Core investigations
Considerable ocean research has been done in India in the four
decades since the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) in the
1960s, but it is now time to provide a sharper focus to the research
effort. The goal of building the science underlying a forecasting
system provides a quantifiable scientific objective that also puts
publicly funded science and technology at the service of the country.
The formal mandate of forecasting itself lies with the Indian
National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS),
but successful forecasting systems that exist elsewhere (like the
ones in Europe or the Unites States) build on the considerable
research, both basic and applied, that precede such an effort at
forecasting. Hence, the forecasting system that INCOIS plans to
assemble for the Indian seas will also have to address the physical
processes that determine the conditions at sea: surface waves,
currents, sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity, mixed-layer
depth, etc. These physical conditions, in turn, influence the
chemistry and biology, and also play a role in the region's weather
and climate. Hence, it is essential to put in place the science
underlying these processes so that predictions in and for the Indian
coastal zone are based on firm, scientific foundations.
To meet this requirement, this project envisages the observations and modelling of shelf and slope regions around India and the estuaries, especially the estuaries of Goa.
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