TECHNOLOGY VISION

By Commit tee on Technology Vision for MoES

TECHNOLOGY VISION
For Ministry of Earth Sciences
Volume 1 2 Executive Summary Ocean Technology Part-I Main Vision Document Ocean Technology Part-II Reference Document 3 4 Atmospheric Technology Geo Technology Part-I Main Vision Document Geo Technology Part-II Support Articles Contents 1 Pages

13

63 131

197

235

VOL-1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION
The landmass and ocean coupled with atmosphere create this beautiful living planet with all its complexity. This very planet offers immense challenges through its varying nature, expressed strongly through weather and more evidently in the changing geo-oceanic and atmospheric conditions. We are endeavoring to understand this planet, while primarily looking forward to harnessing the resources, and simultaneously coping up with the vagaries of nature viz. floods, cyclones, hurricanes, storm surge, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, etc. Indeed, this has been the subject matter of inquisition and enquiry. While, common human perception distinguishes the
landmass, the oceans and the atmosphere from each other, we are slowly learning to look at these three systems as a part of a bigger entity, the Earth-System. Our overall endeavor is to understand the phenomena and processes in the atmosphere and in the oceans and their impacts on the terrestrial counterparts. Technology has been the enabler for our pursuit for greater understanding of the EarthSystem. This is carried out through exploration, and detailed investigations with the help of sophisticated technologies. We are also pursuing the marine geo-morphological surveys for the Exclusive Economic Zone using swath multibeam echo-sounder to understand the morphological regimes and manifestations. We have been able to complete the seismic, gravity and magnetic surveys and analysis of data for claiming Legal Continental Shelf of an additional 1.2 million sq.km beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone of 2 million sq. km, and, this has been possible due to the acoustic based instrumentation employed in seismic reflection and seismic refraction data acquisition system. We have been able to explore and harness the mineral resources of land to a considerable extent. However, the ocean resources are yet to be explored. While these technologies are widely available, none are indigenously available. Can a developing economy of ours already in the vanguard of oceanic pursuits and with one of the largest technical manpower afford not to develop these technologies for all times to come?

OCEAN TECHNOLOGY
Since India has an Institute for ocean technology, NIOT (National Institute of Ocean Technology), we have developed remotely operated submersible capable of operating up to the full ocean depth of 6000m. This would be useful for exploration of new resources like gas hydrates, hydrothermal sulfides etc. Development of manned submersible for 4000 meters has been taken up by NIOT in the XI Five Year Plan. Manned submersibles at lower depths (<1000metres) are needed for R&D as well as industrial and even tourism purposes. Technologically, development of shells for human occupancy is easier in shallower depths and this may be carried out indigenously with the help of Indian industry. The operation of ROVs (Remotly Operated Vehicles) requires skill and certification for which hands on training of Indian scientists/engineers would be required. For this purpose, ROV simulators could be developed. Gliders and underwater profiling floats are used for underwater data collection on preprogrammed path to be communicated to land through low orbiting satellites. While a prototype of profiling float has already been developed at NIOT and is undergoing trials, the developments could be taken up through industry owing to large requirement. We have achieved considerable progress in development of a sea bed mining system for extraction of strategic metals such as copper cobalt, nickel and manganese from Polymetallic Nodules lying at sea-bottom, 4 to 6 kms deep. Such a mining system to win the nodules is being tested progressively from shallow seas to greater depths. These technologies already being developed for Polymetallic Nodules, can also be adapted for other mineral deposits such as cobalt crust, hydrothermal sulfides etc. For example, for cobalt crusts on much harder sea mounts, crust cutting and related system modification on the deep-sea crawler, vehicle track modifications for movement on hard surfaces, large volume, low pressure slurry flow pump integration etc. would have to be undertaken. In addition, metal extraction processes also need to be developed. Gas hydrates are fast emerging as yet another potential source of energy. However, we need to develop technologies for harnessing gas hydrates from sea bottom, buried under a few hundred meters of sedimentation. The extreme natural events like undersea earthquakes and the consequent tsunami, though rare, could be disastrous as we learnt the hard way and considering this, MoES have developed a dedicated storm surge and tsunami warning system. With a view to offer the technology aided inputs to fishing communities, advisory services on Potential Fishing Zones is being provided regularly 3 times a week to coastal and island communities, using the technologies and expertise available in the country. We have also developed technologies for Low Temperature Thermal Desalination(LTTD) which has been demonstrated successfully in Lakshadweep island and also at North Chennai Thermal Power Station with a capacity of generating 1 lakh liters of potable freshwater in a day. There is an urgent need for replicating this technology to cover several locations in coastal India to solve drinking water problem. While technology development for the sub systems would progress in the next 2 to 3 years, India should parallely build an OTEC demonstration plant of capacity of around 5 MW. Such a Plant could be planned either near an island or close to mainland to be built as a shelf mounted plant, built on a tower. In the next five years, one 20 MW OTEC plant should be built either as a floating or a shelf mounted Plant. The nutrient rich deep sea water could be used for "deep sea fish farming". This project will have better economic viability compared to "power only" OTEC plants. Beyond the XII Five Year Plan, India should design, build and operate a floating OTEC plant of 50 to 100 MW capacity with innovative technology for cost reduction and this should become India's as well as World's first commercial OTEC plant.
2

Most of the sub components required for deep sea applications are presently being imported and they are quite expensive due to the opportunity costs and low volume of consumption in the international market. It is hence necessary to indigenously develop components and subsystems through active participation of Industry. The quality assurance and product qualification could be taken up by NIOT. Some of the development activities already taken up are development of thruster, under water fiber optic connector, underwater motor etc, of which the fiber optic connector has already been developed. Some of the other components identified for developments are:
l Pressure

compensated underwater electrical termination capable of use in full ocean

depth,
l Positive

displacement pumps for handling slurry from deepwater, slip rings,

l Underwater l High

power electric and hydraulic motors and valves for underwater operation, connectors,

l Underwater l Higher

capacity energy sources (batteries and super capacitors), electronic components,

l Pressure-tolerant l In situ

pH and gas concentration sensors with long-term stability,

l Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) to be equipped with necessary transducers and

capable of data storage. Deep oceans still offer considerable challenges to the mankind. The recent oil spill from Gulf of Mexico is the standing example of technological challenge which we face today. In nutshell, the following is the prioritized list of developments required to be carried out in respect of Ocean Technologies: A. I. Technologies for Deep Sea Operations Exploration and mining of offshore minerals like Polymetallic Manganese Nodules, Cobalt Crusts from Seamounts, Polymetallic Sulphides; Phosphorites; and Placer Deposits : Offshore platforms, risers, deep-sea mooring and other deep-sea infrastructure development for covering a variety of needs. Underwater vehicles Underwater sub components for major deep-sea activities like electrical/hydraulic motors and their accessories, connectors and termination for deep-sea, tethers, cables, slip rings etc. Underwater instrumentation including moored and profiling buoy systems.

ii. iii. iv.

v. B.

Technologies for tapping Energy from Ocean, vi. To tap renewable energy from oceans. This requires Economical design of large diameter pipes in synthetic materials (GRE, FRP etc) deployment to withstand environmental conditions of the sea in deep waters.

vii. To extract the Gas Hydrates at least on a pilot scale to start with. C. Technologies for making the 'Coastal Habitat' safe for society, covering viii. Protection of coastal habitat against hazards from the ocean ix. x. xi. Coastal protection measures Cost effective technologies for coastal Infrastructure Ocean CO2 sequestration

xii. Continuous observation of environmental parameters D. Technological intervention for augmenting fisheries and other living resources in the offshore areas

For undertaking the challenges above, NIOT needs to be strengthened in terms of infrastructure and manpower considering the widespread activities to be undertaken by NIOT ranging from mechanical design, heat transfer, marine transducers, data acquisition, wave structure interaction, coastal engineering, sediment transport, storm surges, underwater communication, position fixing, etc. NIOT would require considerable expertise and supporting administrative infrastructure. The total manpower requirement works out to be 560 excluding the administrative staff requirement. The total number of additional administrative personnel works to 82. Further, to attract good manpower, the incentives to staff, increments on the lines of DAE/ISRO need to be provided. Adequate awareness campaign through NCERT textbooks needs to be taken up urgently to attract young talent. Seafront facility, training cell for underwater vehicles need to be created. The Indian industry also needs to be supported, motivated and cultivated to act as a partner in developing the technologies. A special cell for technology transfer has been envisaged. While the details of the technology development programmes to be taken up as short term and long term are given in Part-I of Vol. 2, the promising ocean resource potential and current status of technologies has been provided in the "Reference part" Part-II of Vol.2.

ATMOSPHERIC TECHNOLOGY
The progress in meteorological service in India has been a gradual process till date. The world has however taken a leap in recent decades towards atmospheric observations network and electronic integration and the IT. The upgradation of our national facility is therefore high on the agenda. Improving short range, medium range and long range forecasts, Agromet Advisory Service, Civil Aviation support, earthquake monitoring, are some of the important areas of current focus. For this purpose, our observational network needs to be strengthened and automated. Numerical weather modeling, state of the art climate and atmospheric research are the necessary supplementing mechanisms to act as a dynamic feedback to improve weather forecast and services. The current modernization of India Meteorological Department (IMD) is being carried out during XI Plan costing more than Rs. 2500 crore which does not include everything. For example, Climate change programme is being carried out by Indian institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM ); the future grid size would be of the order of 10 km. In short, the requirement of observing systems has increased manifold. The requirements of radars would easily cost more than Rs. 1000 crores. With such a large system, it is not advisable to depend upon the imported components on a continuous basis, also considering the issue of maintenance. IMD had a strong technology development group in 60s/70s and developed raingauges and radiosondes which were state of the art that time, However, this did not keep pace with the developments and presently, practically every instrument is being imported. The indigenous development of instrumentation has been sporadic, and uncoordinated. For example, ISRO has developed Doppler Weather Radar, and NAL has developed instrument for optical range measurement. However, these endeavors are not being taken as our own efforts. The task is complex. However, sufficient capability exists in the country in public as well as private sector. To take up all these activities in integrated way, there is a need of a separate and dedicated set-up. Ministry of Earth Sciences/ India Metrological Department are engaged in up-gradation of sensor systems, ground based, ocean based, air borne and space borne platforms as well as incorporation of new sensor technologies such as Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) to study the atmospheric variability with required temporal & spatial resolutions. It is proposed to undertake the following major elements in 10 years time, in a phased manner:
l Indigenous

