NewsVolume 5 Issue 2 July - December 2013 ISSN 0973-9971

International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography (ITCOocean)ESSO-INCOIS signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission o

to collaborate on training and capacity building activities for the benefit of students/ researchers in the Indian Ocean Rimand African countries.

n 4 July, 2013, inParis

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Training Courses at ITCOocean

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Ensemble Kalman Filtering - Methods and Algorithms (July 15 - 26, 2013) [Participants: 30 researchers and mathematical

modelers from INCOIS, IITM, NCMRWF, NRSC,

Summer School on Fundamentals of Ocean Climate Modeling at Global and Regional Scales (6-14August 2013)

[Participants: 30 students/youngscientists from Indian Ocean Rim countries [Australia (CSIRO, University of

University of Hyderabad, Jawarharlal Nehru Technological University,Hyderabad and Jadavpur University]

conducted

in collaboration withAbdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy;Tasmania), Belgium (University Catholoque de

Louvain), Kenya (Kenya Meteorological Department), Nigeria (University of Nigeria , Togo (University of Lome)] and fromInstitutes in India ( IITM, INCOIS, CMMACS, NIO,IISc and Jadhavpur University)]

In this Issue

� Oceanography(ITCOocean)

On land earthquake and a minor tsunamiWave forecasts during cyclone “Phailin”

Workshop, LecturesOcean Data Bank (ODB) update

Honours & AwardsPublications

International Training Centre for Operational

Indian Seismic and GNSS Network (ISGN)VSAT aided Emergency Communication System (VECS)implemented for Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Research highlights

Web usage

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Signing of MoA with IOC (Dr. WendyWatson-Wright,Exec.Secretary of IOC/

UNESCO and Dr. S.S.C. Shenoi,Director, ESSO-INCOIS)

Prof. Lakshmivarahan teaching theuse of Ensemble Kalman Filters for

Data Assimilation

Inauguration of Summer School onOcean Climate Modelling at Global

and Regional Scales.

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Indian Seismic and GNSS Network (ISGN) is established

ESSO-INCOIS established a state-of-the-art permanent digital network called the Indian Seismicand GNSS Network (ISGN) which is the first of its kind to be implemented in the country to

GNSS stations and provide high quality data for multi-use scientific research andoperational monitoring. The network was inaugurated by Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, MoES, onNovember 21 2013 during the International Society for Photogrammetry and RemoteSensing(ISRPS) workshop at ESSO-INCOIS.

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handleboth Seismic and

VSAT aided Emergency Communication System (VECS) implemented for Andaman & NicobarIslands

Considering the vulnerability of the Andaman & Nicobar (A&N) Islands due to their closeness to a subduction zone, ESSO-INCOIS hasimplemented a fail-safe satellite-based communication system connecting 7 Emergency Operation Centres (EOCs) of A&N with ESSO-INCOIS. The Electronic Display Board, which is part of the system, is capable of displaying tsunami warning messages as well as triggering asiren that is audible up to ~1 km. A computer system integrated with VSAT internet facility is used by EOCs for receipt of both audio-visualearthquake alerts and tsunami bulletins from the Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) at ESSO-INCOIS(www.tsunami.incois.gov.in).

On land earthquake and a minor tsunami

The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) at ESSO-INCOIS,earthquake that occurred

near Awaran, on 24 September 2013 at 1659 IST (1129 UTC) ,about 180 km away from the coast. Since the event was not expected togenerate a tsunami, ITEWC issued two bulletins for the event indicating thatthere was no tsunami threat for India and the Indian Ocean Rim countries.

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monitored over 87 earthquakes including thePakistan

However, during the event, some peculiar observations were recorded by Indian tsunami buoys (STB02 and TB12) as well as 8 sealevel gauges on the coasts of India, Iran and Oman. They indicated open ocean tsunami waves as high as 9 mm and 11 mm along withcoastal tsunami waves ranging from 2 cm to 55 cm. Though the exact reasons are not known, it is believed that the tsunami may havebeen caused by underwater landslides due to the formation of a mud volcano, triggered by the earthquake.

Tide gauge data from Qurayat, Oman, depicting the Tsunami dueto Pakistan earth quake.

Wave Forecasts during Cyclone “Phailin”

Atropical depression that developed within the Gulf of Thailand on October 4 2013, passed over theAndaman and Nicobar Islands and intothe Bay of Bengal and developed as a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm “ Phailin”. ESSO-INCOIS monitored the progress of the storm andprovided forecasts for wave heights expected along all sections of the Indian east coast. Phailin made landfall on October 12 around 22:30IST (17:00 UTC) near Gopalpur in Odisha.

