Harsh Vats

We propose a new tectonic model which provides insights on active tectonics in the Himalayan foreland & their linkage with an advancing detachment plane. By advanced #DInSAR, we interpret another set of reverse faults in the alluvial region South of HFT. share.google/fYnbnt2JaqQNcE…

We haven’t even reached peak summers and Maharashtra is seeing record soaring heat. We are mercilessly reducing tree cover under the garb of development only to face peak energy needs and to deal with the heat. Should this not be a priority for government’s agenda? This is climate emergency but politics in governance only tuned to handle political emergency.

Himalayan snow cover has fallen to 27.8% below normal in 2026, the lowest in over 2 decades, raising concerns about water security for nearly two billion people.

It will become hotter next year because our government keeps on cutting down trees so Babus and Netas can make more money for themselves through real estate development, mining, factories and data centres.

From lush Hasdeo forests to barren land, and now a country burning at 40–45°C, this is the cost of reckless governance. Forests sacrificed, climate ignored, people left to suffer. Development shouldn’t mean destruction. This isn’t progress, it’s failure.

ATMOSPHERIC CO2 JUST TOPPED 430 PPM, 3-5 MILLION YEAR HIGH Accelerating atmospheric CO2 reached 431 ppm in April 2026, the highest in 3 to 5 million years and the fastest increase in 10s of millions of years. Fossil fuel fatal CO2 emissions are still being increased, meaning global temperatures will soon become unlivable on to unsurvivable, an insanely evil fossil fuel hellish future. keelingcurve.ucsd.edu #CO2 #climatechange #globalwarming

I know that it's almost impossible to read this one page write up on #Mussoorie by team HT in this mornings paper on Twitter. So kindly allow me to share 3 key summary points as understood by me: 1. Unregulated and illegal construction frenzy in Mussoorie has totally exposed the failure of Uttarakhand govt and it's agencies. Directions of courts mean nothing and have been ignored with profit driven builders gambling with lives. 2. Authorities are issuing reports and guidelines yet enforce nothing, thereby enabling illegal hotels, choking roads, destabilizing slopes, inviting landslides and predictable disaster. 3. Tourism greed has trumped sustainability with overwhelmed infrastructure, mismanaged waste and sidelined residents. This has turned the fragile hill town of Mussoorie into a catastrophe. Local political leadership accepts that there is a problem but is toothless and has no solutions to offer. @neerajsantoshi

Kedarnath was never meant to feel like this. I’m from Uttarakhand, I’m Hindu, and this hurts to say, but we’ve turned a pilgrimage into a chaotic tourist rush. You climb all that way for something sacred, and the first thing you meet is mismanagement. No proper queues, no control, people breaking lines while others keep waiting for hours thinking rules matter. Tokens, timings, announcements… none of it actually works on the ground. Then there’s the VIP darshan confusion. Officially closed, practically open for those who manage to push through or get allowed in and the crowd itself has changed. Many aren’t there for darshan, they’re there for reels, vlogs, content. Meanwhile, real things are happening. A pilgrim died of a heart attack, and even after 12 hours there was no airlifting, his body lay there while his son was pleading for help. In another incident, a child was beaten by police during crowd control. You go there looking for peace and come back disturbed, not because of the trek, but because of what it has become. And if this is how we’re going to run our most sacred places, we need to stop calling it a pilgrimage and start calling it what it has become.

Sub: Long Range Forecast for Southwest Monsoon Seasonal Rainfall 2026 (1) India Meteorological Department predicts below normal southwest monsoon seasonal (June to September) rainfall over the country as a whole during 2026. (2) Quantitatively, the southwest monsoon seasonal rainfall over the country as a whole during 2026 is likely to be 92% of long period average (LPA) with a model error of ± 5%. The LPA of the monsoon seasonal rainfall over the country as a whole based on 1971-2020 is 87 cm. (3) Spatially, below-normal seasonal rainfall is most likely over many parts of country except some areas over Northeast, Northwest and South Peninsular India, where it is likely to be normal to above-normal. (4) El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-neutral conditions are most likely during April to June 2026. Thereafter, El-Nino conditions are very likely during SW Monsoon season. (5) Neutral Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) conditions are prevailing over the Indian Ocean. Positive IOD conditions are likely to develop towards the end of SW monsoon season which is favourable for SW monsoon seasonal rainfall. (6) Northern Hemisphere Snow Cover as well as Eurasian Snow Cover during January to March 2026 were slightly below normal, which is favourable for southwest monsoon seasonal rainfall 2026. (7) Detailed Press Release is available at mausam.imd.gov.in @PMOIndia @DrJitendraSingh @moesgoi @PIBHomeAffairs @icarindia @ICRER_MHA @DDNewslive @airnewsalerts @IAF_MCC @ndmaindia @IndiannavyMedia @IndiaCoastGuard