AWS/ARG in each District, Taluka and Block level to include solar radiation measurement; in metros and non-metros; of Lightening Detection Sensor for indigenous AWS/ARG network;

l Mesonet

l Development l Deployment

of indigenously developed Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar at an optimally designed S, C and X band configurations; based Prototype Microwave Radiometers for temperature and humidity

l Ground

profiling;
l All RS/RW

stations are to be replaced by indigenous GPS sondes along with indigenous radio-sonde launchers after transfer of technology to industry; of Pilot Balloon Stations with prototype wind profilers at 50,200 and 1250 Mhz. and transfer of technology to the industry;

l Replacement

l Design

and Development of Coherent Doppler Lidar (CDL) on board LEO satellite; of CAL/VAL Sites by User;

l Development l Design l Set-up

and Development of Ship borne AWS/ARG/PDWR/Windprofilers Laboratory experiments in Cloud Physics, Atmospheric Chemistry etc.; of facilities/sites by user;

l Establishment l Development l Development l Technology

of Meteorological Information System; of 4D-Var;

for cloud seeding/weather modification

The importance of global climate change and the underlying anthropogenic factors have made environmental monitoring as an essential requisite for earth science studies. A dedicated multi sensor air borne platform needs to be created as new national facilities. The aircraft should be fitted with multiwave length Doppler weather radars, LIDAR, high speed cameras for hydrometeor detection & analysis and radiometers apart from standard atmospheric sensors and dropsondes. The aircraft would also be fitted with instruments for direct aerosol monitoring. Mountain Meteorology Research centers need to be established in Western and Eastern Himalayas for R&D work in thrust areas for overall improving the understanding and prediction of weather and climate in complex terrain. In this context, role of interactions in the upper reaches of the solar terrestrial region cannot be undermined since, the effects of the solar weather percolate down to the troposphere through Thermosphere, Ionosphere and the neutral middle atmosphere. Considering the economic impact of the adverse effects of the space weather, MoES needs to study the regions of Earth atmosphere like Thermosphere, Ionosphere and to certain extent Mesosphere and Stratosphere also. In advanced countries, space based atmospheric observations provide 95% of data assimilated into NWP; however, it is negligible in India. A majority of the data is obtained in the form of radiances. MoES should have collaborative agreement with Department of Space (DOS) for dedicated spacecraft with meteorological and atmospheric observation payloads in both Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The efforts of ISRO-DOS, in the area of radio-navigation, the Radio Occultation (RO) techniques currently attempted with GPS needs to be operationalised at larger scale. RO technique is to be seen as a cost effective alternative for temperature and humidity profiling with its known constraints. This will reduce dependence on RS/RW network. In future an advanced imager with 16 or more channels similar to Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) of US will provide scientists and meteorologists with additional and improved data. Another satellite similar to Metop-series polar satellites of Europe may be designed in 2025 time frame. Three major sensor technologies of importance for the immediate future are: (I) Hyper spectral infrared sensor (a) in Geo stationery Orbit and (b) in Sun Synchronous Orbit(SSO)/LEO. (ii) Coherent Doppler Lidars (CDL) in SSO/LEO for (a) three dimensional wind field measurements in the troposphere (b) Aerosol and trace gas monitoring ( eg. CO2, water vapor etc). (iii) A dual wave length cloud and precipitation radars in LEO (Ku&W band) to complement the Ku/Ka Band radars on board GPM and to be in phase synch with GPM for enhancing revisit time.
6

There is a requirement of a plan for systematic Ground Validation sites for all Meteorological Satellites to understand and validate advanced space borne measurements. Since not many cal/val sites are available in the tropics, establishment of 3 to 4 validation sites by India will provide a lead position to India among the International Ocean/atmospheric scientific community. The impact of the changes to the observation system in the next decades will be so massive that new revolutionary approaches for science, data handling, product development, training and utilization will be required. However, the real challenge would be developing and sustaining a reliable enterprise IT architecture capable of moving and processing large volumes of data with increased throughput to meet accuracy and timeliness. Hardware, software and communication architectures will evolve to take advantage of technological advances and converge to emerging enterprise standards. It is necessary to design and add information content to the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) and exploit telecommunications advances to eventually make available a comprehensive, real-time, four dimensional environmental information data base of observations, model output, forecasts, warnings, and other information in internationally accepted formats. The synergistic use of satellite data from multiple sensors on multiple satellite platforms promises the ability to address fundamental scientific questions about detailed processes and connections in the Earth system. However, issues of data integration, visualization and analysis remain a challenge. Methods of interactive exploratory analysis and visualization, particularly in three (spatial) and four (spatial + temporal) dimensions are in their infancy. Currently, the most sophisticated data visualization approaches rely on dimensional reduction techniques (e.g., crosssections, Hovmller diagrams) to represent datasets that are fundamentally 3-D (or 4-D) within the 2-D limitations of the page or computer screen. Visualizations have to be created for the instruments on board INSAT, Meghatropique, Oceansat series of satellites. It is in this context that the Committee has suggested to set up a new body within Ministry of Earth Sciences catering to all the needs of atmospheric and climate technology including space radars within a mandate to develop capabilities in a coordinated fashion in the country and whatever is needed within the set up to provide contemporary instrumentations for atmospheric measurements. The space instruments will be built by ISRO. This centre will act as a conduit between the atmospheric scientists and ISRO. Indigenization of mass manufacture items such as AWS, ARG, PDWR, MPAR RS/RW, Wind Profilers, Space technology components is strategically important from the point of view of selfsufficiency. The National Center for Atmospheric Technology (NCAT) could be set up as an attached office under MOES with focus on development of Microwave, IT, opto-electronic and space science and technology related to measurement, communication and networking, processing, visualization, storage and retrieval and dissemination of atmospheric variable. It will also transfer technology to PSUs and private industrial organizations for mass manufacture of atmospheric equipment indigenously. The centre will have Atmospheric Technology Advisory Council with members from IMD, NCMRWF, IITM, Centre for climate change etc thus have linkages with premier institutions. The centre will have strong linkages to the requirements of IMD.

The broad organizational chart of the proposed center with manpower requirement is provided below:

Atmospheric Technology Advisory Council

MOES

National Center for Atmospheric Technology

Director (1)

Administration & Logistics Support Group(15)

Core Technology Development Group(60)

Opto-Electronics Division(15) Gr. Head(1) Scientist(4) Engineer(5) Technician(5)

Microwave Division(15)

Space Meteorology Division(15) Gr. Head(1) Scientist(4) Engineer(5) Technician(5)

Information Systems Division(15)

Gr. Head(1) Scientist(4) Engineer(5) Technician(5)

Gr. Head(1) Scientist(4) Engineer(5) Technician(5)

The Center could be located in IMD premises at Pashan, Pune which is nearer to the Pune workshop facilities, IITM, Pune University etc. Alternatively, it could be located in IMD premises at Ayanager in the NCR Delhi. At the end of 10 year period it is envisioned that the maximal atmospheric technology in the country will be indigenous and self-sustaining.

GEOTECHNOLOGY
Geosciences cover vast field of geology, geophysics and other allied subject matters. There have been significant changes in the scope of the subject with the renewed understanding in earth sciences. Transforming face of earth sciences from mere synoptic (e.g. rock types, landforms) to hypothesis testing (e.g. Plate tectonics) to theme/question base research (e.g. can earthquakes be predicted?) has become possible due to parallel developments in the instrumentation, incorporation of new technology, rapid growth in the computational facilities, easy accessibility to information technology as well as mode of data acquisition and communication. The technology backed scientific themes being actively pursued can be broadly divided into two categories: First category includes analytical laboratory instrumentation, e.g. Electron Microscope Probes, Raman Spectrometry, Mass Spectrometry for Stable Isotope, Thermal Ionization and Inductively Coupled Mass Spectrometers, High Temperature/Pressure laboratories etc. Induction of such equipment have greatly improved the precision and resolution of petrological, chemical and geochronological characterization of material from whole rock to mineral, element and even at atom levels and are being exploited to address eternal fundamental issues of chemical, thermal and magmatic evolution of crust, rate of erosion and exhumations of mountain chain, etc. The technologies in second category include induction of GPS technology for monitoring plate motion, crustal deformation, strain budget etc. The parallel developments of low powered broadband seismic sensors allow collection of seismological data from remote hard terrain regions( so far inaccessible for want of continuous power supply), wireless geophones to collect and transmit active source seismic data have enhanced the scope of deep imaging programs to mountain areas where high topographic undulation prevented laying of communication cables essential to capture and record data by old generation technology. Most of the analytical equipment in the first category are the results of dedicated R & D by highly specialized one or two groups in the world and are imported into the country by a large number of agencies, though each agency imports in small numbers. Further, requirement of some of such equipment would be confined to creation of national facility centers at a couple of Institutions. The committee felt expertise could be created to manufacture field based equipment which are required in large number to augment observational network at national level to capture data to meet challenge of coping with natural geological hazards, like earthquakes and landslides, or for exploring rich natural resource potential of the country. Both these programs have societal implications and can contribute to the economy growth and, thus, worthy of taking challenge. After careful considerations of wide spectrum of idea notes received from invited experts or put forward by the permanent and co-opted members, the committee identified three geosciences themes wherein development of indigenous geotechnology should be rewarding:
l Geodynamics l Imaging

and geohazards,

of deep lithosphere and exploration of natural resources.

l Sustained

It may be observed that there is ample scope for the development of new technology in each of these fields. However, it would not be advisable to venture in every instrumentation and technology required in each field. Specifically, we may explore the development of a few instruments depending upon huge requirements. The focus shall be on the time frame so that fast growing and expanding technology at international level should not outpace our efforts of indigenous development. The mass deployments of indigenously developed equipment would permit dense coverage and hence should lead to better imaging of deeper structures of different dimension and depth, objective assessment of seismic hazard and risk mitigation measures as well as strategic exploitation of natural resource.

Major items where we need technology development or modification in the existing technologies are as follows.
l To develop

suitable network for earthquake monitoring, indigenous development of high quality broadband sensor, data acquisition system immediately. To take advantage of already developed high quality technology, it might be worthwhile to procure sensor technology on payment or as mutually agreed partnership enterprise.

l To make

and provide provision for real time communication of earthquake data by VSAT and Telemetry to central recording station for auto-detection of large earthquake events as an step to issue early warning alerts on fast approaching damaging seismic waves to put off high risk power plants and metro system using indigenous seismic switches.

l Considering

the huge requirement of accelerographs for strong motion monitoring to study the attenuation characteristics of ground motion, we may consider to take up development of accelerographs in India.

l Developments

of select frequency band geophones capable of transmitting data with wireless system for deep lithospheric imaging using active source seismology.

l For better

understanding of seismogenesis of earthquakes and detailed characterisation of medium rheology, stress partitioning, fracture propagation, high-pressure pore-fluid dynamics and various earth processes, it is recommended to develop technology for taking up deep (~5 km) bore hole drilling and experiment planning.

l The existing

technology towards making geothermal heat pumps for heating buildings in cold regions needs to be improved upon by targeting drastic cost reduction in installations so as to make it affordable to large communities. geothermal energy, we must develop drilling and testing technologies in high heat flow areas.

l To harness

Beside these first priority items, development of following supplementary items is suggested:
l geotechnical

sensors such as strainmeters/tiltmeters to monitor landslide prone

regions;
l airborne/space

systems for electromagnetic, magnetic and gravity surveys, considering our huge dependency on minerals;

l Ground

penetrating Radar used effectively in many science disciplines for shallow surface investigations in earth sciences, archaeology, glaciology etc. We may also consider modification to suit our purpose for deeper probing.