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Real time data recorded at 5 p.m. on October 12 (during the approach of the cyclone to the east coast) by a buoy close to Gopalpur,indicated a wave height of 7.35 m which closely matched the forecasted value of 7 m for that area.

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Research highlights

� Time series of temperature data from 8°N, 12°N, and 15°N along 90°E in the Bay of Bengal (BoB) revealed the prevalence of apersistent intraseasonal variability ( 30-120 days) in the thermocline. The variability at 90 – 120 days seems to be driven by the zonalwinds at the equator while the 30–70 day thermocline variability seems to be driven by interior Ekman pumping over the Bay and to alesser extent by the zonal wind stress at the equator and the alongshore wind stress in the eastern BoB.

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Analysis of oxygen data from the Argo floats and the sea level anomaly (SLA) in the northern Indian Ocean suggested that the observedvariability in oxycline depth is mainly governed by physical processes; the vertical movement in the thermocline depth. A regressionequation between SLA and oxycline depth is proposed to estimate the depth of oxygen deficient water ( oxycline) in the northern IndianOcean.

Assessment of the quality of ocean analyses, in the Tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) obtained from the operational INCOIS– Global OceanDataAssimilation System (GODAS), and an examination of the sensitivity of INCOIS–GODAS to different momentum forcings and to theassimilation of temperature and synthetic salinity was carried out. It was found that the model with assimilation simulates most of theobserved features of temperature, SSHA and currents with reasonable accuracy in the TIO at intra-seasonal and inter-annual timescales. QuickSCAT winds seems to improve the ocean currents the model.

The Ocean State Forecasts issued during tropical cyclones (Thane that affected the southeast coast of India during the last week ofDecember 2011) was found to be reliable and accurate enough. The forecasted waves compared well with the in situ measurementsreported by the wave rider buoy deployed off Pondicherry. Feedback received from the user community also indicated that the forecastwas reliable and useful.

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Workshop, Lectures

WorkshopThe 2 day Joint International Workshop of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) on Geospatial Datafor Disaster and Risk Reduction (WG VIII/1 and WG IV/4) was held at ESSO-INCOIS from November 21 to 22 2013. Dr. Shailesh Nayak,Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India and ISPRS Fellow inaugurated the workshop. The workshop focusedon geospatial technology for disaster preparedness as well as on early warnings & response during Landslides, Floods, Earthquakes,Tsunamis, Cyclones, Storm Surges, etc. It was attended by about 150 participants from India and abroad representing researchorganizations, academia and industry. In all, 45 papers were presented (2 lead talks, 27 papers in six Technical Sessions and 16 papers intwo Short Interactive Sessions).

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Dr. Shailesh Nayak,Secretary, MoES,

lights the traditionallamp at the inaugaration

of the workshop.

Dr.Vinay K. Dhadwal,President, ISPRS TechnicalCommission VIII, President,ISRS and Director, NRSC-

ISRO, addressing delegatesduring the workshop.

Lectures

Dr. Amit Apte,TIFR, Mumbaidelivered a lecture on

“Langrangian and en-route dataassimilation” on 1 October 2013.

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Prof. V. S. Raju, Retd. Ex- Director, IIT-Delhi

delivered a lecture on“You have the potential in you to become

whatever you want to be”on 17 October 2013.

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Prof. R.Ramesh, PRL, Ahmedabaddelivered a lecture on

“Nitrogen Cycling in the Arabian Sea:implications to the Global Carbon Cycle”

on 15 October 2013.th

Prof. B.K. Saha, Jadhavpur University(Ex- Dy. D.G.,GSI)

delivered a lecture on“Sea level fluctuations with reference

to the Last Glacial Cycle” in theEastern Continental Shelf of India”

on 12 November 2013.th

Ocean Information Bank update

ESSO-INCOIS being the central repository for marine data in India, receives data from a variety of in situ and remote sensing observingsystems as well as from other data centres. The Ocean Information Bank (OIB) provides information on physical, chemical, biological andsedimentological parameters of the ocean and coasts in spatial and temporal domains vital for research and operational oceanography.

This section is dedicated to updates on the data holdings in OIB.