A dying river !!! Already suffering from immense plastic and chemical pollution now face another severe threat. Banks are being turned to construction and demolition waste dumps. What next??? @mohitgupta1962 @Earthworri1 @reenupaul @Indian_Rivers @vandymini @anuchhabrani

@Sahyog25 @VinayKumar_IRPS @mohitgupta1962 @ilovepanchkula @MC_Panchkula @Solutionboxpkl @saveusfromdump @SandeepRanaChd @GaurBrijender @nudgingthoughts @sanjivoscar @SwachhBharatGov A huge win for the citizens of Panchkula! Thank you @VinayKumar_IRPS for halting the Jhuriwala dumping site. Saving our groundwater is the best gift for future generations. Kudos for prioritizing sustainability and public health. #saveriverghaggar @BhavreenMK @Earthworri1

Summer delayed: Significantly below-normal temperatures are expected across most parts of India during the next 2-3 weeks. A very weak summer is expected for at least the next 4 weeks. Image courtesy IMD.

While the state of NavIC is sad, it is what it is, lot to say but then..... but here's why the replacement satellites (NVS series) is a step above the previous IRNSS constellation - L1 band included - phones won't require special seperate radio chips like old navic sats, phones that support L1 with GPS can in theory support Navic now subject to software update (not showing up on my pixel yet) - some indigenous atomic clocks, details are not fully clear but hearing not all are imported clocks, we have our own in the mix/all Nvs 01 is already up, nvs-02 had propulsion valve failure which caused Lauch of remaining to slip heavily, if things are good we should have a couple or 3 more in the next year hopefully which will stabilize the constellation. Not ideal I know, but looking at the lack of urgency makes me wonder if this constellation is in heavy use by defence either.... Let's see

An asteroid strike ended the era of dinosaurs and many other life forms 66.05 million years ago. But what role did Deccan Volcanism play in the end Cretaceous mass extinction? I survey the fossil record and other environmental parameters. rapiduplift.substack.com/p/deccan-volca…

A NDMA analysis of recent major disasters says that incidents in Chamoli, Wayanad and even Silkyara tunnel were avoidable. Silkyara tunnel had experienced 21 collapses before the November 2023 incident. @jayashreenandi & I report for @htTweets hindustantimes.com/india-news/cha…

Deccan volcanism ended more than 60 million years ago. Why are there hot springs along the coastal plains of Konkan? My post on this topic- suvratk.blogspot.com/2019/08/hot-wa…

Floods are part of a river’s NATURAL ecological cycle. If rivers don’t flood, they are no more a river. Riverine floods are not BAD. Some of the most fertile lands in our country are FLOODPLAINS. Assam is India’s second most flood-prone state. Spare the rivers. Let them flow!

Interestingly, subsiding movement is observed over the Haldwani fan deposits in the case of ascending orbit #PSInSAR. We infer that it is a roughly southward downslope creeping motion resulting from several transverse active faults with predominant strike- slip components!

We propose a new tectonic model which provides insights on active tectonics in the Himalayan foreland & their linkage with an advancing detachment plane. By advanced #DInSAR, we interpret another set of reverse faults in the alluvial region South of HFT. share.google/fYnbnt2JaqQNcE…

We found an avg RADAR LOS uplift of 2–3 cm/yr along the piedmont fault segments during the observation period, which can produce a topographic rise of less than 1 m in 100 years. A 10–15 m topographic break as observed in the study area can be achieved in about 1000–1500 years!

We are gambling away our health, says Monte Carlo risk modelling.