No major expertise is available for taking up this challenging task of developing indigenous geotechnologies and hence a dedicated spirited team of engineers and scientists have to be recruited and trained. The committee recommends creation of a Centre For Geotechnology (CGT) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. There should be provision for liaison with private or public sector with clear provision to outsource the specified work or hire expertise on market value. This challenging task has to be guided by the spirit of innovation and creativity rather than moving on the already carved out paths of technology and set norms of administration. Therefore, the proposed centre of geotechnology, although may be housed in the premises of one of existing science Institution. CSIO Chandigarh,(a unit of CSIR which is engaged in instrumentation), has strength in technology has offered land to house this institute. Other options include to collocate with NGRI Hyderabad or other institutes of MoES at Ayanagar. It should have fully independent working and financial autonomy. The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Oslo, Norway and Lamont Doherty
10

in the USA could be the role models for the development of geotechnology in India. The token manpower and financial projections for the creations of Centre for Geotechnology are indicated as actual requirements that can be decided when the exact location and status of the centre is approved by the MoES. In conclusion, it may be emphasized that any human and financial investment in developing such a centre may be seen as a long term investment and no immediate returns may be targeted. It is recommended that CGT be established to take up challenging task of technology development especially for solid earth studies. Such recommendations also draw aspirations from the success stories of BARC and ISRO who launched in-house training and technology development programs to build capabilities in terms of manpower and infrastructure right from their formative formative years. The proposed CGT, in addition to having the primary mandate of geotechnology developments, should be responsible for wide ranging activities like
l Advance

research and design of geo-instrumentation and priority fixation for geotechnology intervention resource development and capacity building in inter-disciplinary specialization.

l Human

l Inter-linkage

with National Earth Science Institutions to identify up-coming technology needs with changing phase of earth sciences.

l Networking

with International Geotechnology Centre to remain front line partner in knowledge exchange and development. enterprise and commercialization of developed technologies in SE Asia.

l Private-Public l Technical

service provider to Earth Science Institutions in training, commissioning, maintenance of field monitoring networks and analytical laboratories.

The total indicative manpower required for this centre would be 86 technical and scientific manpower + 34 administrative/support staff in addition to 57 temporary manpower. The organizational structure of the Centre is provided below:
Ministry of Earth Sciences

Centre Management Board

Geotechnology Centre

Technical evaluation and Advisory Board

Scientist-in-Charge

Administration 5 (AO/SPO)

Technology Group 20 Scientists and Engineers

Research and Development

Design and Fabrication

Functional Division

11

LIST OF MEMBERS OF COMMITTEE ON TECHNOLOGY VISION CONSTITUTED BY MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

Padmashri Dr. P.S.Goel, Dr. Narendra Bhandari, Scientist(Retd), Physical Research Laboratory Prof. P.R. Mahapatra, Indian Institute of Science Dr. M.S.Nagar, Former Director, Indian Rare Earths Ltd. Dr. V.P. Dimri, Former Director, National Geophysical Research Institute Dr. G. Viswanathan, Scientist(retd.), Indian Space Research Organisation Prof. D. Sen, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Prof. G.S. Roonwal, Delhi University Prof. U.C. Mohanty, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Director, National Institute of Ocean Technology Dr. M.P.Wakdikar, Ministry of Earth Sciences Chairman Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Member Secretary

---------------------

12

TECHNOLOGY VISION
For Ministry of Earth Sciences

Vol. 2

Ocean Technology Part-I Main Vision Document

By Subcommittee On Ocean Technology

VISION DOCUMENT ON OCEAN TECHNOLOGY

PART- I Main Vision Document
CHAPTERS CONTENTS Vision Statement Preamble I Introduction II Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Applications PAGES

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 III 3.1 3.2 IV 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 V 5.1 5.2 VI 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 VII 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5

17 19 21 23 Exploration and Mining of Offshore Minerals 23 Infrastructures to Harness Deep Ocean resources 27 Survey and Extraction of Gas Hydrates 29 Underwater Vehicles 30 Subsystems and Components 31 Underwater Instrumentation Including Moored and Profiling Buoy Systems 33 Development of Technologies for Renewable Energy and Freshwater from Sea 37 Renewable Energy From The Oceans 37 Large Scale Desalination Plants 39 Technology Development for Coastal Habitat 41 Protection of Coastal Habitat Against Hazards from the Ocean 41 Coastal Protection Measures 41 Cost Effective Technologies for Coastal Infrastructure 42 Ocean CO2 Sequestration 42 Technological intervention for Augmenting Fisheries and other Living Resources in the offshore areas 45 Technological Intervention for Establishing of Coastal and Offshore Fish Farms 45 Breeding of Marine Fishes 45 Human Resource Development and Capacity Building 47 Creation of Adequate Trained Manpower 47 Creation of Adequate Number of posts and proposed structure 48 Creation of Uniform Service Conditions in the Ministry 49 Educational Infrastructure in Ocean Related Technologies 49 Development of Infrastructural Supports 50 Efficient use of Ship Board Facilities 50 Training Cell for operating 'Underwater Vehicles' 50 Diving Training Centre 51 Partnership with Industries 51 Management Strategies 53 Prioritization of Major Technology Development Projects 53 Creation of separate Cell for Technology Transfer, Industrial Partnership and Vendor Development 60 Technical Manning of Research Vessels 60 Project Evaluation and Monitoring 60 Collaborative Work on Technology Development 60 Acknowledgments 61
15

PART - II Reference Document

ANNEXURES Annexure A1 Annexure A2 Annexure A3 Annexure A4 Annexure A5 Annexure A6 CONTENTS Technologies for Exploration and Mining of Offshore Minerals Infrastructure to Harness Deep Ocean Resources Technologies for Survey and Extraction of Gas Hydrates Underwater Vehicles Subsystems and Components Underwater Instrumentation including Moored and Profiling Buoy Systems Renewable Energy from the Oceans Large Scale Desalination Plants Technology Development for Coastal Habitat Technological Intervention to Augment Fisheries and other Living Resources in the Offshore Areas. Industrial Collaboration International Scenario Recommendations of Das Committee Report Basic Current Infrastructure PAGES 67 78 83 86 88

89 93 98 101

Annexure B1 Annexure B2 Annexure C Annexure D

105 109 111 114 125

Annexure E Annexure F Annexure G Annexure H

16

Vision Statement for Ocean Technology

"Through dedicated efforts in augmenting ocean technology capabilities: India shall make its contribution in harnessing deep water resources for mankind; Coastal population will have enough drinking water from the sea; Coastal habitat will be safe from ocean hazards; and Ocean, weather and fisheries forecasts will improve by reliable ocean observation systems Safety and quality of marine life will be ensured in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

VISION DOCUMENT ON OCEAN TECHNOLOGY

PART -1 PREAMBLE
India is a typical peninsula, surrounded on three sides by oceans. Understanding the importance of oceans, the Government of India, created the Department of Ocean Development (DoD) in 1982. The DoD has been supporting the research and development of science and technology related to oceans. The creation of National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) at Chennai in 1993 brought a fillip to the development of ocean related technologies in particular. A large number of pioneering projects in the area of deep sea mining, offshore energy and fresh water, coastal and environmental engineering, underwater vehicles, moored data buoys and marine instrumentation were taken up in the NIOT. Presently, the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), created in 2006, of which Ocean Development is a part, is keen to accelerate the growth of ocean related technologies in India and has formed a 'Technology Vision Committee' for MoES, vide Ministry's letter, MoES/15/PMN/2009 PC II 15.5.2009 headed by Dr. P. S. Goel, former Secretary, MoES. This committee during its first meeting on 13.06.09 decided to form three Sub Committees, to prepare individual vision documents dealing with three important areas dealt by MoES, namely: (i) Ocean Technology

(ii) Geo Technology (iii) Atmosphere Related Technology The Ministry's letter of: No. MoES/15/PMN/2009 PC II dated 13-7-2009 gives the list of members and terms of reference for the 'Ocean Technology Vision' Subcommittees. Apart from the members, Heads of various Groups and other colleagues of NIOT have also contributed to this document. This document is prepared in two Parts. The first Part is the Main Vision Document which describes the Technologies, Gaps in different areas of ocean technology, and Actions needed on short and long term basis to fill in the gaps. The second part is the 'Reference Document' which contains estimates of all resource potentials from surrounding seas (including India's EEZ) and also the Indian Ocean (where India has access). The second part also contains the current status of indigenous technologies in all the relevant areas.

19

CHAPTER - I
INTRODUCTION
In the areas of oceans surrounding India, the present extent of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is 2.02 million sq. kms. With India's claim for an additional area of EEZ, under the UN Convention of Law of the Sea, India is likely to get approximately 1.2 million sq. kms added to the original EEZ area. This large area of EEZ has a vast potential of variety of resources, both living and non-living, which can substantially contribute to the enhancement of societal benefits, as well as help in the economic development of the country. Some major societal & economic benefits that could accrue from ocean based resources are food & other living resources through their augmentation by technological interventions, freshwater as well as sea water, energy from oceans (both non renewable and renewable) and minerals from sea (both beach placers and deep sea deposits). The large population of India, living along the 7516 km of coast line is exposed to a number of hazards from the oceans and their living areas need to be made safe. Other technology related areas for protection of coastal habitat are: site specific coastal land protection techniques, hazard warning systems, environment related activities and global warming by the release of CO2 to atmosphere which is triggering the climate change phenomenon.

India needs to develop a number of new technologies and enhance the existing capabilities to address the problems of use of resources indicated above and also develop cost effective and reliable technologies for the protection of people through the various activities mentioned above.
To make the machines and men work safe in offshore areas using appropriate technologies both for resource development and hazard mitigation, we need to develop a number of new underwater instruments and vehicles as support systems. This document enumerates aspects of ocean technology which have to be taken up on priority. These important areas are not being taken up by any other Ministry of Government of India. Among the activities mentioned in the earlier part of introduction, the ocean technology development needs has been grouped on priority basis as: Development of Deep Sea Technologies covering

Exploration and mining of offshore minerals. Offshore platforms, risers, deep sea mooring and other deep sea infrastructure development for covering a variety of needs. Underwater vehicles Underwater sub components for major deep sea activities like electrical/hydraulic motors and their accessories, connectors and termination for deep sea, tethers, cables, slip rings etc. Underwater instrumentation including moored and profiling buoy systems.

Technologies for Development of Special Sub Systems needed for Tapping renewable energy from oceans. Surveying and extraction of 'Gas Hydrates' Large scale 'Desalination of Sea water'

21

Technology Development for making the 'Coastal Habitat' safe for society, covering

Protection of coastal habitat against hazards from the ocean Coastal protection measures Cost effective technologies for coastal Infrastructure Ocean CO2 sequestration

Technological Intervention for augmenting Fisheries and other Living Resources in the offshore areas This vision document discusses the promising ocean resource potential and current status of technologies in the "Reference Document" as Part-II, while and the Main Vision Document as Part-I presents the Technology Development Programmes to be taken up in the short long term timespans. To develop capability to address all the above Ocean Technology needs, India has to augment the technical and scientific man power through rigorous capacity building and human resource development programmes. Therefore, the main document, also addresses the needs of Capacity Building and Human Resource development. Wherever necessary, new administrative mechanisms which are needed to achieve faster growth of various technologies through industry co-operation have also been indicated.

