The Hindu Business Line : Indian Ocean, hotspot for research work

Tokyo, Jan 28 The Indian Ocean is becoming the hotspot for research activities by major international institutions with studies indicating its growing influence on evolving weather over places as far away as western US and northern Europe.

Several speakers at an international symposium held here on ‘Climate Research Applications - Innovation with Society’ hosted by the Application Laboratory of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Sciences and Technology (Jamstec) emphasised this aspect saying this was among the ‘least explored’ of all oceans. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Jamstec are among theleading institutions already engaged in this manner or are planning to extend the scope of coverage in the near future.

The Indian Ocean is part of the NOAA’s Global Ocean Observing System, said Dr Sidney Thurston, International Coordinator, NOAA Office of Climate Observation. The Global Ocean Observing System is designed not just to meet climate requirements but also support weather prediction, global and coastal ocean prediction, marine hazards warning, transportation, marine environment, ecosystem monitoring and naval applications.

Partnership

“By this time next year, the implementation of the ocean observing system, which includes putting up a global drifting surface buoy array for observations, should be over,” Dr Thurston said. NOAA and India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences have entered into a partnership for earth observations and earth sciences for an implementing arrangement of Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA). The aim is to expand the array from 22 to 31 moorings by the end of this year.

NOAA provides most equipment under the programme while partners, including India, provide ‘ship time’ allowing the ships to ply the territorial waters (150 to 200 days a year) for making the observations. According to Dr Esther C. Conrad, Senior Staff Associate, Asia Programme Coordinator at the IRI, the research body is funding a project to improve management of agricultural risks through use of monsoon forecasts. “It’s a new and exciting programme,” she said.

Interaction with India

In this manner, the IRI is looking forward to interact with the Indian Government more closely than ever before, said Dr Stephen E. Zebiak, Director-General. Dr Kenraro Ando, Researcher at the Application Laboratory at Jamstec as well as Dr Swadhin Behera, Sub Leader at the Frontier Research Centre for Global Change, Jamstec, also threw light on various ways their respective institutions are seeking to subject the Indian Ocean to deeper research in the near future.

The Indian Ocean Dipole, a periodical see-sawing sea-surface temperatures in the southwest and southeast Indian Ocean, have already been well documented as having profound implications for the Indian monsoons and other global oceanic and atmospheric phenomena.

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