Vision:
To understand and predict the impacts on coastal environment for advising protective measures for coastal health.
Objectives:
- Modelling hydrodynamics, water quality and oil spill dispersion at select coastal regions (Eg: Gujarat, Konkan and Paradip) using POM, MM5 and MIKE models to study the impact on the coastal ecosystems.
- Identification of land use/ land cover changes (Gujarat and Goa) due to anthropogenic activities and its impact on coastal zone
- Mapping of coastal and estuarine waters off Goa for harmful bloom forming algal species (HAB)
- Studying the transport mechanism and arrival of tar ball / oil residue to the Goa coast during monsoon – a pilot study
- Waste assimilative capacity of select Indian coastal waters
- Geospatial analysis of coastal data collected in GoK and Goa using GIS database
|
Team Members:
Mascarenhas, A.
Babu, M.T.
Saran, A.K.
Jaykumar, S.
Ilangovan, D.
Verlenkar, X.N.
Rathod, V.
Manimurali, R.
Joseph, A.
Pattenshetty, S.S.
Bhat, S.R.
Menezes, A. A.
Jagtap, T.G.
Suryanarayana, A.
Kunte, P.D.
Vijayakumar, K.
Sudheesh, K.
Das, S.
|
General description:
Coastal ecosystems are subject to a series of pressures that affect the flora and fauna continuously. These pressures have the potential to cause changes in the ecosystem by altering the processes that determine the ecosystem's structure and function. The occurrence of such pressures gives rise to a need for scientific information and better understanding of the biogeochemical responses of ecosystems. Numerical modelling of the hydrodynamics is essential to study the impact of biological and chemical stresses on the coastal waters. Modelling packages such as MIKE21, POM and MM5 will be used for simulating various parameters such as water level variations, currents and winds in the coastal marine environment. These can be coupled with biological and chemical load to study the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and dissolved oxygen (DO) which would act as water quality indicators. Select regions along the Indian coast are taken up for this study.
Varying levels of coupling exists between sea level and different surface meteorological forcing. The character of such coupling may be different in different environments such as open coast, gulf and channels, and may have strong/weak seasonal dependence. Influence of the presence of suspended sediments and other particulate matter on the “effective density” of shallow water bodies and the role of winds, currents, and turbulence in modifying the effective density is an interesting field of study. Gogla channel in Diu is an important area to look at in this respect, together with time-series measurements of density, turbidity and vertical profiles of water pressure at 0.5 m spatial separation.
Field observations and measurements have confirmed that sand dunes and dense forests posses an innate capacity of attenuating wave up-rush resulting from abnormal sea conditions. This hypothesis is confirmed by negligible over wash wherever high sand dunes were present, and by modest damage only to a narrow frontal coastal forests such as casuarinas and mangroves. Continuous field oriented experiments are needed to ascertain the level of natural protection offered by coastal geomorphic features in the wake of extreme events. Numerical experiments will also be conducted to estimate energy reduction.
Coastal zones are highly subject to the onslaught of both anthropogenic as well as natural coastal processes. Depending on the type of coast and the coastal habitat, its vulnerability can be assessed and ranked according to its sensitivity. This is possible by analyzing the series of land use maps over few decades over the coastal region, which provides an indication of the extent of coastal zone affected by various activities. It is proposed to assess specified coastline with respect to its changes over a period of time, and establish the ESI (Environmental Sensitive Index), which can be used by the coastal planners and decision makers.
Indian coast is increasingly stressed because of rapid urbanization and industrial activities. Exposure of animals to xenobiotics brings disturbances in metabolic function activating detoxifying enzymes and antioxidant system. This could be used as potential biomarker to measure health of the prevailing species and help in control of pollution. While extensive work on biomarker research is being undertaken in several parts of the world such studies are yet to receive sufficient attention in India. Specimen will be obtained from stressed environments as also away from pollution. As a confirmation analysis, biomarkers selected from laboratory studies will be compared with the field specimen and best responsive parameters will be selected.