22

CHAPTER - II DEVELOPMENT OF DEEP SEA TECHNOLOGIES

2.1. Technologies for Exploration and Mining of Offshore Minerals
Offshore Mineral resources have been attracting more and more attention at present than ever before. The offshore oil extraction has crossed 100 Billion US$ a year and shallow water mining of minerals is also of the order of 2 Billion US$ per year. Technologies for exploration and exploitation of offshore Oil and near shore minerals are in an advanced stage of development. India too is well entrenched in the Offshore Oil sector through ONGC and Private Sector Companies, duly regulated under the Central Hydrocarbons Authority and the Ministry of Petroleum. The Marine Wing of the Geological Survey of India has been actively exploring our EEZ for minerals and the National Institute of Oceanography has undertaken a number of scientific investigations in both our EEZ as well as the deep international waters. During the last couple of decades, under the overall guidance of the Dept. of Ocean Development (now Ministry of Earth Sciences), we have made considerable technological advances in respect of deep sea Manganese Nodules for winning Copper, Nickel and Cobalt, the technological inputs coming mostly from the National Institute of Ocean Technology. Where as the deep sea Polymetallic Manganese Nodules (PMN) take the pride of place by virtue of their magnitude, spread and the opportunities and challenges it offers in the offshore mineral domain, other important deep sea mineral resources are equally important. In fact, the Base Metal Sulphides and Cobalt Crusts at depths shallower than PMN, are poised to precede deep-sea manganese nodules in respect of commercial exploitation. These Marine Mineral Resources can be briefly classified depth wise as follows: (a) Polymetallic Manganese Nodules from abyssal depths of 3,000 to 6,000 meters. (b) Cobalt Crusts from Seamounts at 2,500 to 4,000 meters (c) Polymetallic Sulphides from Sea floor at depths of 2,000 to 4,000 meters; (d) Phosphorites from continental shelves at 400 to 500 meters depth; and (e) Placer Deposits in shallow waters up to around 50 meters depth; Besides considerations of depletion and or paucity of land resources and growing demand in the Country, some of these target minerals and metals contained in the off-shore resources are of considerable export potential or of strategic importance. Thus:

Manganese Nodules and Cobalt Crusts are known to host (other than the target elements Copper Nickel & Cobalt), other metals like Molybdenum, Vanadium and Titanium (in nodules), Platinum, Rhodium (in crusts). These are high value metals scarce in our land resources. Sulphide Deposits target base metals like Copper, Zinc and Lead, but also yield Gold, Silver and a couple of other special metals. Fertiliser minerals from offshore sea floor or sludges and even onshore brines contain Phosphorus, Potassium and even Sulphur, which are all being imported in large volumes in to the Country.

23

Beach Placers contain metals like Titanium, Zirconium and a series of Rare Earth Elements (REE), as the sand contain minerals like limonite, zircon and monazite, which are all of growing industrial significance and enjoy high value export potential. Thorium and Uranium contained in monazite sands are of strategic importance and even its phosphate component is a popular detergent.

Most of these minerals and metals happen to be highly price elastic in the sense that the import dependent countries in a market driven economy with wide price fluctuations, often have to struggle for securing their bare minimum requirements even at prices hitting the roof. All this happens whenever there is even a marginal shortage of supply over its domestic demand. India has faced similar situations when there was domestic exigencies for essential commodities like foodgrains, fertilizers, hydrocarbons and even explosives for the mines and construction work. The growth of the off-shore mining and mineral industry will provide employment opportunities to skilled manpower, and also witness considerable downstream multiplier effect on industrial development. It is imperative therefore, to develop and provide necessary technological wherewithal and allocate financial resources to undertake time-bound Projects for offshore exploration and development of the resources listed above. The prevailing technological gaps, and suggested Action Plans for bridging the same during the next 2, 5 and 10 year time-spans have been spelt out in this Chapter and the domestic & international scenarios and known opportunities in our own EEZ and the Indian and other Oceans, have been placed in the corresponding Annexure A1.of the reference document. The basic strategy in this regard would be to provide necessary technological inputs for offshore mineral exploration and mine development, aimed at commercial mining of the same through appropriate Public or Private Consortia. The progress made so far in the case of deep-sea nodules could set the trend for the development of the other four categories of marine resources stated above. As described in Annexure A1, the Technology Development for deep sea mining is progressing at the NIOT. Currently, India possesses development rights for nodule mining in the "Pioneer area" in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB). These nodules, estimated at 380 million tonnes in the area retained by India, have Nickel, Copper and Cobalt (besides Manganese), the land resources of which fall short of our growing demand. Taking into consideration the problems and difficulties associated with such deep sea activities, an Underwater Mining System has been developed and is being progressively tested at deeper and deeper waters by NIOT. The technology components of this endeavor are briefly as follows: a) The existing deep sea crawler is being modified with the addition of collector, crusher, enhanced slurry pump and hydraulic power pack etc. to demonstrate actual pick-up of manganese nodules from the ocean floor, separate the sediments, convey them to the next stages of crushing, transfer to the riser subsystem for lifting the crushed and de-slimed product to the surface. All the components are rated for 6000 m water depth. The structural and stability analysis have been carried out and the system has been found to be safe. The In-situ soil tester after its development, testing and modifications is ready for pre-testing the pad bearing strength at the actual site in CIOB, where mining is planned. The recently obtained Technology Demonstration Vessel (TDV) Sagar Nidhi, duly equipped for the job on hand (such as the Dynamic Positioning capability, handling facility for 60 tons, Launching and Retrieval System (LARS) on board, winches etc.), is also being readied to carry out the deep sea mining operations.

b)

c)

24

d)

Anticipating the developmental work being accomplished, one of the Deep Sea Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) will also be made available in time, for the deep sea demonstration of nodule mining.

Expertise thus gained after completion of development of deep-ocean mining equipment from 500 m depth to 6000 m water depth, will culminate in deep sea test mining; where after, Commercialization will be attempted. That would entail timely commissioning of appropriate semisubmersible platforms, multiple sub-sea mining machinery, basic mineral processing at site, offshore transportation etc. Conceptual designs for such support systems and process sequence are on the drawing board and would constitute the major post-demonstration development work. The capabilities of mining platforms can also be effectively utilized as heavy lift vessels to serve offshore construction work for oil and gas, recovery and salvage applications in high seas for rockets and satellite parts, defense equipment and even drowned aircraft or ship components. It is intended to make some of these costly and powerful platforms as multifunctional as possible (by mounting the required sub-systems at short notice) to realize application objectives. In the above context, some of the objectives or capabilities to be achieved are:
l l l

Development of infrastructure in terms of floating platforms (long term basis); Infrastructure for launching and retrieval systems (long term basis); Slurry flow studies under pulsating flow conditions through flexible riser, both theoretical and experimental (short term basis); Development of materials with high strength to weight ratio for underwater applications (long term basis).

Successful realization of an integrated deep-sea mining system involves proper co-ordination of nodule Collection, Crushing & Desilting, Raising the product to the mother-ship, Offshore Transportation, Port Logistics, Mineral Processing, Metallurgy etc. Necessary interaction with Weather Stations, Coast Guards, Defence, International Seabed Authority (ISA) etc. is also to be carried out. Downstream market watch and other commercial aspects will also have to be catered to. To accomplish all these tasks, it becomes essential that a Multidisciplinary 'Deepsea Mine Management Team' is established by equipping the team members with management tools specific to the requirements of deep-sea mining applications. Also, the 'Inter-institutional R&D' support for offshore mining has to be enhanced in co-ordination with educational and research institutes so that the complex deep-sea mining technology receives sufficient thrust and generates interest among the engineering community like conventional mining, automobile and aerospace industries etc. 2.1.1 Adaptation of Mining Technologies of Nodules for Cobalt Crusts, Polymetallic Sulphides, Phosphorites and Coastal Placers The present state of exploration and mining technology and prevailing domestic and international scenarios have been outlined in Annexure A1 to this Chapter. The gaps to be covered and broad time frames for the suggested technology interventions in respect of the aforesaid offshore mineral prospects (vis-a-vis the abyssal nodule sites) are discussed in the following paragraphs: The Exploration techniques and instruments used for establishing our mine site in CIOB, as also the experience gained in the concurrent EIA/EMP studies, should stand to our good stead to deal with the investigations of likely mineral prospects by NIO and associate Organisations in respect of Sulphides and Cobalt crusts, which occur at around 3000 m water depth. The equipment profile for surveying, prospecting, sample collection, analysis and geological interpretation is progressively getting upgraded. To derive benefits of modernisation by market acquisition of state of art
25

instruments and laboratory facilities, necessary funding and support shall be needed from the Government. Also, provision for the required Research Vessels and cruise time will have to be made, in order to accomplish the project objectives in a time bound manner. In the case of the shallower Phosporites deposits, which occur at shallow water depths of 400 m or thereabouts, say in Continental Margins and also in the case of near shore Beach Placer deposits, primarily falling under the scope of Geological Survey of India (GSI)'s Marine Wing, following support is suggested for technological improvements: a) b) c) A Geotechnical vessel with 30 m drilling facility in the shallow water region between 6 m to 30 m isobath. The vessel to be equipped with piston corer and vibrocorer with core recovery capacity of 30 m and 10 m respectively. Geophysical equipment like multichannel seismic system with penetration upto 6 to 7 km along with sub bottom profiler, magnetometer, side scan sonar, underwater video camera etc are also proposed to be installed in the new vessel.

Coming to the mining of hard minerals, say the cobalt crusts on a seamount or harder laminations of a sulphide ore body, the existing crawler vehicle has to be attached with suitable mechanisms to cut the cobalt crusts from substrate grab sulphides from climney clustors hard rock base, usually basalt or carbonates
n n n

Cobalt crust cutting and related system modification on the deep-sea crawler Vehicle track modifications for movement on hard surfaces; Large volume, low pressure slurry flow pump integration etc.

The above activities relating to mining aspects of offshore mineral domains other than the nodules may be taken up on a longer term basis during the XIIth Plan period. The exploratory projects to establish a couple of deposit areas in each of the four cases will have to precede the development of mining techniques for each, as the latter are site specific in nature and a fairly detailed knowledge of the deposit, its substrate, micro bathymetry, depth and water column profile are some of the essential parameters for mine designing and equipment development/ adaptation. 2.1.2 Metallurgy for Minerals from Sea The development of metal extraction from deep sea nodules has been an important component of the PMN Programme. The pyro-metallurgical and hydro-metallurgical processes which have been short listed for laboratory and pilot plant scale development, have achieved significant success. The most successful alternative processes now require to be further fine-tuned for optimum level of metal extraction with energy conservation, which is economically acceptable. Research Programs recently commenced in this context include: a. b) c) Designing a modified high pressure acid leaching system for Indian ocean nodules for attaining energy economy; Trials with Sulphuric acid based leaching processes (as these are likely to be less energy intensive); Possibility of direct smelting; the objective being to maximize manganese recovery & minimize Ni, Co & Cu losses; (Manganese recovery optimization is as important factor as it helps to reduce losses of the more valuable Ni, Co and Cu.)

26

Other related ongoing as well as planned process development work to be completed in the next five years include: a) b) c) d) e) f) Development of suitable process for extraction of metals from Cobalt Crust Development of process for safe disposal of solid effluent based on electro-remediation technique. Suitable modification in the solvent extraction process based on recent developments. Suitable process modification for extraction of Molybdenum from nodules. Mathematical model for PMN Process evaluation. Development of processes for production of value added products from leached residue.

