DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

Dense fog covered the better part of north India during the last days of December and the 1^st couple of days of 2024.

What is fog?

A fog – It is a collection of small droplets of water produced when evaporated water has cooled down and condensed.It is nothing but a thick cloud, but very close to the earth’s surface.

• Conditions for a thick fog
  • Lower temperatures
  • Abundant moisture near the surface
  • Higher humidity
  • The process by which it cools

Fog materialises whenever there is a temperature disparity between the ground and the air.

What are the different types of fog?

• Radiation Fog – It forms when all solar energy exits the earth and allows the temperature to meet up with the dew point and the best condition is when it had rained the previous night.
• Precipitation Fog – It forms when rain is falling through cold air which is common with a warm fronts but it can occur with cold fronts as well only if it's not moving too fast.
• Cold air, dry at the surface while rain is falling through it evaporates and causes the dew point to rise and this saturation forms fog.
• Advection Fog – It forms from surface contact of horizontal winds and can occur with windy conditions.
• When cool moisture on the ground comes in contact with the warm, moist winds, it cause the air blowing in to become cool and then dew point rises and creates high humidity and forms fog.

Steam Fog – It forms during the fall season on any lake due to the difference in rate of cooling and interactions between the upper cold air and relatively warmer lake.

• Upslope Fog – It forms adiabatically, as moist winds blow toward a mountain, it up glides and this causes the air to rise and cool.
• The cooling of the air from rising causes to meet up with the dew point temperature and so fog forms on top of the mountains.
• Valley Fog – It forms in the valley when the soil is moist from previous rainfall.
• As the skies clear solar energy exits earth and allow the temperature to cool near or at the dew point.

Valley fog is so dense that sometimes it is called as tule fog.

• Freezing Fog – It occurs when the temperature falls at 32°F (0°C) or below, it produces drizzle and these tiny droplets freeze when they come into contact with an object.
• Ice Fog – It is only seen in the polar and artic regions.
• Temperatures at 14 F (-10°C) is too cold for the air to contain super-cooled water droplets so it forms small tiny ice crystals.

What is the situation of fogging in northern India?

• During Indian winters, the fog is created when the temperature drops at night and in the early morning, condenses on aerosols present in the atmosphere.
• Vulnerable regions – The entire Indo-Gangetic plains
• Favourable conditions – It is due to presence of
  • Low temperatures
  • Low wind speed
  • Moisture availability
  • Plenty of aerosols
• Moisture incursion – It can happen once a Western Disturbance, a precipational pattern that brings rain to north India during winter months moves across northern parts.
• Sometimes, it can happen from the Arabian Sea also.
• Effect of fogging – Fog disrupting the lives of people in North India with the condition of poor visibility.
• It impacts air travel and land transportation
• It also increases the pollution.

Recently, Delhi experienced an increase in pollution levels, with an AQI rating of “severe.”

A new report by the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change warns of the severe health consequences of climate change in India.

What are the key highlights of the report?

• Rise in temperature- It poses a significant threat to lives, health and wellbeing, leading to an increased risk of death and heat-related diseases.
• Vulnerable group at risk- Due to elevated temperature older individuals, socio economically deprived communities, very young children, pregnant women and those with underlying health issues are particularly at risk.
• Impact on health-

• Economic fallout- Agricultural workers face the brunt experiencing 64% of potential hours lost and 55% of potential income loss.

In 2022, India lost 191 billion labour hours due to heat, which was 54% more than in 1991-2000.

• Urgent call for action- The report stresses the critical need for immediate action, emphasizing the urgency of strengthening local health systems, adapting to climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
• Air pollution- The report addresses the health impact of air pollution, attributing increasing deaths to small particulate matter (PM2.5) generate from human activities.
• Energy transition- Transition to renewable energy is identified as a crucial step to mitigate air pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emission and promote universal, affordable and clean energy.
• Drought - India’s vulnerability to extreme weather events including drought is outlined impacting crop yields, livestock and food security.
• Spread of diseases- The suitability for the spread of infectious diseases like malaria, dengue has increased due to climate change.
• Local engagement- The report emphasized the importance of locally relevant data and research to inform policies and enable government to take a leading role in championing health centered climate action.
• Global collaboration- The report gives a call for global collaboration to address the urgent challenges posed by the climate change.

What lies ahead?

• Climate negotiations must drive a rapid and sustained shift away from fossil fuels, accelerate mitigation, and increase support for health adaptation.
• The coordinated action of health professionals, policy makers, corporations, and financial institutions is the need of the hour to ensure a thriving future.
• Health-centred urban redesign can promote safe active travel, reduce building and transport-based air pollution and GHG emissions, and increase resilience to climate hazards

The New York Times (NYT) filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for using its copyrighted work to train and generate Artificial Intelligence products.

Why NYT filed allegation against AI firms?

• Use of copyrighted materials- NYT claims that Open AI and Microsoft are free-riding on its journalism, stealing its audience.
• It argues that Open AI and Microsoft’s use is not transformative or fair, and that it harms the potential market for its work.
• They use NYT’s copies to train their large language models (LLMs), including ChatGPT and Copilot.
• Loss of revenue- AI firms are reproducing articles by passing paywalls using a browsing plugin.
• Loss of autonomy- The copyrighted news articles, in-depth investigations, opinions etc., are being used unlawfully to create AI products that jeopardize its ability to deliver that service.
• Unfair competition- Chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat could harm NYT’s business by using its content to create competing products that discourage users from visiting its website.
• Misinformation- The problem with LLMs is that they produce false or inaccurate information by fabricating the content which is called as hallucination in AI.
• Lack of market- Misinformation harms the reputation and trustworthiness of the newspaper which undermines the quality and value of journalism, as it makes it harder for people to distinguish between true and false information.

What is OpenAI’s legal stance?

• Fair use-They may claim that using NYT's articles to train their AI products is a fair use of copyrighted material.
• Fair use factors- Fair use depends on four factors, such as
  • Purpose and character of use,
  • Nature of the work,
  • The amount used, and
  • The effect on the market.
• Transformative use- Purpose and character of use factor is crucial as it considers whether OpenAI's use is transformative, meaning it adds something new or different to the original work.
• However, this may be challenged by the fact that the LLM does not retain the original data, but only learns from it.

What lies ahead?

• The complaint is the 1^st AI copyright lawsuit within the news ecosystem, arguing that the generative AI models threaten the publication’s business model and compromise the credibility.
• The lawsuit could have significant impact on the future of generative AI and intellectual property, as it raises questions about the value and meaning of creativity and art in the age of AI.
• A new legal framework is required as existing laws may not adequately address the issues of authorship and ownership of works created by AI, which uses copyrighted material as training data.

• A Fog Pass Device is a GPS-based navigation device that helps train loco pilot navigate through dense fog.
• It provides on-board real-time information (Display as well as voice guidance) to Loco Pilots.

It gives information regarding location of fixed landmarks such as Signal, Level Crossing gate (Manned & Unmanned), Permanent Speed Restrictions, Neutral Sections etc.

• Recently National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) signed a 3-year MoU with the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) to develop & report a Green Cover Index for National highways.

MGCI is a metric that measures the amount of green vegetation in mountain areas (forest, shrubs, trees, pasture land, crop land, etc.) in order to monitor progress towards the mountain target.