Lok Sabha Question No. 2901 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-08-02
Subject: Progress in Earth Sciences
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: HARI NARAYAN RAJBHAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2901 TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2017

## PROGRESS IN EARTH SCIENCES

## 2901. SHRI HARINARAYAN RAJBHAR:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) the progress made in the field of Earth Sciences during the last three years and the current year;
- (b) whether the Government is satisfied with the achievements made in the said field;
- (c)
- (d)
- If so, the details thereof;
- If not, the reasons therefor; and
- (e) the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

(SHRI Y. S. CHOWDARY)

- (a) The mandate of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is to provide services for  weather,  climate,  ocean  and  coastal  state,  hydrology,  seismology  and natural  hazards;  to  explore  marine  living  and  nonliving  resources  in  a sustainable way and to explore the three polar regions (Arctic, Antarctic and Himalayas).  To  achieve  this  mandate,  the  research  &  development  and operational activities of MoES are carried out under the following five major programs:
1. Atmosphere and Climate Research - Modelling, Observing Systems and Services (ACROSS).
2. Ocean  Services,  Technology,  Observations,  Resources,  Modelling  and Science (OSTORMS).
3. Polar and Cryosphere Research (PACER).
- 4.
- 5.
- Seismology and Geosciences (SAGE).
- Research, Education, Outreach and Training (REACHOUT).

The progress and details of these schemes during the above period are as follows:

## (i) ACROSS:

-  Augmentation  of  surface  and  upper  air  observational  network  and Doppler  Weather  Radar  (DWR)  Network.  Better  quality  and  high resolution  digital  data  from  INSAT-3D  satellite  and  other  satellites. Establishment  of  High  Performance  Computing  System  with  1.2 Petaflop speed to meet the modelling requirements.
-  Under the National Monsoon  Mission, a high resolution global deterministic  weather  prediction  model  has  been  commissioned  for generating operational weather forecasts at a horizontal resolution of 12 km. With this, MoES has attained the same capability as in USA in using high resolution weather prediction models. Many major improvements have been made in data assimilation for the ingestion of  data  from  the  Indian  and  International  satellites  in  numerical models.
-  Development of first version of Earth System Model (ESM) with good fidelity in simulating the present climate and its variability. The ESM will  be  the  first  climate  model  from  India  to  contribute  to  the forthcoming sixth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate change assessment process.
-  Expansion of Agro-meteorological Advisory Services. Presently around 21.6 million farmers are directly benefitted by this service.
-  Noteworthy improvement was made in track and intensity forecast of the  tropical  cyclones  (24  hour  forecast  error  in  track  prediction reduced from 141 km to 97 km and Landfall error from 99 km to 56 km during  2006  to  2015).  Accurate  forecasts  of  the  recent  cyclones, Phailin, HudHud and Vardah saved thousands of human lives.
-  Noticeable improvements achieved in skills of Heavy Rainfall Forecasts (False Alarm Rate reduced from 46% to 11% and Probability  of  Detection  increased  from  49%  to  67%  from  2002  to 2015).  For the first time in 2016, forecasts on different time scales during  the  hot  weather  season  (April  to  May)  including  heat  waves were issued by the India Meteorological Department.
-  Many  observational  campaigns  have  been  taken  up  as  special atmospheric observations help us to understand model deficiencies and to improve the models. A large-scale joint India UK observational campaign  was  carried  out  during  the  period  June-July  2016,  which involved the deployment of UK's BAe-146- 301 atmospheric research aircraft  with  sophisticated  scientific  instruments  and  India's  Sagar Nidhi and Sindhu Sadhna research ships.
-  An observational campaign to understand different physical features of Fog and factors responsible for its genesis, intensity and duration was initiated during December 2016 at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) and at Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)Indian  Agricultural  Research  Institute  (IARI)  in  New  Delhi.  These observations will be useful for improving model forecasts.
-  A  High  Altitude  Cloud  Physics  Laboratory  with  a  complete  range  of the  observational  system  has  been  set-up  at  Mahabaleshwar  and Munnar to study the interaction of  clouds  with  other  environmental parameters through continuous observations inside the clouds at high altitude.
-  The  System  of  Air  Quality  and  Weather  Forecasting  And  Research (SAFAR)  system  has  been  developed  and  deployed  at  Delhi,  Pune, Mumbai  and  Ahmedabad  and  an  Air  Quality  Forecasting  Model  has been  set  up  for  four  cities  to  forecast  the  air  quality  of  various pollutants  along  with  weather  parameters  with  a  lead  time  of  1-3 days.