After a Techno-economic studies of different processes are conducted, the choice of the most suitable and viable route can be made, also considering the cost benefit analysis of the off-shore venture as compared with the terrestrial practices. Typical techno economic studies on a) Manganese Nodule mining, b) Cobalt Crust mining and c) Polymetallic Sulphide mining with representative mineral suits, their latest available market prices, known and extrapolated costs of equipment and other capital inputs (CAPEX) and estimates of operational expenditures based on demonstration trials or otherwise (OPEX) undertaken by knowledgeable experts and Institutions under the aegis of International Sea bed Authority (ISA) or presented in International Seminars, indicate that on a like to like basis, the IRRs are the highest for Sulphides, followed by Nodules and then the Crusts. The main reason for such a scenario of relative viability, appears to be the total value of the contained salable metal suit, overall product recovery and inherent dilution factors. Needless to state, the viability picture would vary with each deposit, its composition, mining and metallurgical processes involved and strategic and economic worth of the metals produced for the producing country. External factors such as the command over supplies of essential metals from own sources, bestowing industrial security and bargaining powers in the international market place, are also to be reckoned with. Crust and Sulphide mining have added advantages of shallower depths, possibility of sites within the Country's EEZ and proximity to shore based processing Plants. Annexure A1 gives the details of current status in this area. 2.2 Infrastructures to Harness Deep Ocean Resources

The hardware for harvesting a variety of resources like minerals, non-renewable and renewable energies, desalinated water from the sea consists of variety of platform depending on the water depth, the type and quantity of material handled. These platforms also need either position keeping or mooring lines. While India has significantly exploited its potential and gas in shallow water seas upto 85metre depth, more resources have been identified in deeper water necessitating new platform designs for deep water locations which are economical and safe to operate. Several concepts have been developed and used around the world for production in deep waters. Offshore technology, particularly deepwater technology is highly capital intensive and global in nature, and the quantum of likely business in new construction may not justify re-inventing the wheel. Development of improved concepts to make the designs more amenable to use of Indian facilities for design and construction will have to be attempted. Fixed platforms can be used for jetty type structures in open sea conditions, particularly for liquid product handling. Floating structures like spars, tension leg platforms or other types of
27

structures could be used for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plants or large scale desalination plants. Design implications and innovations possible to make such structures economical for these applications need to be explored. While oil & gas projects can afford high construction costs, the renewable energy industry cannot, and so structures which result in cheaper fabrication and installation costs need to be developed. The OTEC and desalination plants require pumping in large quantities of water from great depths. Large diameter pipes need to be deployed to bring up water from the large depths. Economical design of large diameter pipes in synthetic materials (GRE, FRP etc) to withstand environmental conditions of the sea need to be developed. Fatigue strength of such materials need to be established. The floating structures need to be moored to sea bed. Special cost-effective mooring materials need to be developed. Design capability for anchoring systems at deep waters such as suction anchors need to be developed in the country. This would have advantageous fallout in the hydrocarbon industry. Some of the priority areas in which work is to be undertaken are:
l l

Deep Sea mooring systems Development of improved concepts to make the designs more amenable to use of Indian facilities for design and construction Semi-submersible and articulated jointed buoy type platforms Studies on suction pile foundations - theoretical, modeling and experimental work

l l

Since all these technologies are also very much needed for offshore oil and gas industries, it would be prudent to work closely with those industries and other design consultants like EIL through formal agreements for knowledge sharing. Specific design/development studies could also be off loaded to IITs for completion in definite time frames. India has low infrastructure for the installation and erection of large components offshore. Shipyards in India also have never fabricated floating platforms like semi submersibles and the like. Thus, building a large all weather platform for continuous operation will pose a challenge not only for design but also for the field implementation. However in the context of the national technological development it should be seen as capacity building. The station keeping of such large platforms need to be understood and deployed using the minimal infrastructure available in the country. Finally materials for sea related activities need to be studied for the cold water pipe as well as the thermal components. New composite materials like FRP and the like need to be studied for long term usage in the open ocean for continuous plant operation. Thus, the major areas of research and technology development are:1. 2. 3. 4. The offshore platform required for supporting the desalination plant. The large and long conduit for the pumping of large volumes of cold sea water. The all weather station keeping system for the platform. New materials and their testing for deep water and cyclic loading.

Such a design engineering activity is to be taken up on priority basis in the next 2 to 3 years. Platforms and their Sub system development for deep water application can be taken up in 12th plan period and beyond. Details of current status in this area is given in Annexure A2.
28

2.3

Technologies for Survey and Extraction of Gas Hydrates

All the field implementation of production testing in gas hydrates has taken place in the permafrost area and there is no commercial production of Methane from hydrates anywhere worldwide. The following are the challenges that need to be addressed while carrying out the production testing of gas hydrates in the Marine environment:
l

No work in this area has been carried out anywhere in the world and so there is no representative field from which we can take any clues although inputs from the experience of gas hydrates production testing in the Mallick wells and also from the North scope Alaska area scheduled to commence shortly can be extremely useful for the development of technology for production testing of gas hydrates in Marine enouncement. Management of water produced where the dissociation of hydrates occurs The gas hydrates occurring in marine environment are found at very shallow depth below the sea bed where the sediments are unconsolidated and sea floor subsidence in quite likely. This problem is to be specially addressed while developing machines for harvesting hydrates. Ensuring that the Methane dissociated from the gas hydrates stays in the fluid form as it travels through the Gas Hydrate Stability Zone (GHSZ). Evacuation of produced Methane to shore.

l l

Presently, MoES, through NIOT is piloting a programme, with the participation of NIO and NGRI, to study the possible sites of occurrence of gas hydrates in Indian EEZ through the analysis of seismic survey data and sampling / coring at some sites. NIOT had already developed an ROV with special sensors and a Autonomous corer to support this activity. Recommendations to fill the gap areas MoES to work in close association with Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP & NG) to avoid repetition of work and for effective implementation of the Technological development, which should arise out of the research, carried out.
l

No seismic survey/ drilling /coring work should be taken in the areas already drilled viz. Krishna -Godavari, Mahanadi and Andaman area since all the physical parameters pertaining to the presence of gas hydrates and its characterization studies are already carried out and its results are available. Thus repeating the same would be a waste of public money. MoES may take up the acquisition of 3D - 4C Seismic data in association with DGH for evaluating the extent of gas hydrates occurrences in the already drilled areas and to take up Seismic attribute studies for gas hydrates mapping. Some other allied areas are: Evacuation of Methane produced from hydrates from the subsea depths to the storage areas and thereafter to the shore. Development of laboratories to carry out studies pertaining to the extraction of methane from hydrates through de-pressurisation and CO2 substitution. Technology for extracting the gas hydrates at least at a pilot scale.
29

Technology for continuous observation of the environmental parameters. It is observed that EDBOE, Russia has developed a benthic station in association with NIOT. The same may be modified to suit the present purpose.

Annexure A3 gives the details of current status in this area. 2.4 Underwater Vehicles Various types of underwater vehicles exist. They can be classified as those which are free swimming, generally called Remotely Operable Vehicles (ROVs) with tether, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and those which move on the sea bed. NIOT has developed a work class ROV along with Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia. This is rated for 6000m application. The system can be lowered from a purpose built launching and retrieval system from on board the vessel Sagar Nidhi. The system is launched upto the required depth along with its Tether Management System (TMS). At the required depth of operation, the ROV is detached from the TMS and it proceeds for the designated operation. The system has been developed and tested at 2000m water depth. Similarly an AUV has been developed by National Institute of Oceanography, Goa for shallow water operation. Another AUV is being developed jointly by IIT, Kharagpur and Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI), Durgapur. Development of manned submersible for 4000 metres has been taken up by NIOT in the XIth five year plan. However, manned submersibles at lower depths (<1000 metres) are needed for R&D as well as industrial and even tourism purposes. Technologically development of shells for human occupancy is easier in shallower depths and this can be carried out indigenously. Hence development of manned submersibles can be taken up with the help of Indian industry. Gliders and underwater profiling floats are used for data collection underwater and ultimately sending it to land through low orbiting satellites. A prototype of profiling float has already been developed at NIOT and is undergoing trials. Gliders are without propulsion and they can glide along with the current on pre-programmed path and acquire designated data. The acquired data will be transmitted through satellite to earth station. These gliders are required in large numbers for extensive data collection in the Indian seas. Even though these could be imported, the development of these indigenously could be taken up through industry. Even though ROVs are available in the country, operation of ROVs requires skill and qualification. As such there are no trained ROV pilots in the country. Also no facilities are available in the country to train them. These can be solved by:
l l

Development of manned submersibles for various depths (long term) Training the Indian scientists/engineers as ROV pilots at the international facilities available (short term) By developing ROV simulators (short term)

The design problems associated with the development of ROV's are power supply systems, launch and recovery systems, tether and its management. Also, ROVs for reconnaissance and underwater imaging are necessary for various applications. Following work related to ROVs have to be taken up:
l l

ROVs for Polar applications also could be considered for up to 300 metres (long term) Variable buoyancy for submersibles (long term)

30

l l

Hybrid ROV with AUV cage (long term) Advanced technologies for position finding, communication with mother ship and onboard batteries which decide the endurance under water. (long term) In the area of Gliders and variable buoyancy devices, the following developments are to be taken up: Develop Indian Industry to produce profiling floats to acquire ocean data and transmit to land through Indian low orbiting satellites. Develop prototype gliders, which can also collect data underwater and send data to earth station through satellite.

The current status of the work in this area is given in Annexure A4. 2.5 Subsystems and Components

Most of the sub components required for deep sea application are imported. These are expensive due to the low volume of consumption in the International market. At times this poses difficulties in procurement. It is hence necessary to develop components and subsystems indigenously through industry. Indian industry is capable of developing such sophisticated subsystems and marketing them in International market. The quality assurance and testing and qualification can be taken up by NIOT. Some of the development activities already taken up are development of thruster, underwater fibre optic connector, underwater motor etc., of which the thruster and fibre optic connector have already been developed. More information on these are given in Annexure A5 of the reference Document. The main subsystems used commonly in underwater hydraulic and electric system is the pressure compensator. This mainly consists of a rubber bellow and a spring for resilience. However, in view of the quality and properties of rubber required for operation at low temperature and high pressure, such systems are not produced in India. However imported systems are available, but expensive. Similarly, in order to reduce the weight of underwater systems, the enclosures for electronics are to be of pressure compensated. This requires electronic components which can withstand triaxial pressure. Many commercially available electronic components like capacitors, diodes etc. are being tested for operation under pressure and qualified indigenously. Some of the components development to be taken up are:
l

Pressure compensated underwater electrical termination capable of use in full ocean depth Positive displacement pumps for handling slurry from deepwater Underwater slip rings High power electric and hydraulic motors and valves for underwater operation Underwater connectors. Higher capacity energy sources (batteries and ultra capacitors), Pressure-tolerant electronic components (i.e., operates without pressure case) In situ pH and gas concentration sensors with long-term stability. Voluntary Observing Ships (VOS) to be equipped with necessary transducers and capable of data storage and dissemination and used for data collection.

l l l l l l l l

To qualify these components, these are to be tested at 150% of rated pressure for which NIOT has a Hyperbaric chamber. This is India's largest high pressure test facility with facility to test up to 900 bar pressure. All the above systems developed through industries will be qualified inside the pressure chamber.
31

Many a time mere reverse engineering of readily available off-the-shelf components and the development of components that are not having enough demand in the Indian markets proved to be unviable. Hence, concentration should be on the components that are

v v v v

Non-off the shelf like underwater termination Components listed in the dual use like underwater hydraulic motors Components that can have general use with a little modification like underwater enclosures Components where definite value addition is possible like under-water cameras

Vendor development is essential to develop such quality products. This will involve in house design of systems and testing and qualifying using instruments and hyperbaric chamber. The fabrication, assembly and testing will be carried out by industry. This could also lead to patentable products. The procedures are to be appropriately modified in order to procure multiple numbers of the same product later on. The various developments in this area are given in Annexure A5. 2.5.1 Marine archaeology, applications to salvage and underwater tourism Marine archaeology, the study of underwater cultural heritage, deals with material remains, in the form of submerged ancient habitation/ port installations and sunken shipwrecks. This cultural heritage is threatened by rapid industrialization and an urgent action plan is required for their conservation. India's rich traditional knowledge in boat building and navigational techniques need quick documentation, before the skills are lost forever. The documentation of sea level changes [local, regional and global] and the effect of Tsunami and other calamities on the Indian coastline will be of help for future coastline planning. Some of the important works to be carried out are: 1. 2. 3. 4. Scientifically investigate and catalogue marine archaeological sites including shipwrecks, Palaeo Tsunami, Sea Level changes in our coast. Conserve and preserve finds. Develop plans for underwater walkthroughs for scholars and tourists. Salvaging and restoration of sunken ships in the Indian waters for posterity.

