Researchers offer guide to improve ecological perceptions in Indian ocean

A group of researchers from the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science has given proposals to improve the Indian Ocean Observing System (IndOOS), a bowl wide checking framework to more readily comprehend the effects of human-caused environmental change in a district that has been warming quicker than any other ocean.

The study published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society says enhancements to the observing system are urgently needed with the accelerating pace of climatic and ocec change.

The group, led by Lisa Beal, professor of ocean sciences at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, provides a road map for an enhanced IndOOS to better meet the scientific and societal needs for more reliable environmental forecasts in the next decade. The scientists call for four major improvements to the current observing system:

1) more chemical and biological measurements in at-risk ecosystems and fisheries;

2) expansion into the western tropics to improve understanding of the monsoon;

3) better-resolved upper ocean processes to improve predictions of rainfall, drought, and heat waves; and

4) expansion into key coastal regions and the deep ocean to better constrain the basin-wide energy budget.

Although the smallest of the major oceans on Earth, the Indian Ocean is home to roughly one-third of the global population living among the 22 countries that border its rim. Many of these countries are developing or emerging economies vulnerable to climate changes such as sea level rise and more extreme weather events. The Indian Ocean also influences climate globally and is thought to have played a key role in regulating global mean surface temperatures.

The Indian Ocean Observing System, established in 2006, is a multinational network of sustained ocec measurements that underpin understanding and forecasting of weather and climate for the Indian Ocean region and beyond. IndOOS is part of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) which is coordinated through the World Meteorological Orgzation and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations.

IndOOS-2 will require new agreements and partnerships with and among Indian Ocean rim countries, creating opportunities for them to enhance their monitoring and forecasting capacity, said the authors.

( With inputs from ANI )