Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)

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Context: Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has upgraded its system for gathering information on the health of the Indian Ocean.

Details

The News

• The upgraded version of the Regional Analysis of Indian Ocean, a data assimilation system developed in INCOIS, has been incorporated with the Sea surface height anomaly (SSHA).
• Compared to the previous version which used only salinity and sea surface temperature, this upgraded version factors in sea surface height.
• In the new system observations are taken at the ocean’s surface and below the water at depths ranging from 3 metres to 2,000 metres, depending on the requirement.

Sea surface height anomaly and its importance. An anomaly is the difference between the long-term average for different regions of the ocean and what is actually observed by satellites. The imagery in this dataset shows whether the ocean surface is higher or lower than the average Measuring these differences allows oceanographers and climatologists to detect patterns of global sea level rise, cyclones, El Niño and La Niña, eddies, boundary currents. When water warms, it expands and raises the surface of the ocean, so measuring the ocean surface height allows scientists to understand how much heat is stored in the oceans.

INCOIS

• ESSO-INCOIS was established as an autonomous body in 1999 under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and is a unit of the Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO).
• HQ-Hyderabad.
• ESSO- INCOIS is mandated to provide ocean information and advisory services to society, industry, government agencies and the scientific community through sustained ocean observations.

Important Activities:

• Provides round-the-clock monitoring and warning services for the coastal population on tsunamis, storm surges, high waves, etc. through the in-house Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC).
• The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO designated ITEWC as a Regional Tsunami Service Provider (RTSP) to provide tsunami warnings to countries on the Indian Ocean Rim.
• Provides daily advisories to fisher folk to help them easily locate areas of abundant fish in the ocean. These advisories called Potential Fishing Zone Advisories.
• Short term (3-7 days) Ocean State Forecasts (waves, currents, sea surface temperature, etc.) are issued daily to fisher folk, the shipping industry, the oil and natural gas industry, the Navy, the Coast Guard, etc.
• ESSO-INCOIS has been designated as the ‘National Oceanographic Data Centre’ by IOC/IODE of UNESCO and is also identified as the ‘Regional Argo Data Centre for the Indian Ocean’.
• Established a national network (Indian Seismic and GNSS Network (ISGN)) that integrates Seismic and GNSS stations and provides high quality data for research and operational use.
• Established a VSAT aided Emergency Communication System (VECS) (a fail-safe satellite-based communication system) to provide tsunami warnings with the least possible time delay.

International Involvement:

• A permanent member of the Indian delegation to IOC of UNESCO and a founding member of the Indian Ocean Global Ocean Observing System (IOGOOS) and the Partnership for Observing the Oceans (POGO).
• Through the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES), ESSO-INCOIS provides ocean information and forecasts to member countries.
• A member of the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) Ocean View Science Team (GOVST) and Patrons Group.

Sources:

INCOS, Indian Express, NOAA.

PRACTICE QUESTION Q. Discuss about the role of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) in disasters management with some examples. 150 words.