NIOT is the only Technology Institute with requisite resource to take an active role in marine related area. Availability of the latest survey equipment with multi disciplinary manpower including certified divers, is a major resource available at NIOT to take up the studies listed in 1 to 4 earlier. Most of the submerged artefacts and shipwrecks are in the depths ranging between 30 to 100 m in the east coast. To facilitate close studies of the objects of underwater interest, a shallow water manned submersible [carrying capacity-3 persons], with investigation tools and 150m rating is to be developed in the next 2 to 3 years along with a dedicated dive team. The present program on manned submersible can be adapted to the need. In the next 2 to 3 years, a map showing the locations of interest for such underwater studies, is to be prepared using the available underwater survey equipments like multibeam sonars, side scan sonars and the ROV. Actual attempts to arrange organised tours of underwater Archaeological sites could be done in the 12th plan in cooperation with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

32

2.6

Underwater Instrumentation Including Moored and Profiling Buoy Systems

2.6.1 Instrumentation development There exist various instruments, acoustic and otherwise, which are to be developed for various applications. Development of Tsunami warning system is one of the most important among them. An indigenous tsunami warning system development has also been initiated by NIOT. Some of the areas where technology advancement needs to be carried out are:
l

Systems with advanced sensors similar to ARGO floats can be incorporated in the modified concept of Tsunami warning system. Tsunami sensor can be an additional sensor to the existing salinity and temperature monitoring sensors in the floats. This will be a solution to the existing problems of vandalism of the tsunami surface buoys which transmits the data to the satellites. These could be taken up on a short term basis. Advanced (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems MEMS) / Nano Electro Mechanical Systems (NEMS) based low power consumed RF ID sensors have to be developed in addition to the existing technology for data transmission to the dedicated satellite with indigenously developed software. This will protect the data from not being known to other countries without the knowledge of India. This is required since most of the software used in India are imported for which source code is not available. India has already a dedicated satellite for ocean information which makes the idea simpler for execution. (long term) Instrumentation for the detection and in-situ cleaning of oil spills in oceans is a new priority program for the protection of marine environment and other living organisms. For this laser based sensor detection can be made use of and special (MEMS/NEMS) RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) wireless sensor based systems are to be used. (long term) Developing new technologies other than bioremediation for cleaning oil spills also is to be taken up on a long term basis. Indigenous development of environmental sensors like gas sensors (methane, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, ammonia) need to be taken up on a long term basis. Nano material technology has advanced in the development of miniature gas sensors with embedded electronics. The packaging (casings) technology using such light weight materials for withstanding high pressure or low temperatures for unmanned or manned submersibles will help the manufacture of light weight vehicles. (long term) Technologies other than acoustic based are Acousto-Optic, Electro-Optic and active electromagnetic instrumentation for the realization of ocean observation from air crafts or floating platforms or a network of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles with a fusion of sensors. An Important instrumentation for a remote aerial sonar based on the non conventional sensor technologies uses Laser Sound remote control of Underwater Oceanographic Instrumentation. This could be taken up on a long term basis. Moored buoys are deployed in Indian waters for collection of meteorological and oceanographic data from the sea. The need of the hour is quality data to be made available for various end uses. Data discontinuity exists due to vandalism of the buoys and other reasons. Existing technology of moored buoys with solar panels will have to be replaced with long life battery pack and vandalism free, molded systems similar to Research Moored Array for African-Asian-Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA) systems of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA on a long term basis.
33

In order to measure geo-activities and tsunami generation, certain strategic locations could be identified and depending on the user requirement the sea bed observatories can be put in deep seas and networked with fibre optic cable link with common node. The common node will be connected to the nearest land / island through fibre optic cable. These clusters could be created as many as possible for highly reliable data and especially for tsunami warning purpose. Such system with underwater power and fibre optic links could be lined up to avoid the floating buoys. These could also double as underwater laboratories as in the Venus and Neptune programmes of US and Canada (more details in Annexure F).

2.6.2 Ocean Acoustics and Acoustic Instrumentation Most of the underwater instruments are acoustic based since other waves have limited range in salt water. As indicated earlier, some acoustic instruments like acoustic tide gauge has already been developed and also has earned International Patent. Ocean acoustics is an area in which work done in India is limited. The development of acoustic based instruments for underwater applications require knowledge and expertise in the area of sound propagation, ambient noise, signal processing and communication. NIOT has commenced working in these areas . The development of advanced sensor technologies (embedded systems) is important for improving the limitations of the presently available technology in India. However, advanced sensor technologies need the development of advanced material technologies like nano materials. NIOT has initiated new sensor technology development in the XIth plan. So far, most of the underwater instrumentation is acoustic based and a renewed interest has occurred due to new developments like acousto-magnetic, acousto-electric, acousto-optics, photo-acoustic and high power density thermo-electric technologies. There are many technological gap areas which exist in the area of development of acoustic instruments. Some of the details are given in the subsequent paragraphs.
l

In order to prevent terrorist activities like 26/11/2008 from coastal areas, technology development and observation systems like surveillance sonar in ports and harbors are another area to be addressed on a priority basis. A 2D sparse array technology development will be a viable long term project which has multiple applications including defence. For this, development of expendable digital underwater sensor technology is highly essential. New thermo acoustic resonators utilizing nanotechnology has been demonstrated internationally recently. Such materials can withstand hazardous environmental conditions. The sensors developed so far have been for space and atomic energy applications. However, these can be re-engineered for oceanographic applications also. One of the major acoustic based instruments that is to be developed on a long term basis is Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) similar to Synthetic Aperture Radar Technology for surveying, underwater imaging and buried target detection, localize and classification compared to the existing multi beam echo sounders, side scan Sonar and Sub-Bottom Profilers. Even none of the instruments mentioned above have been completely indigenously developed so far due to interdisciplinary expertise and complexity in the design of such systems. Another area of development is advanced hydrophones which can minimize noise during the data acquisition for any of the above mentioned underwater applications. This includes the development of conformal arrays for better detection and can fit in to the shape of the vehicles such as boats, ship hull, Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUV) etc. Piezo composite materials are useful for high frequency applications. For these technology development, product development along with new designs need to be explored. These are available in developed nations already.

34

Since the future developments in the area of ocean instrumentation will be on unmanned / autonomous underwater vehicles, low power consuming light weight sensors and instruments suitable for operating under limited battery power will be a real challenge to marine instrumentation. A network of such AUV's can provide reliable data via acoustic telemetry network. This needs multi sensor data fusion techniques and long range underwater communication systems between the unmanned vehicles. The sensor design for such instruments will depend on the shape of the vehicle where conformal arrays are essential compared to the conventional designs. Development of underwater Acoustic Camera for obstacle avoidance and identification sensor for AUV/UUV is another component development necessary. For these high frequency instruments Micro Electro Mechanical sensor Systems (MEMS) and advanced light weight nano composite material casings are ideal. Future Marine instruments should go hands on with the advanced material technology development making use of advanced designs. In a nutshell, the areas where work is to be taken up in the area of Acoustic underwater instruments are:
l l l l l

Synthetic Aperture Sonar (R&D long term) Low power, light weight sensors/instruments for ROV and AUV mounting (R&D) Multi-disciplinary sensor development and Fusion of sensors/Networking (long term) Long range underwater acoustic communication system (long term) Acoustic camera for obstacle avoidance (long term)

2.6.3Acquisition and dissemination of data Data acquisition and dissemination spread over a wide range from underwater telemetry used for communication from one platform to another as well as networking of data buoys used for ocean information and Tsunami warning system. A Tsunami warning system as well as a National Data Buoy Program (NDBP) is already functioning under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. Further networking of tide data and other web enabled wireless sensor based environmental data technologies are promising for weather forecasting and climate change prediction. Huge data collection and analysis are required during marine surveys. Real time data acquisition, processing of the data during side scan sonar, multi beam Sonar, buried object detection and sub-bottom data need to be established for saving man hours, automated image processing and vessel time and cost reduction. Hence development of digital data acquisition and processing systems is essential. A multi-AUV Underwater data acquisition system will help in the data acquisition using a network of AUVs for surveying, target identification, localize and classification of targets and sediments, gas detection, archeological survey etc. Such a technology development will revolutionize the present underwater oceanographic instrumentation in the country for Ocean science & Technology. These will have applications for defense purposes like mine hunting instruments. The projects to be taken up are:
l

Setting up of multi-AUV based underwater network for continuous data acquisition, which can be used for applications given in the earlier paragraph. Linking of all coastal and other data collected from tide gauges, HF radars, ocean bottom recorders and other devices into a common network from where it could be used for specific information gathering like, weather, storm surge modeling, tsunami warning etc. Large scale data acquisition system with redundancies and data mirroring with servers at different locations in order avoid total loss of data in times of natural hazards

All the above could be taken up on a long term basis. Annexure A6 gives the details of current status in this area.
35

CHAPTER - III DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGY FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY AND FRESHWATER FROM SEA
3.1 Renewable Energy from the Oceans India being a nation surrounded by sea water, offers a good renewable energy potential from the oceans. Other forms of ocean energy that have affected a high level of technology demonstration are wave energy and tidal energy. The exploitable potential and current status of technology of these three forms of ocean energy are detailed in Annexure: The large fluctuation in the cost of oil from $ 20 per barrel up to $140 per barrel and its present price of about $70 per barrel has highlighted the need to harvest renewable energy, especially from oceans. But what needs to be done is to develop new technologies / processes which will bring down the capital cost and improve the reliability of these plants. With reference to Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plants, the immediate needs are:
l

Develop a cost effective combination of platform, riser & mooring system which will survive the dynamic impacts of waves, currents and also is capable of drawing larger quantities of cold sea water from 800-1000m depth. The heat exchangers utilizing the low temperature differences in the OTEC plants are larger and expensive. There is an urgent need to develop compact heat exchangers with lighter materials like Aluminum to work in an Ammonia environment. Develop innovative designs like Ammonia condenser in deep water instead of riser pipe handling large quantities of cold sea water, flexible risers with deep sea submersible pumps and compact turbines for open cycle operation. While technology development for the Sub systems progress in the next 2 to 3 years, India should parallely build an OTEC demonstration plant of capacity around 5MW. Such a plant could be planned either near an island or close to mainland to be built as a 'shelf mounted plant', built on a tower Towards improving the performance and optimizing the cost of power cycle components newer materials need to be studied. Specific components with their inherent lacunae for sea water applications need to be improved. Under this group of equipment will fall the heat exchangers, pumps, turbines and all related accessories. While these components are more or less understood, fine tuning in their design will prove beneficial for large scale plants.

In the next five year plan, one 20 MW OTEC plant be built either as a floating or a shelf mounted plant. The effluent deep sea water could be used for "deep sea fish farming". This project will have better economic viability compared to "power only" OTEC plants. Beyond the 12th five year plan, India should design, build and operate a floating OTEC plant of capacity 50 to 100 MW with innovative technology for cost reduction and this should become India's first ( world's first )commercial OTEC plant. For tapping wave energy, only two types of plants will be viable for India, as the annual average of wave energy potential is low here, compared to other northern / southern latitude countries. The viable technologies for India are: I) II) Oscillating water column (OWC) based shore mounted wave power plants. Floating wave power units (also with OWC) generating less than 1kW to power remote instrumented buoys.
37

For OWC based plants, the initial capital cost can be reduced, if they are built as part of breakwaters for harbours. New concepts using two independent air turbines, for use in the bi-direction flow in OWC plants have already been demonstrated. Such an OWC based plant of capacity of 5MW may be built as a demonstration plant in an upcoming habour in the next 5 year plan.

