cigarettes to as much as 50-60%, which is lower than that recommended by the WHO (75%).

News Crux Defence

INS Gomati Decommissioned

The Indian Navy has decommissioned INS Gomati after 34 years in service on 28^th May 2022.

• The warship was inducted on April 16, 1988. The ship is the third of the Godavari class guided-missile frigates and is the oldest warrior of the Western Fleet.
• INS Gomati was named after the River Gomati. It took part in several operations, including Operation Cactus, Parakram, and Indradhanush, and several other bilateral and multinational naval exercises.
• In recognition of its stellar contribution to the national maritime security, INS Gomati was awarded the prestigious Unit Citation twice, once in 2007-08 and again in 2019-20.
• INS Gomati will be kept alive in an open-air museum on the picturesque banks of river Gomati in Lucknow, where many of its combat systems will be displayed as military and war relics.