Tide GaugeTide Gauge

• 1880 - 2007

Tsunami BuoysTsunami Buoys

• 2006 - till date

Argo

• Jan-2001 - till date

Current Meter ArraysCurrent Meter Arrays

• 2000 - 2009

HF Radar (Coastal Currents)HF Radar (Coastal Currents)

• 2009 - till date

Shipborne CTDShipborne CTD

• 1996 - 2010

In-situ DataIn-situ Data

Data can be accessed throughhttp://odis.incois.gov.in

Temperature-Salinity Profiles

Currents

Sea Level

Met-ocean data

Thermal Structure

Waves

NIOT BuoysNIOT Buoys

Shipborne AWSShipborne AWS

RAMA BuoysRAMA Buoys

• 2009 - till date

• 1997 - till date

• 2010 - till date

• 2009 - till date

• 2010 - till date

• 2007 - till date

• 1990 - till date

in the Equatorialin the EquatorialIndian OceanIndian Ocean

Chlorophyll;

Aerosol Optical Depth:Aerosol Optical Depth:

Lifted Index;Lifted Index;

KD 490;KD 490;

Radiance/ Reflectance;Radiance/ Reflectance;

• MODIS (Aqua and Terra)

Water Vapour ;Water Vapour ;

MODIS

RGB Images;RGB Images;

Humidity;

SST ;SST ;

Remote SensingData

Remote SensingData

Cloud Top Temperature;Cloud Top Temperature;

Radiance/ Reflectance:Radiance/ Reflectance:

AVHRR-ATOVS

Fog ; RGB Images:Fog ; RGB Images:

• NOAA AVHRR (17,18,19)

• NOAA/ METOP(AVHRR)

SST ;SST ;

Satellite data are available in HDF, Geotiff and JPG formats. Data can be accessed throughhttp://www.incois.gov.in/Incois/remotesensing/TERA_display.html

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Data can be accessed through:http://las.incois.gov.in/las/getUI.do

Web usage

The ESSO-INCOIS website is actively used by thousands of visitors. Web pagesrelated to Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) Advisory information and Indian OceanForecast System (INDOFOS) attracted the maximum number of visitors in 2013.

Honours & Awards

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Shri. M Nagaraja Kumar, Scientist, ESSO-INCOIS was awarded with the “Certificate of Merit” for his outstanding contributions in thefield of Ocean Science & Technology during the MoES Foundation Day celebrations held at New Delhi on 27 July, 2013.

Shri Syed Mahaboob Moinudeen, Scientific Assistant B, INCOIS was awarded Certificate of Best Employee for 2013 for his outstandingcontributions in the field of Advisory Services and Satellite Oceanography during the MoES Foundation Day celebrations held at NewDelhi on 27 July, 2013.

In the category of Early Warning and Dissemination, ESSO- INCOIS was conferred with the ICHL 2013 Award for Excellence inHumanitarianAction, instituted by IIM, Raipur.

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Publications

1. Girishkumar, M.S., Ravichandran, M., Han, W. Observed intraseasonal thermocline variability in the Bay of Bengal (2013) Journal ofGeophysical Research C: Oceans, 118 (7), pp. 3336-3349.

2. Sivareddy, S., Ravichandran, M., Girishkumar, M.S. Evaluation of ASCAT-Based daily gridded winds in the tropical Indian ocean(2013) Journal ofAtmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 30 (7), pp. 1371-1381.

3. Balakrishnan Nair, T.M., Sirisha, P., Sandhya, K.G., Srinivas, K., Sanil Kumar, V., Sabique, L., Nherakkol, A., Krishna Prasad, B.,Kumari, R., Jeyakumar, C., Kaviyazhahu, K., Ramesh Kumar, M., Harikumar, R., Shenoi, S.S.C., Nayak, S. Performance of theOcean State Forecast system at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (2013) Current Science, 105 (2), pp. 175-181.

4. Chakraborty, K., Das, S., Kar, T.K. On non-selective harvesting of a multispecies fishery incorporating partial closure for thepopulations (2013)Applied Mathematics and Computation, 221, pp. 581-597.

5. Chakraborty, K., Haldar, S., Kar, T.K. Global stability and bifurcation analysis of a delay induced prey-predator system with stagestructure (2013) Nonlinear Dynamics, 73 (3), pp. 1307-1325.