## (ii) OSTORMS

-  Augmentation  of  Ocean  Observing  Systems  in  the  Indian  Ocean through  national  and  international  efforts.    Provided  a  suite  of advisory  services  on  24x7  basis,  such  as  Tsunami  early  earning, Potential  Fishing  Zone,  Ocean  State  forecast,  coral  bleach  alert  to cater to various sectors.
-  The Ocean State Forecast service has been extended for neighbouring countries, Seychelles and Sri Lanka for providing 3- day forecasts on winds, waves, currents, temperature.
-  Launching of International Indian Ocean Expedition-2 (IIOE-2) towards promotion of ocean science in the Indian Ocean Region.
-  Operationalization  of  International  Training  Centre  for  Operational Oceanography at Hyderabad.
-  The  Search  and  Rescue  Aid  Tool  (SARAT)  was  dedicated  to  the Nation It was used to provide Search and Rescue support to all the concerned in connection with the missing AN 32 aircraft, which was reportedly missing off Chennai on 22 July 2016.
-  The  online  oil  spill  advisory  module  has  been  further  updated  to facilitate  the  indication  of  eco-sensitive  zones,  potential  fishing zones, fishing avoidance zone during the event of oil spill.
-  Deployment of Arctic Ocean Observing system was completed.
-  Indigenously  developed  500  m  depth  rated shallow water/Polar Remotely Operated Vehicle (PROVe). It was successfully deployed in the Andaman  coral Islands and the vehicle was successfully maneuvered  in  the  undulating  reef  terrain  to  record  high  quality underwater visuals of coral reef biodiversity with spectral irradiance.
-  Developed backward bent ducted buoy to generate power from sea waves,  drifter  buoy,  deep  ocean  bottom  pressure  recorder,  and autonomous passive acoustic monitoring system.
-  Beach  nourishment  technique  was  demonstrated  at  Pondicherry coast leading to gain of 60 m wide beach.
-  65% of deep water topographic surveys of Exclusive Economic Zone beyond 500 m water depth were completed.
-  MoES  signed  a  15-year  contract  with  the  International  Seabed Authority  (ISA),  for  exploration  of  PolyMetallic  Sulphides  (PMS)  in Indian Ocean.
-  India  became  a  member  of  the  International  Energy  Agency  Ocean Energy  Systems  (IEA-OES)  through  signing  of  the  Implementing Agreement.  By  becoming  a  member  of  the  IEAOES,  India  will  have access to advanced R&D teams and technologies across the world.

## (iii) PACER

-  Established  a  high  altitude  research  station  in  Himalaya  called HIMANSH at a remote region in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh.
-  Deployed  India's  first  multi-sensor  moored  sub-surface  observatory (IndARC) at a water depth of ~180 m in the Arctic.
-  India successfully commenced operations at the 3rd Indian Permanent  Research  Station Bharati, at Larsemann  Hills, East Antarctica.  Three (34th, 35th and 36th) Indian Scientific expeditions to Antarctica were launched and executed successfully.
-  India has been accorded the Observer status in the Arctic Council in recognition of her scientific contributions endeavors in Polar research.
-  Research studies were carried out on variability of Cryosphere using remote  sensed  data,  southern  Indian  Ocean  and  past  climate  and oceanic variability of Polar Regions.

## (iv) SAGE

-  Setting up of the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) at New Delhi to provide added thrust to seismological services in the country.
-  Strengthening of the Seismic Observational Network: NCS now has 84 national  observatories  with  real  time  data  streaming  through  VSAT connectivity.
-  VSAT communication facilities  to  additional  50  seismic  stations  as well as 30 GPS stations in the country under the Indian Seismic and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Network (ISGN). With the current  seismic  network,  and  data  centers,  an  earthquake  of  M>3 anywhere in the country can be located in 3-5 minutes.
-  The Scientific Deep Drilling Project at Koyna, Maharashtra started in 2016 with the aim of setting up of borehole observatory at 3.0 to 5.0 km  depths  for  directly  measuring  parameters  in  the  near  field  of earthquakes  -  before,  during  and  after  their  occurrence.  The  pilot borehole has reached to a depth of 3 km.
-  Setting up of Multi-Parameter Geophysical Observatories at Ghuttu, in NW Himalaya and Imphal in NE region to monitor various geophysical, geochemical and seismological precursory signals.
-  Launching  of  a  facility  for  Geochronology  with  an  objective  to generate high-quality geo-chronological data and its characterization.
-  For  the  first  time,  Deep  Sea  Drilling  in  the  Laxmi  Basin  enabled scientists to collect more than 1700m long sediment cores from the Eastern Arabian Sea to understand possible tectono-climatic link.
-  First time successful deployments of Ocean Bottom Seismometers in the  Indian  Ocean  Geoidal  Low  region  to  understand  possible  deep seated sources for remarkable geoid anomaly in the Indian Ocean.