The 'Backward bent ducted Buoy' technology also has reached a full demonstration phase and few such buoys should be built powering offshore instruments in the neat 2 to 3 years. Study of breaking wave forces on shoreline devices and optimizing the structural design with innovative construction techniques will help to reduce the cost of structures. Another way of reducing costs is to have facilities with multiple purposes rather than a single purpose. For example, the fisheries community development discussed earlier would need breakwaters for protection of the sea front. The breakwaters would also serve as shore protection devices from cyclones and tsunamis for the fishing community. The breakwaters could be used to house the wave energy conversion mechanism and / or offshore wind mill, thereby reducing the overall capital investment. Caisson type breakwaters are proposed for this purpose. The caisson breakwaters can also reduce substantially the amount of stones dumped into the sea compared to rubble mound breakwaters, and are therefore environment-friendly. Economics of such composite facilities should be worked out for a few locations and implementation strategy developed.

India has three good locations for building tidal power plants, namely, Gulfs of Kutch and Khambat in Gujarat and Sunderbans in West Bengal. The technologies for tidal power extraction are well known, either with 'Barrage - Hydraulic turbine Concept' or with stand alone 'Tidal current Turbines'. But, detailed site specific design of tidal barrages is a technical challenge. While a barrage based power plant of capacity 3.5 MW has been in principle approved by Govt. of India, the Gujarat Govt. is planning to take up the 'Kalpasar' project as a multipurpose project to build a barrage cum road across the Gulf of Khambat and also create a fresh water basin by impounding the large fresh water inputs from rivers The completion of these two projects in the next 5 to 7 years will be a great contribution to the development of tidal power in India. In the mean time one important work that needs to be taken up is:
l

Studies on cheaper designs and their deployment procedures for prefabricated caissons to be used in the barrage construction will help to reduce the cost of the plants.

3.1.1 Bio fuels from Ocean The development of bio fuels from sea needs engineering inputs to farm, harvest and generate bio ethanol. Fucoidan and Alginic acids in the sea weeds/algae have to be broken down by suitable enzymes to produce Bioethanol and this technology is to be demonstrated in India by farming the sea weeds in the sea. This needs to be done in the next 3 years, after which a power generating plant can be designed and installed in the next 5 years plan. (More information in Annexure B1) 3.1.2 Offshore Wind mills Land based wind mill technology is well developed and popular. If such wind mills of capacity 0.5 MW or 1MW are built in shallow water regions of the coastal states, they would have two major advantages over land base wind mills. First, they don't need the costly coastal land area for erecting the wind mills. Secondly the offshore wind mills experience larger wind speeds since then is no obstruction as in land. However, the design & construction of foundation for these wind mills in shallow waters is a challenge. The vast experience in offshore oil and gas production will make our
38

job easier. Hence two sites in coastal Gujarat and Tamilnadu, where thousands of wind mills are operating on land, could be selected and offshore wind mill stations could be erected in the next 5 years. Such a project will open a new avenue of renewable energy from the sea. The various projects undertaken in this area are given in Annexure B1. 3.2 Large Scale Desalination Plants Desalination of sea water: Oceans are large sources for drinking water. Among the many well known possible desalination processes, the use of cold deep sea water to condense the flash evaporated surface sea water, provides a relatively simple process and requires simple machinery to run in remote island locations. These plants could be land based in islands and could be floating for mid sea applications or to meet drinking water needs of coastal cities. (More details in Annexure of reference document) NIOT has successfully designed, erected and operated for 4 years, one low temperature desalination plant of capacity 100,000 litres daily at Kavaratti island of the Lakshadweep group. NIOT has also demonstrated a floating plant 40 km off Chennai producing 1 million litres of fresh water daily. Such plants for three more islands are under erection. A design for a floating plant with a daily production of 10 million litres is under development. The technological problems needed to be solved for simplifying the erection in small islands and for building floating plants are as follows:
l

The design of sumps for drawing warm water and cold deep sea water for small islands has to be optimized to minimize its weight and volume to facilitate its construction on land and towing and seating at offshore location in water depths of around 5 m. The cold water pipe to reach a depth of around 500m may be about 600 to 700m long. Presently HDPE pipe with thermally fused joints done at site to the total length of 600 m is towed and seated on the sea bed slope. Alternative materials for the pipe and their deployment procedures have to be developed. The design of evaporator and condenser has to be optimized to get minimum price per unit of water generated. The shell and tube condenser becomes the largest single component to be handled in island/offshore application. Compact heat exchanger with lighter materials with heat transfer coatings on the surface of heat exchanger have to be developed to minimize the capital cost and help easier handling in the island/offshore areas. Studies on plant component optimization whereby capital cost can be reduced, need to be carried out. Since the temperature difference in small optimization of heat exchangers and vacuum systems is necessary and needs to be addressed in the near future. For floating plants, the design of the platform, the riser pipe and its attachment have to be studied from the point of dynamic interaction among them due to the action of waves, currents and wind. Symmetrical platforms, spar type platforms, semi submersible platform with suitable connections to riser are some of the technological options. The development of an integrated platform, riser and its mooring one of the major technological constraints for the design of a floating plant and has to be studied on priority basis in the next one or two years, through studies of various design options, simulation and physical model studies. (highlighted in section 2.2) The design of large capacity plants is a major gap area, which requires modeling, simulation and other studies before the design per se is considered. (2 years).

Annexure B2 gives the details of current status in this area.

39

CHAPTER - IV TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT FOR COASTAL HABITAT

4.1 Protection of Coastal Habitat Against Hazards from the Ocean
It is well known that a major portion of world's population lives in coastal areas within about 60 km from coast. For India, with a long coastline of about 7500km, protection of coastal population from the hazards of sea is one of the major concerns. The hazards from sea could be 1. 2. 3. Loss of land due to erosion by waves/currents. Flooding of coastal land due to surges at the time of cyclone/low pressure periods. Large scale inundation due to Tsunami waves

Many institutions across India are working to provide solutions to all the above problems with mixed results. Problems arose when there is a tendency to provide similar solutions to all the coastal locations. Since the dynamics of land sea interaction is location and time specific (with regard to monsoons),technological intervention should also take into account the various features of the particular site and year round variations of wave, current and wind conditions there. It would be a massive exercise to collect all the local environment data for the entire Indian cost. Therefore, it is recommended that voluminous coastal environmental data already available with various scientific institutions / government agencies including remote sensing agencies should be pooled and a National Data Base in the form of Coastal Atlas be created in next two years. Wave Height estimation along the coast: NIOT has undertaken the task of estimating the statistical wave heights that occur along the Indian coast for different return frequencies based on available wind observations Indian Ocean basin. Tide and currents at different locations are also being estimated. This data provides information to engineers for design of coastal structures. Estimation of storm surge, tsunami and sea-level rise provide a worst case scenario that can be a scientific basis for coastal zone management plans and engineering design and help in protection of coastal habitat against hazards from the ocean. Sedimentation research: Knowledge of sedimentation is required for various coastal users. For instance a port needs a good estimate of sedimentation for predicting dredging costs. Dredging costs are operational costs that can make or break the decision to develop a port. Similarly, bar mouth closures are common along the east coast water bodies, including the Chilka Lake and Pulicat Lake. Bar mouth closures in estuaries and tidal inlets are of major concern in respect of the mixing phenomena thereby resulting in higher pollution loads. 4.2 Coastal Protection Measures

The seasonal circulation in the Bay of Bengal influences currents in the coastal waters. Currents move along the coast towards the North from March to October and move southwards from November to February. This phenomenon is also responsible for the sediment transport/littoral drift, which results in net sedimentation on the southern side of any structure built on the coast. Littoral drift occurs in the northerly direction along the peninsular coast for 8 to 9 in months in a year, with the waves approaching the coast from Southeast direction. There is a southerly littoral drift for 3 to 4 months when waves approach the coast from east. This phenomenon is observed at all locations along the east coast where manmade obstruction has been made along the east coast.
l

It is also observed that accretion to the southern side of any obstruction is accompanied by significant erosion on the northern side of the structure as witnessed b y the large scale erosion (and loss of property). In most of these cases, the response has been to provide a groin field to the north of such obstructions. While there is an
41

immediate benefit of erosion mitigation at these locations, in the long term, it is observed that the problem of erosion is shifted further north of these groins.
l

Man made coastal protection measures more often are found to interfere with the natural environment, thereby severely impacting the shoreline and natural processes/ environment. The environmental concerns rising out of such issues have led to utilization of 'soft measures' such as artificial reefs, nourished beaches, permeable structures etc. While they may not interfere with the natural processes / environment, these structures have to be appropriately designed to provide the required protection.

The solutions for erosion prone areas could be soft type involving sand by passing, green cover or geotextiles while the hard solutions deal with sea walls/groins. There should be a cost effective solution to soft mud bank areas of Sunderbans to avoid flooding during cyclones. For protection during rare events like tsunamis, special low cost long term solutions have to be developed considering the socio-economic conditions at the particular locations. At least three such demonstrations should be completed in the next 3 years at known vulnerable sites. Based on the experience from these demonstration sites, during 12th five year plan, standard coastal protection procedures should be arrived at for applying to different site conditions. During this period, nationwide near shore observation network and a knowledge base should be created to assist coastal builders. On a long term basis, new materials and innovative designs need to be developed to minimize the cost of coastal protection methodologies. The quality of coastal waters is being monitored by involving many institutions. There should be a strict procedure for managing the coastal water quality with necessary legal frame work and manpower though institutions like central pollution board and other state government agencies. 4.3 Cost Effective Technologies for Coastal Infrastructure

The second major activity for coastal group is to generate cost effective technologies for coastal Infrastructure like fishing harbour for deep sea fishing vessels, mid sea berths for unloading bulk cargo. Design of fishing harbor with a water depth of 6 to 8m, at sites specially identified for their location will help augment deep sea fishing capabilities. Innovative designs combined with new materials will help to reduce the capital investment. By integrating fish storage and processing facilities, the fishing community could be benefitted. One such demonstration project could be taken up in the next five years which will pave the way for many more similar projects in the future. With mega power projects planned at coastal location, bulk transport of coal to the plant site poses services problem. Building an exclusive harbour is very expensive and use of rail or road facilities will not meet the demand or not acceptable. An offshore jetty for such unloading will prove to be cost effective compared to building a dedicated harbour. A demonstrative project of this type could be taken up beyond five years. 4.4 Ocean CO2 Sequestration Increasing rate of carbon dioxide (CO2) release to atmosphere after industrial revolution had triggered the studies on green house gases effect and its impact on global warming. Sustained worldwide growth in population and economic activity has increased anthropogenic CO2 emissions and are beginning to stress the natural carbon cycle. More CO2 is being exhausted than can be taken up by trees, grasses, and the oceans, and the excess is accumulating in the atmosphere. Earth's climate is expected to warm even more rapidly during this century, as global CO2 emissions increase from present rates near 7 GtCy-1, to 15 GtCy-1 or more by 2050 (Marland et al., 2001). Estimates of warming expected through the 21st century vary among models, but all are responsive to levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing at a rate
42

of about 1-2 parts per million (ppm) per year and it is currently around 378 ppm from the preindustrial level of 280 ppm. Increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2 will exerts greenhouse effect that traps solar energy and intern may warm our planet and could cause changes in regional climates. Major forums like UN convention of climate change, Kyoto Protocol, Global Climate change program had addressed the mitigation plans in controlling the green house gases to control the human impact in triggering the climate cycle. Our society needs to understand the options available for controlling levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the threat of CO2-induced climate change prove real (Ken Caldeira et al, 2001). If we wait until there is definitive proof of harmful climate change, it will be too late to develop large-scale solutions to the problem [Hoffert et al., 1998]. Hence, while addressing the mitigation efforts, carbon dioxide sequestration studies is an important field of activity which is in progress in many international laboratories. It is imperative to start working on this domain of research to understand the ocean CO2 sequestration techniques for controlling the global warming phenomena by CO2 emission to atmosphere. The current status of the work in this area is given in Annexure C.

