![]() ![]() What is white phosphorus?Ī pungent, wax-like substance, white phosphorus produces a thick white smoke when it burns, making it effective for masking friendly force movement, experts said.īut phosphorus is also infamous for the damage it can cause to both humans and the area where it is deployed. It can include weapons like incendiary grenades and flamethrowers, as well as unguided bombs - known as submunitions - filled with incendiary agents like napalm or white phosphorus. Made up of flammable substances that burn brightly, incendiary weapons are used to set fire to enemy positions, create smoke screens to hide troop movements, and provide illumination in low-light conditions.īut the category of “incendiary weapon” is a broad one. Incendiaries are so feared not only for their indiscriminate nature - meaning they disperse over a wide area and are more likely to come into contact with civilians - but also for the horrific injuries they inflict.īut what is white phosphorus, what does it do and what is the evidence that Russia has used it in Ukraine? Russia has deployed a huge array of weapons in the four months of its ongoing military campaign in Ukraine, but some of the most controversial are incendiary weapons, including white phosphorus munitions. But, as Monica Ionita warns, "There are likely to be farther-reaching consequences for the Danube's flora and fauna, especially if we bear in mind that, because of global warming, the air and water temperatures will continue to rise.In a grainy, black and white video published Friday, a Russian jet swoops low over Snake Island in the Black Sea, recently vacated by Russian troops, and drops several bombs.Īccording to the Ukrainain military, the bombs contained white phosphorus. As such, we can clearly see the results of human influences."įor those engaged in shipping on the Danube, the lack of winter ice shouldn't cause any problems: with no ice, they can enjoy smooth sailing. But since the early 1950s, such a light frost isn't enough today, the air temperature has to dip below minus 1.05 degrees for the surface to freeze over. ![]() ![]() As Ionita relates, "From 1837 to 1950, the winter temperatures only had to drop to minus 0.54 degrees for an ice sheet to form on the Danube. In addition, since the 1980s the Black Sea hasn't become as cold as in past winters, and its warmth is making the winters in Eastern Europe and Western Russia milder and wetter.Īnother reason why the Danube no longer freezes over is the inflow of wastewater and heat. Ever since then, the winter months have rarely been sufficiently cold, and the Danube and other major rivers can no longer freeze over on a regular or extended basis," says Monica Ionita.Ĭompared to the past, the average winter temperature in Eastern Europe is now roughly 1.5 degrees warmer than between 19. "In Europe, there has been a clearly recognisable rise in winter temperatures since the late 1940s. Their findings show that the climate in Central and Eastern Europe has changed substantially over the past several decades. She and her colleagues have compared the ice records from Tulcea and other cities along the Danube with local and national meteorological time series. Most of them don't realise that the amount of winter ice on Europe's seas and rivers is an equally important indicator for a changing climate," explains Dr Monica Ionita, a climate researcher at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). "When climate researchers talk about ice and global warming, most people think of the Greenland Ice Sheet or the sea ice on the Arctic Ocean. So what explains why the residents of Tulcea haven't been able to skate on the Danube for the past 70 years?Ī German-Romanian research team has sought to answer this question. ![]() A comparison with regions farther upstream shows that in Tulcea, the entryway to the Danube Delta, the river freezes longer and much more frequently than e.g. Mathematically speaking, that means less than one in six winters. But since the middle of the 20th century, the entries in the column "ice" have become few and far between: between 19, Europe's second-largest river only froze over ten times. Until roughly 70 years ago, the ice archivists reported ice cover almost every year. Since 1836, the Danube Commission has recorded every winter in which the river froze over, how long the river was covered by a solid sheet of ice, and the day on which the ice began to break up. In the Romanian harbour town Tulcea, an ice diary is dutifully maintained. ![]()
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