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[Nasheman news] Bengaluru Researchers have discovered “methane hydrates” — a potential fuel of the future — just two meters below the sea floor in the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin off the coast of Andhra Pradesh in the Bay of Bengal.

The discovery has been reported by a team of scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa and the National Geophysical Research Institute in Hyderabad in the Journal of Earth System Science published by the Indian Academy of Sciences.

“This is the first report on the discovery of an active methane seepage site and the occurrence of shallow methane hydrate deposits in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ),” they report.

Methane hydrate, which is formed at low temperature and high pressure, is a solid crystal structure of water within which a large amount of methane gas is trapped.

This is a new and completely untapped reservoir of fossil fuel, because it contains, as its name suggests, a large quantity of methane, which is the main component of natural gas.

Global interest in the genesis of “methane seeps” in the oceans stems from the role of methane in global warming and in methane hydrate exploration.

According to the Indian researchers, the occurrence of methane gas hydrates at very shallow depths in K-G basin “is due to the presence of high methane flux and conducive pressure and temperature conditions, necessary for the stability of methane hydrate”.

“High biogenic methane flux close to the sediment-water interface has resulted in the crystallisation of methane hydrate at shallow depths below the seafloor”, they report.

The discovery was made during an expedition conducted in the K-G basin onboard the Sindhu Sadhana research vessel during January-February last year.

The active methane “seep sites” were detected by analysing the water-column images obtained through a multi-beam echo sounder. “The analysis of the images shows four distinct gas flares in the ridge area,” says the report. “These gas flares are tell-tale signatures of methane ebullition from the seabed.”

The mapping of the water column, coupled with precision sampling of sediment “led to the discovery of active cold seeps, associated biological communities and shallow gas hydrate.”

The diversity, spatial distribution and growth of organisms thriving in such an ecosystem are primarily controlled by fluxes of hydrogen sulfide and methane gas across the sediment-water interface, the report said.

Marine cold seeps and associated ecosystems have been reported from numerous sites across the globe, including the Makran coast of neighboring Pakistan. “Ours is the first report on the discovery of methane gas flares in the water column and associated benthic biotic community at the cold seep sites off K-G Basin,” the researchers report.

“The present discovery has brought India on to the global cold seep map and opened up the opportunity for future research on the possible role of methane emission on global warming, ocean acidification, extreme ecosystem, and bio-prospecting,” they conclude.

“With an estimated trillions of cubic meters of methane gas available in the gas hydrate deposits in the Indian waters, gas hydrates can be the future source of energy for India,” the Ministry of Earth Sciences, which spent Rs 1.43 billion in gas hydrate exploration during 2012-17, says on its website.

[Nasheman news] New Delhi Several airports including Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Amritsar and Chandigarh have been closed for civilian operation, airport sources said on Wednesday.

According to informed sources, the airports’ facilities are currently being used by the Indian Air Force (IAF). 

Consequently, no commercial operation will take place in these airports. Several flights to and from these airports have either been diverted or put on hold.

“Due to airspace restrictions, flights to and from Amritsar, Srinagar, Chandigarh and Jammu are currently on hold. Customers are requested to check flight status before commencing their journey to the airport,” Air Vistara tweeted.

[Nasheman news] New Delhi Robert Vadra, the brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning for the seventh time in connection with its probe into a money laundering case.

ED officials said that Vadra arrived at the agency’s Jamnagar office in central Delhi at 10.40 a.m.

The ED has questioned Vadra, for over 42 hours in connection with the case on February 6,7,9 20, 22 and 26. 

The case relates to the ownership of overseas assets worth 1.9 million pounds in London by Vadra.

On December 7, the ED had raided several of Vadra’s properties in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.

Vadra, husband of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, is on interim bail till March 2.

[Nasheman news] Bengaluru Bruised by the narrow three-wicket loss to Australia in the series opener, India will aim to come back strong and avoid a 0-2 whitewash in the second and final T20I at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, here on Wednesday.

After finishing their overseas assignments in Australia and New Zealand on a high, India were handed a stern reality check in the opening match, which saw the famed India batting lineup crumbling for a paltry 126/7 before the Aussies overcame Jasprit Bumrah’s impressive spell to romp home in the last ball thriller.

With only a handful of international games to be played ahead of the ICC World Cup, India’s focus may surely be on getting their strategy and combination right, but the hosts will also need to tighten a few screws going into the second T20I if they are to avoid a whitewash.

In the first match, the Indian batsmen failed to cash in the opportunity of playing on a placid track at Vizag, and barring comeback man Lokesh Rahul’s 50, skipper Virat Kohli and former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, none of the batters could even reach the double digits. 

While Rahul, who replaced regular opener Shikhar Dhawan, grabbed the opportunity with both hands, the other youngster Rishabh Pant, a strong contender for a World Cup 2019 berth, will be itching to perform after getting out cheaply on Sunday.

The pressure will also be on veteran stumper Dinesh Karthik, who is left with just one game to present his case before the World Cup squad is finalised.

Coming to the bowling department, Bumrah’s triple strikes gave jitters in the Kangaroos’s chase but fellow pacer Umesh Yadav leaked runs and was not able to defend 14 in the final over. India could replace Umesh with Siddharth Kaul or bring in all-rounder Vijay Shankar to beef up the batting department.

On the other hand, Australia will be hoping for a repeat of their performance, but with a cautious approach from the top order batsmen.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Krunal Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Sidharth Kaul, Mayank Markande.

Australia: Aaron Finch (Captain), D’Arcy Short, Pat Cummins, Alex Carey, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Peter Handscomb (wk), Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Adam Zampa.

[Nasheman news] New Delhi Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting here to discuss internal security, a day after the Indian Air Force (IAF) bombed the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror outfit’s biggest training camp in Pakistan.

The issues discussed in the meeting included the current situation in Jammu and Kashmir, intelligence inputs after Tuesday’s air strikes and further strategy, said sources.

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Intellligence Bureau chief Rajiv Jain, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) chief Anil Kumar Dhasmana were present in the meeting along with other senior officials.

[Nasheman news] New Delhi Three Pakistan Air Force (PAF) F-16 fighter jets on Wednesday violated Indian airspace in Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir, but were pushed back by the Indian side, top police sources said.

“The jets entered into the Indian air space over Nowshera sector of Rajouri district this morning,” a police official said, adding that the Indian fighter jets on air patrol immediately scrambled and pushed them back beyond the Line of Control (LoC). 

Following which, all commercial operation in Leh, Pathankot, Jammu and Srinagar have been put on hold, airport authorities informed.

There were no immediate reports of the Pakistani side having dropped any payload in the Indian territory.

Indian Air Defence Systems have been put of maximum alert.