Objectives:
- To establish observation systems for measurement and real time reporting of coastal sea level, surface meteorological and related parameters
- To generate time-series database of the above parameters from various coastal locations to support studies of Indian coastal seas
General description:
There is a need for closely sampled time-series of sea-level and surface meteorological data for a variety of oceanographic and related studies. Long term data is useful for understanding of climate variability on seasonal, interannual and decadal scales. Real time information is useful for harbor operations, navigation, monitoring of storm surge and tsunami and for warning purposes etc.
The systems designed and developed at NIO provide data at fine temporal resolution. Sea level gauges incorporating sub-surface pressure as well as downward-looking microwave radar sensors have been developed and deployed at various locations. The sub-surface pressure based real-time reporting and Internet-accessible sea level gauge stations established at Kavaratti Island and Verem Naval jetty in Goa allowed real-time monitoring of the arrival of the September 2007 tsunami at these locations.
The autonomous weather stations (AWS) developed at NIO also features both self-recording and real-time reporting capability.
The latest development in the system design has incorporated low-power embedded Linux platform which allows maintaining accurate system clock using Internet network time protocol (NTP). Real time data is reported by systems installed at several coastal locations under Supra Institutional Programme (SIP).
Scientific components and achievements :
The self-recording sea-level gauges and AWS systems have been used under several institutional, sponsored and international programmes.
The sea-level gauge deployed by us in Ghana (West Africa) was the only one available in the entire central West African coast during the December 2004 Sumatra tsunami. The tsunami signal recorded by this gauge is considered to be a significant contribution to the study of the global extent of this tsunami.
The sea level gauge and AWS have been used to gather data also from islands (e.g., Kavaratti, Andrott, Port Blair) and offshore locations (Mumbai High).
NIO’s real-time reporting AWS established in Pondicherry is used by an NGO organization (PMSSS) to assist fishermen in their routine operations.
The real-time reporting AWS and radar based sea level gauges established at the ODC jetty of Finolex Industries Limited at Ratnagiri and on the water front in the vicinity of Tebma Shipyards Ltd., Malpe are used by the respective agencies for regular navigational and loading/unloading applications.
Similar systems established in Goa overlooking the Mandovi estuary, at Yanam (Union Territory of Pondicherry) and Kotipalli (Andra Pradesh) on the bank of Godavari estuary are used for collection of data for oceanographic and environmental studies of the respective estuaries.
Facilities available
- Weather stations & Tide gauges
- Embedded systems
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