6. Francis, P.A., Gadgil, S. A note on new indices for the equatorial Indian Ocean oscillation (2013) Journal of Earth System Science,122 (4), pp. 1005-1011. (cont’d)

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Derived data products and Ocean AnalysisDerived data products and Ocean Analysis

7. Tilstone, G.H., Lotliker,A.A., Miller, P.I.,Ashraf, P.M., Kumar, T.S., Suresh, T., Ragavan, B.R., Menon, H.B.Assessment of MODIS-Aqua

chlorophyll-a algorithms in coastal and shelf waters of the easternArabian Sea (2013) Continental Shelf Research, 65, pp. 14-26.8. Ashraf, P.M., Shaju, S.S., Gayatri, D., Minu, P., Meenakumari, B. In Situ Time Series Estimation of Downwelling Diffuse Attenuation

Coefficient at Southern Bay of Bengal (2013) Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 41 (3), pp. 725-730.9. Baliarsingh, S.K., Sahu, B.K., Srichandan, S., Sahu, K.C., Lotliker, A.A., Srinivasa Kumar, T. Seasonal variation of phytoplankton

community in Gopalpur Creek: A tropical t idal backwater ecosystem, East Coast of India (2013) Indian Journal of Marine Sciences, 42

(5), pp. 622-634.10. Chakraborty, K., Das, K., Kar, T.K. An ecological perspective on marine reserves in prey-predator dynamics (2013) Journal of Biological

Physics, 39 (4), pp. 749-776.11. Ravichandran, M., Behringer, D., Sivareddy, S., Girishkumar, M.S., Chacko, N., Harikumar, R. Evaluation of the Global Ocean Data

Assimilation System at INCOIS: The Tropical Indian Ocean (2013) Ocean Modelling, 69, pp. 123-135.12. Shesu, R.V., Bhaskar, T.U., Rao, E.P., Devender, R., Rao, T.H. Open source architecture for web-based oceanographic data services

(2013) Data Science Journal, 12, pp. 47-55.13. Udaya Bhaskar, T.V.S., Venkat Seshu, R., Pattabhi Rama Rao, E., Devender, R. GUI based interactive system for visual quality control

of argo data (2013) Indian Journal of Marine Sciences, 42 (5), pp. 580-586.14. Prakash, S., Prakash, P., Ravichandran, M. Can oxycline depth be estimated using sea level anomaly (SLA) in the northern Indian

Ocean? (2013) Remote Sensing Letters, 4 (11), pp. 1097-1106.15. Sanil Kumar, V., Johnson, G., Dubhashi, K.K., Balakrishnan Nair, T.M. Waves off Puducherry, Bay of Bengal, during cyclone THANE

(2013) Natural Hazards, 69 (1), pp. 509-522.16. Subeesh, M.P., Unnikrishnan, A.S., Fernando, V., Agarwadekar, Y., Khalap, S.T., Satelkar, N.P., Shenoi, S.S.C. Observed tidal currents

on the continental shelf off the west coast of India (2013) Continental Shelf Research, 69, pp. 123-140.17. Glejin, J., Kumar, V.S., Nair, T.M.B. Monsoon and cyclone induced wave climate over the near shore waters off Puduchery, south

western Bay of Bengal (2013) Ocean Engineering, 72, pp. 277-286.18. Bhaskaran, P.K., Nayak, S., Bonthu, S.R., Murty, P.L.N., Sen, D. Performance and validation of a coupled parallel ADCIRC-SWAN

model for THANE cyclone in the Bay of Bengal (2013) Environmental Fluid Mechanics, 13 (6), pp. 601-623.19. Ramesh, S., Ramadass, G.A., Ravichandran, M., Atmanand, M.A. Dissolved oxygen as a tracer for intermediate water mixing

characteristics in the Indian Ocean (2013) Current Science, 105 (12), pp. 1724-1729.

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(Earth System Sciences Organisation, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India)

Phone: +91-40-23886000 | Fax: +91-40-23895001 | E-mail: director@incois.gov.in | URL: www.incois.gov.in

‘Ocean Valley’, Pragathi Nagar (BO), Nizampet (SO), Hyderabad- 500 090. India

Editorial Committee

Advisor

Chairman

Members

Dr. S. S. C. Shenoi, Director

Dr. Francis Pavanathara

Mr. M. Nagaraja Kumar, Mr. C. Patanjali Kumar, Mr. R. S. Mahendra, Mr. K. Annapurnaiah, Ms. K.G. Sandhya,Dr. M. S. Girish Kumar, Dr. N. Srinivasa Rao, Ms. Celsa Almeida, Mr. Sidhartha Sahoo.