“Changer d’air” is the news on the environment and the climate, every Friday. On December 16, the SWOT satellite was launched, a technological gem that will examine the oceans. We also take stock of the forest fires in Europe and the Maasai Olympic Games in Kenya. Games to protect lions.
SWOT is a Franco-American satellite developed by CNES and NASA which will be able to observe almost all the water on earth, whether it is lakes, rivers or oceans.
Its distant predecessor had highlighted the phenomenon El Nino in 1994. SWOT will offer an unprecedented sharpness of observation on the dynamics of the oceans and certain phenomena that could not be seen from space. Until now, the resolution of the images did not make it possible to observe phenomena of a dimension lower than 150 km; this satellite will multiply by 10 the definition of the images, opening the way to an “instantaneous” photograph of phenomena which sometimes are only a few centimeters high.
This is an essential step forward for the knowledge of the climate machine which is strongly linked to the oceans, the latter acting like a giant thermostat, as explained by Thierry Lafon, SWOT project manager at CNES.
It’s a technological breakthrough whose funding is turning heads: a billion dollars!
Another phenomenon linked to climate change, forest fires
2022 is a record year in Europe in terms of burned surfaces and carbon emissions due to these fires.
More than 785,000 hectares went up in smoke from January 1, 2022 to November 19, according to EFFIS, the European forest fire information system and the European climate change program Copernicus.
This is more than double the average since 2006. The cause: the duration and intensity of heat waves in Europe this summer, combined with widespread drought conditions on the European continent this year. As for carbon emissions due to forest fires, they are 6.4 megatons from June 1 to August 31 in Europe, the highest level since the summer of 2007.
In Australia, NGOs denounce the 15 months in prison imposed on an environmental activist
Australia is one of the toughest countries when it comes to cracking down on those fighting climate change. Deanna Coco, 32, had climbed onto her truck parked on Sydney Harbor Bridge to ignite a distress flare, blocking a lane of traffic for 25 minutes. She was eventually released on bail. NGOs such as Amnesty International to Australian trade unions have signed an open letter saying no to the jailing of peaceful climate activists and calling for reform.
Finally an initiative to protect lions in Kenya, the Maasai Olympics
They were held for the 5th time this year in the south of the country in the Kimana reserve near Tanzania. One hundred and sixty young Maasai, girls and boys, took part in the competitions which somehow replace a rite which wants Maasai warriors to prove their virility by killing a lion.
The lions are threatened by poaching but also by the drought which is affecting Kenya with unprecedented intensity. There are only 23,000 lions left on the African continent and the number is steadily falling.
