Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 11: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Earth Sciences (MES) to set up the Bay of Bengal ocean observatory at Chandrabhaga in Puri.
The observatory will serve as a national facility. The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad, and the National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai, have prominent role in the establishment of the observatory.
The ministry has approved a grant of `9.23crore for development of the observatory while land for the project was provided by the state government. The MoU was signed between IIT-Bhubaneswar director RV Raja Kumar and MES secretary Shailesh Naik in New Delhi.
“The observatory will conduct research in understanding the air-sea-land interactions, prediction of extreme weather and calamities, marine seismology and sea-level rise due to climate change and ocean acidification,” said IIT director Raja Kumar.
Kumar said the observatory is first of its kind in the country in general which can prove pivotal in monitoring ocean, earth and climatic parameters and systems. Other international organisations such as Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute of United States of America (USA), National Oceanographic Centre of University of Southampton will contribute their expertise in this venture.
“The observational data collected by the observatory will be useful in understanding the ocean, earth and climatic interactions which will further assist in climatic predictions to help a state like Orissa where major cyclones are frequent,” said deputy registrar Debraj Rath.
Raja Kumar further complimented teachers and researchers in Earth, Ocean and Climate Science department for their long standing efforts in bringing the observatory into a reality.
Sailesh Naik also hoped the observatory will spin off development of unique observation equipment which is not available in the market.