## (v) REACHOUT

-  Under  this  program,  Ministry  has  supported  55  focused  research projects in the area of Atmospheric Science and Geoscience during the last 3 years and current year.
-  As human resource development and capacity building, the ministry has supported the following:  M.Tech/Ph.D. programme by sponsorship 5  M.Tech  and  5  PhD  students  in  Atmospheric-Oceanic  Sciences  & Technology at IIT Delhi ,  User-oriented M.Tech. programme on Ocean technology at IIT Madras 2 year M.Sc. course in Ocean  & Atmospheric Sciences in University of Hyderabad.
-  Established MoES Chairs at IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Gandhinagar.  Following specialized lab facilities have also been setup as National Facilities for use by researchers:
- (a) Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) Measurement facility for 14C at Inter-University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi.
- (b) Laser Heating Diamond Anvil Cell at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata.
- (c) Laser Raman Spectrometer at National Center for Earth Science Studies (NCESS), Trivandrum.
-  Three Earth Science and Technology Cells (ESTC) have been established in various universities for conducting research in different  specialized  areas  of  marine  and  atmospheric  sciences during the last 3 years as follows:
-  Marine Coastal Ecology of west Coast of India at M.K. Bhavnagar University.
-  Satellite  Meteorology  at  SRM  University  Katanklathur,  Chennai (SRMU), Tamilnadu.
-  Coastal  and  Ocean  Technology  at  NITK,  Surathkal,  Mangalore, Karnataka  Successful  international  cooperation  with  different countries for collaborative research and human resources development.
- (b)  &  (c)  Yes,  Madam.  The  quality  of  weather  services  by  the  Ministry  has shown appreciable improvements during the past 3 years. The loss of lives during the last 3 years sue to tropical cyclones has reduced to  less  than  hundred  as  compared  to  the  thousands  during  the previous decade. For example, the famous 1999 Super Cyclone in Orissa  killed  more  than  10,000  people  while  the  same  intense Phailin  claimed  only  less  than  20  people  in  Orissa.  This  large reduction in casualties is attributed to substantial improvement in monitoring and prediction of tropical cyclones.

MoES  for  the  first  time  started  issuing  forecasts  for  heat  waves over the country. The heat wave forecasts issued during the 2016 hot  weather  season  (April  to  May)  were  very  successful.  A  few state  governments  like  Gujarat,  Andhra  Pradesh,  Maharastra  and Odisha have initiated state actions plans based on these forecasts during  the  hot  weather  season,  which  could  help  them  to  warn people  in  advance  about  the  occurrence  of  heat  waves  and  thus saving their lives.

The  third  party  assessment  by  the  National  Council  if  Applied Economic Research (NCAER) on the Agro-meteorological Advisory Services provided by the India Meteorological Department concluded  that the annual  economic  benefit  for the farmers cultivating  4  principal  crops  (Wheat,  Rice,  Sugarcane and Cotton) was Rs. 42,000 Crore in 2015.

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) provides PFZ advisories to 2.75 lakh fisherman on a daily basis to help them to easily locate the areas of abundant fish in the ocean. As  per  the  2015  report  of  NCAER,  the  Fishermen  in  the  country made an annual profit of Rs. 3000 crores from these PFZ advisories and the cumulative economic benefits exceeding Rs. 370000 crores have been accrued from these ocean forecasts.

Ocean State Forecasts (forecasts of waves, currents, sea surface temperature, etc.) to fisher folk, shipping industry, oil and natural gas  industry.  Navy,  Coast  Guard  and  other  stakeholders  have improved considerably during the last 3 years. Oil spill advisories are  being  provided  to  facilitate  the  indication  of  eco-sensitive zones,  potential  fishing  zones,  fishing  avoidance  zone  during  the event of oil spill. About 16.5 lakh users are currently receiving the OSF.

(d-e)  Does not arise.

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