Ocean Observation Network and Forecasting: Current Status and Expansion
UPSC / SSC current affairs note
Why in news
The Minister of Earth Sciences provided a detailed update in Parliament on the current status of India's ocean observation network, including buoys, moorings, and coastal systems. This highlights the government's ongoing efforts to strengthen monitoring for better monsoon, cyclone, and ocean state forecasts.
Background
India's ocean observation network is operated primarily by INCOIS (Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. It includes a variety of platforms such as Argo floats, deep-sea moorings, tsunami buoys, and coastal stations to collect real-time oceanographic data for weather and disaster prediction.
Key facts
19 subsurface moorings are operational: 16 in mainland EEZ and 3 in equatorial Indian Ocean, monitoring currents and zooplankton biomass.
Tsunami Early Warning System uses 17 broadband seismic stations, 7 deep-ocean tsunami buoys, and 36 coastal tide gauges, supported by 35 GNSS receivers and strong-motion accelerometers.
Coastal observation network includes 17 directional wave rider buoys, 20 ADCPs, 32 AWS, 2 water quality buoys, and 50 tide gauges.
INCOIS has deployed 302 Argo profiling floats (2014-2025), 12 deep-sea glider missions, 45 drifting buoys, and 64 wave drifters.
Advanced instruments like Vertical Microstructure Profilers (VMP), Underway CTD systems, and Wire Walker systems are used.
Data from these platforms is transmitted via Global Telecommunication System (GTS) to INCOIS for quality check and assimilation into operational numerical models.
Real-time wave observations from wave rider buoys are used for operational wave forecasting, coastal flood assessment, and early warning services.
Recent initiatives include installation of 14 additional tide gauges and 15 co-located GNSS receivers, and deployment of a directional wave rider buoy off Mauritius coast to improve Southern Ocean swell forecasts.
Regular research vessel cruises are institutionalized for deployment, servicing, and maintenance of ocean observation systems.
Collaboration with CSIR-NIO, NCPOR, and other partner institutions has been strengthened.
Prelims pointers
- INCOIS: Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (under MoES)
- Argo floats: profiling floats that measure temperature, salinity, and currents
- GNSS: Global Navigation Satellite System
- GTS: Global Telecommunication System (WMO)
- EEZ: Exclusive Economic Zone
- ADCP: Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
- AWS: Automatic Weather Station
- VMP: Vertical Microstructure Profiler
- CSIR-NIO: Council of Scientific & Industrial Research - National Institute of Oceanography
- NCPOR: National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research
Mains angles
- GS3: Disaster Management - Role of ocean observation network in tsunami and cyclone early warning systems
- GS3: Science and Technology - Application of advanced instruments (Argo, gliders, ADCP) in oceanography and weather prediction
- GS1: Geography - Ocean currents, monsoon dynamics, and the importance of ocean observations for climate modeling