Daily Current Affairs Quiz 19 March 2023

d) Space junk

The Kessler Syndrome is a phenomenon in which the amount of junk in orbit around Earth reaches a point where it just creates more and more space debris, causing big problems for satellites, astronauts and mission planners.

c) Seaweed

Kappaphycus alvarezii is seaweed (alga) which is native to the Indo-Pacific region. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists it as one of the world’s 100 most invasive species. It is one of the prime threats that killed the corals near Kurusadai which was deliberately introduced in Ramanathapuram for commercial cultivation some two decades ago.

The government plans a seaweed park in Tamil Nadu, ignoring the threat that Kappaphycus, a widely grown invasive seaweed, poses to corals in the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park running along the state’s coastline.

a) China

The ‘Saudi-Iran Détente’ is a peace deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia which was recently brokered by China.
It is seen as Beijing’s step towards gaining a major influence in West Asia, where it has economic and political interests and rivalry with the US and the western powers.

c) Neither 1 nor 2
The LTTD is a process under which the warm surface seawater is flash evaporated at low pressure and the vapour is condensed with cold deep seawater. The pressured water vapourises and is trapped in tubes or a chamber. Cold water plumbed from the ocean depths is passed over these tubes and the vapour condenses into fresh water and the resulting salt is diverted away. Hence, statement 1 is incorrect.

LTTD which stands for Low-Temperature Thermal Desalination exploits the difference in temperature (nearly 15°C) in the ocean water at the surface and at depths of about 600 feet. Hence, statement 2 is incorrect.

National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) is working at making the Low-Temperature Thermal Desalination technology process free of emissions.

d) Saudi Arabia

Exercise Al-Mohed-Al Hindi-23 is a bilateral exercise between the naval forces of India and Saudi Arabia.
It is planned for May this year, to be held in Saudi Arabia’s Jubail. This will be the second such Naval Exercise, while the first one was held in August 2021.