Algal bloom is now a well known biological process and the harmful ones to the living organisms, directly or indirectly is steadily increasing in coastal waters. One primary goal of sampling coastal waters therefore is to gain prediction ability of outbreaks of blooms for alerting the society about the adverse consequences Frequent bloom formation do reflect the degrading or not so healthy waters. The first and the foremost requirement is to have a sound knowledge on the distribution of various species and keeping eye on recurrent harmful ones. Correct identification of species and preparation of distribution maps largely calls for precise microscopic and chemical studies over a period of time. At the moment we have neither long term sampling data nor any consolidated information on this aspect and hence the emphasis.
Coastal areas are subject to a great deal of natural variability, socio-economic pressures and problems associated with dynamic changes in coastal Scenarios should be developed for coastal zone development under changing climate, land use, river inputs and biophysical forcing functions. Land-use change is a major driver of global change, through its interaction with climate, ecosystem processes, biogeochemical cycles, biodiversity and - even more importantly - human activities. Land-use/land-cover change is clearly an essential component in all considerations of sustainability. Research Plan of IGBP/ HDP, 1995 describes more for a thorough description of the role of land-use/land-cover change as a critical issue for global change research, and as bridging research between the natural and social sciences.
GIS can be integrated with a coastal model in order to simplify modelling procedures, facilitating the generation of input data and allowing easy visualization and analysis of model results. The GIS can also extend the scope of the mode by adding new GIS functionality to make modeling procedures relevant to specific management scenarios. This leads to greater understanding of coastline response and hence to better management decisions for their future protection.
Scientific components and achievements:
Research work carried out under this project is given below. Details could be found in the publications given in the brackets.
- Source and dispersal of suspended sediment in the macrotidal Gulf of Kachchh [Ramaswamy, V, B. Nagender Nath, P.Vethamony and D. Illangovan, Mar. Poll. Bull: 54, 708 – 719, 2007].
- Thermohaline structure of an inverse estuary (the Gulf of Kachchh): measurements and model simulations [Vethamony, P, MT Babu, MV Ramanamurty, AK Saran, Antony Joseph, K Sudheesh, Rupali SP and S Jayakumar, Mar. Poll. Bull: 54, 697 – 707, 2007].
- Trajectory of an oil spill off Goa, eastern Arabian Sea: field observations and simulations [Vethamony, P., Sudheesh, K., Babu, M.T., Jayakumar, S., Manimurali, R., Saran, A.K., Sharma, L.H., Rajan, B., Srivastava, M.,Envt. Poll: 148, 438 -444, 2007].
- Taxonomy of marine micro-algae [S. R. Bhat, Curr.Sci: 93, No. 5, 597 -598, 2007].
- Biochemical markers of oxidative stress in Perna viridis exposed to mercury and temperature [Verlecar, X.N., Jena, K.B, Chainy G.B.N, Chem-Biol. Interact: 167(1), 219-226, 2007].
- Response and adaptability of mangrove habitats from the Indian subcontinent to changing climate [Jagtap, T.G.; Nagle, V.L., Ambio: 36(4), 328-334, 2007].
- Seasonal variation of oxidative biomarkers in gills and digestive gland of green-lipped mussel Perna viridis from Arabian Sea. [X.N. Verlecar a, K.B. Jena , G.B.N. Chainy, Estuar, Coast and Shelf Sci, xx, xx-xx, 2008].
- An environmental perspective of the post-tsunami scenario along the coast of TamilNadu, India:role of sand dunes and forests [Antonio Mascarenhas and seelam Jayakumar, J.Envtl. Mgt, xx, xx-xx, 2008].
Facilities available:
a) Models
MIKE 21 - Flow Model (Hydrodynamic, Advection-Dispersion, Mud Transport and Eco Lab)
- Flow Model FM
- Spectral Waves
- Offshore Spectral Waves
- Nearshore Spectral Waves
- Spill Analysis
- Particle Analysis
MIKE 3 - Flow Model (Hydrodynamic)
MM5 model - Fifth generation of PSU/NCAR Mesoscale model
ComMIT - Tsunami model
b) Equipment
- RCM 7 and RCM 9 current meters & mooring accessories
- GPS
- Wave Rider Buoys
- ADCP (3 in 1) to measure currents, tides and waves
- CTD system (salinity, Temp, depth, DO, Turbidity, PAR and Flurometer sensors)
c) Digital image processing software: ERDAS and ENVI
d) Geographic Information System: ARCGIS
|
