Five different areas of research pertaining to climate change that are offered by the Central Ministry of Earth Sciences were covered in the column on July 20. We shall now see a few more of them under the Ministry, as well as the facilities available in other institutions in India and abroad.
Long-term monitoring of the Konfsfjorden system
Kongsfjorden is an icy archipelago 40 km long and five to 10 km wide in the Arctic. This is at a site where warmer waters of the Atlantic meet the colder waters of the Arctic. India has been focusing research in this area with external collaboration. The studies cover the effect of interaction between the warm Atlantic water and the cold glacial-melt fresh water on the biological productivity and also the trigger mechanism of spring bloom and its temporal variability and biomass production. The National Centre for Antarctic & Ocean Research, Goa plays a major role in these studies.
Modelling of changing water cycle and climate
Our country faces the problem of reduction in the availability of water. Serious research has to be organised in respect of land, ocean and atmosphere interaction / precipitation characterisation / detection and attribution of water cycle changes / and consequences of changing water cycle. The institutions engaged in this research are mainly the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast, Noida, India Meteorological Department, New Delhi,/ and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune.
Reconstruction ofPalaeoclimatic conditions
Studies on climate of prehistoric ages give a picture of what happened in the past. This is significant in assessing climate trends. Identification of millennial scale (in the scale of 1,000-year units) changes in the southwest monsoon with emphasis on rainfall variability is important for us. The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune and the National Centre for Antarctic & Ocean Research, Goa are major players in this area of research.
Short term climate prediction and variability
Planning for enhanced agricultural production and effective water management needs reliable short term predictions. Continuing research in respect of boundary conditions like sea surface temperature, soil moisture, and snow cover tells us about atmospheric developments on seasonal time-scales. A coupled ocean-atmosphere climate model will be required for predicting the monsoon with fair reliability. The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune carries out research in this area.
Some of the other centres of research
We gave indications about the facilities for climate change research offered by the central Ministry of Earth Sciences. Let us see the facilities available at some of the other centres for research in this area, in India and abroad.
Indian Climate Research Network: A collaboration of Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, and Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. The main goal is to enhance capacity for climate research and action in India.
Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation Research, Anna University, Chennai
The Earth Science and Climate Change Division, TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), IHC Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi
Centre for Environment and Climate Change, Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat, Haryana
Centre for Policy Research, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi (Its Climate Initiative seeks to generate research and analysis on the global climate negotiations, and on the links between the global climate regime and domestic laws, policies, and institutions in India.)
Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, U.K.
Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research, 19 Silver Street, Cambridge CB39EP, U.K.
Oregon Climate Change Research Institute , Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, U.S.
Purdue Climate Change Research Center , Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.
New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute , Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