43

CHAPTER - V
TECHNOLOGICAL INTERVENTION FOR AUGMENTING FISHERIES AND OTHER LIVING RESOURCES IN THE OFFSHORE AREAS
India's estimated marine resources potential is 3.93 million tonnes. as per the latest update of 2000. During 2007, the marine fish catch was 2.88 million tonnes. (CMFRI data). Marine fish production from near shore waters has reached almost a plateau and major gap in total fishable potential and present production exists in deep sea and off shore pelagic resources. Good potential exists for augmentation of resources and through mariculture in shallow water areas and upto about 50 m depth. The infrastructure needed for deep sea fishing is already discussed in sec 4.2

5.1 Technological Intervention for Establishing of Coastal and Offshore Fish Farms
Engineering design of cages and mooring systems and farming protocols suitable for local conditions are required. Offshore farms need more robust design to reduce the risk of damages to cages due to wave, wind and currents. Physical model testing is required for mooring system and feeding buoys. Studies are to be carried out on response dynamics of cage systems to develop modeling techniques to effectively engineer and to identify specific equipment suitable for deployment. Similarly, appropriate cage design, mooring and operational models have to be evolved for near shore cage farming in India as we are yet to enter with the realm which was a great success in many countries. Open ocean mariculture poses feed delivery challenges, as feed has to be pumped as feed - pellet water slummy instead of pneumatic means. It requires development of automated feeding systems and feed buoy capable of feeding multiple cages. It needs mechanical operations as well to keep cage environment clean. Improving remote operation of offshore farm should be the ultimate focus of engineering efforts

5.2 Breeding of Marine Fishes

Breeding technology for a wide variety of commercially important and cultivable marine organisms is the pre-requisite for success of sea farming. In addition to sea bass, development of hatchery technology for breeding and rearing of other finfish species like seabream, seabass and cobia has to be developed. Successful feed formulation for specific stages of each species is another demanding area to achieve the target.

Short term projects

l

Seaweed and bivalve (mussel/pearl oyster) farming using natural waters as well as by artificial upwelling of deep ocean water. Deployment of Oceanic FADs and Artificial reefs.

Midterm projects
l

Introduction of near shore sea cage farming to suitable coastal areas with required infrastructure Development of commercial micro algal culture for biofuel and nutraceuticals. Developing fish finding sonars, Back scatter for Indian species of fish, identify species wisesize, technologies for cheaper position finding system-communication.

l l

Long term projects

l

Open ocean farms with submerged platforms / submerged long lines for shellfish culture and submerged cages for finfish culture. Production of marine biochemical through sea farming is an emerging field to be given due consideration.

A database should be maintained in relation to marine floral and faunal taxonomy. Annexure D gives the details of current status in this area.
45

CHAPTER - VI
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND CAPACITY BUILDING
Ocean Technology consists of multiple disciplines, which are all needed to make men and machines work safer in ocean environment in their effort to provide support to mankind. This covers all subjects dealing with understanding the nature and content of variety of ocean resources, methodologies to harvest them and protection of coastal habitat including hazard warning systems. The system of engineering education in the country, unfortunately, does not have any undergraduate or graduate programs which will help the students to study about all the related areas of ocean technology. Even the school curriculum does not introduce the children to ocean and ocean related issues. A few IITs and NITs have graduate programmes wherein a few students could specialize in some areas related to the oceans. NIOT, the nodal institution of MoES, for the development and demonstration of ocean related technologies, was established in 1993 and the growth of scientific & technical manpower in NIOT over last 15 years have been painfully slow, reaching only about 140, even though, the number and areas of pioneering technology development projects handled are very large, ranging from Marine instrumentation, Data buoys, Deep sea mining, Offshore energy, Underwater vehicles, Coastal engineering etc. In some of the projects, the man power inputs have been sub-optimum due to the fact that a large number of young in-experienced engineers from core disciplines have to be trained first to deal with ocean environment and many of them left after training because of lack of opportunities here or better opportunities elsewhere. In order to achieve excellence in all major areas of ocean technology in a reasonable time frame, there is an urgent need to have an organized programme to build capacities in terms of manpower and infrastructure for the ocean related technologies. One could adapt the methodology used 40 years ago by Govt. of India in the Department of Atomic Energy and Space. Since the ministry and NIOT, in particular, is expected to take up many more technology development projects in the near future, there has to be an organised effort to facilitate additional manpower for NIOT and improve their capacities / capabilities to achieve excellence in ocean related technologies. Some of the possible methodologies are listed here: 6.1 Creation of Adequate Trained Manpower

In India, the dedicated manpower available for ocean technology area is very small. In the nodal institution of NIOT, the present strength of scientific / technical manpower is about 140 only, excluding some project staff on specific contract. To meet the needs of various technology related programs detailed in this document, Ocean technology needs many more engineers and scientists working in multi disciplinary areas covering a wide spectrum of expertise. The spectrum covers mechanical design, stress analysis, heat transfer, turbomachinery, electrical machinery, electronics and control engineering, marine transducers, data collection, its storage and dissemination, satellite communication, design and analysis of offshore structures, simulation and modeling, floating systems and their deep water moorings, wave structure interaction, dynamics of floating bodies, marine instrumentation, coastal engineering, coastal pollution and environmental engineering, water quality studies, sediment transport, storm surge, tsunami warning systems and protection of coastal habitat. One more main area of expertise that needs to be developed is 'Underwater Acoustics' dealing with under water communication systems, position fixing systems, under water survey equipment and geo acoustics. No undergraduate or graduate programme in Indian university system covers even 25% of all the topics mentioned in the last paragraph. Therefore, it is necessary to recruit engineers/scientists in the conventional disciplines like civil, mechanical, electrical, electronics and communication, metallurgy, naval architecture, computer science and applied physics. These engineers should be
47

first put through an ocean awareness programme in MoES institutions and later sent for rigorous advanced coaching in IITs and others specialized institutions. Here, the earlier practices followed successfully by ONGC, EIL, HAL, and organizations like ISRO and Atomic Energy may be adapted. The IITs can run their custom designed training programme of 2 to 3 months duration for their engineers. More engineers must be deputed to the user oriented M Tech programmes funded by MoES and run by Ocean Engineering Department of IIT Madras with the participation of NIOT. MoES institutions should get recognition by IITs and relevant universities for conducting research towards the award of Ph.D. degrees so that the staff of these institutions can make themselves eligible for the award of Ph.D degrees on external registration while doing their day to day work. The staff should be encouraged to take up M.Tech, Ph.D programmes on part time/ external registration schemes. This will keep up the standard of technology development activities. Dedicated institutions in USA, UK, Norway, France, Korea and Japan have achieved excellence and worldwide recognition on ocean related technologies. Institutions under MoES should strive for close cooperation between these institutions. The cooperation could be in the form of in-plant training for a few months or by way of 'Technology Transfer' in specific areas. MoES has to provide specific budget allocation for this "training and technology transfer" from reputed expert institutions abroad. 6.2 Creation of Adequate Number of Posts and the Proposed Structure

MoES had undertaken an elaborate exercise under the chairmanship of Mr. S.K. Das former FA to ISRO during 2007-08 to assess the man power needs of institutions under MoES. The highlights of the proposal in the Das committee are given in Annexure G of the reference document. It is understood that this committee has recommended that about 256 scientific and technical posts be added to NIOT in addition to the existing sanctioned strength of 97, thus bringing the total of scientific / technical staff strength to about 353. Mr. Das's committee has also discussed the creation of additional 60 posts in Administration in addition to the then existing strength of 16, bringing total of Administrative staff to 76. But, creation of additional posts in NIOT has been rather slow bringing the sanctioned strength to about 140 in July 2009 while the values of projects handled has increased further to Rs 170 crores in 2009. As part of the vision document, the requirement of manpower has been revisited. Based on the current need and the availability of qualified trained staff members, the manpower requirement vis a vis the need for technology growth in the country shows gross inadequacy. The structure of the only technology development Institute, namely, NIOT, has been prepared based on this and is given at the end of this chapter. Also, the requirement of manpower in the various technology development areas has been looked into. In line with modern management practice, a matrix structure has been formulated for the scientific and technical manpower. While the rows indicate the core technology group, the columns indicate the various projects and support facility requirement. The core technology group basically consists of personnel from the various specializations. They will work in the projects as per their allotment so that while their expertise in the core area grows with time and project execution proceeds on a time bound manner. Apart from this, the operational programmes like Ocean Observation systems, Marine operations wing requires continuous manpower for routine operations of deployments, vessels etc. The technical manpower in this case will be responsible for all routine technical jobs connected with maintenance and the like. In addition, the campus maintenance, system administration, library etc. are grouped under Technical and allied services. The matrix structure with manpower requirement is given in Annexure G of Part-II Reference Document. The total manpower requirement is 560, excluding the administrative staff requirement. Taking into account the activities to be taken up for the various technology developments, there needs to be adequate administrative support. The budget handled by the scientists calls for
48

administrative staff requirement as given in the Annexure G of Part II document. The total number of additional administrative personnel works to 82. It may be noted that in line with the Govt. policies, no unskilled staff are included in the requirement. All the work to be handled by them would be out sourced through appropriate agencies following Govt. procedures. Since the ocean technology development programmes in MoES are mostly undertaken in a 'time bound mission' mode, it would be difficult for the programme implementing institute to spare their scientists/engineers for a long term training or for higher studies in the relevant field. Therefore, it is necessary to permit at least 10 % of sanctioned strength of scientific/ technical staff to take away on deputation for training / higher studies. Since training and 'on the job' experience in ocean technology areas is very important and valuable for the Group Heads and Project leaders, it is recommended that recruitment of fresh blood into NIOT be limited upto Grade of Scientist D, except in special cases where senior scientists / engineers with proven and relevant experience are willing to join the institution. 6.3 Creation of Uniform Service Conditions in the Ministry. The MoES has a number of institutions under its management. Some of these institutions are 'Autonomous Institutions' and some are "Attached offices". The service conditions of the scientific, technical and administrative staff from these two categories of institutions are very much different. While the "Autonomous Institutions" are expected to take up technology development and field demonstration projects in a time bound manner, these staff are not given any incentives for such work when compared to the corresponding staff in 'attached offices' who work mainly in offices and laboratories on land. The pension and medical benefits are some of the important areas of comparison and concern. While the 'Autonomy status' is expected to provide some operational flexibility to the Heads of Autonomous Institutions, the decision levels of Autonomy is not clearly defined, leading to some confusion in the administration of Autonomous Institutions. Since the majority of members of the Governing Council of such institutions are from the ministry only, mostly the views of the ministry only are reflected in the final decision of the council; minimizing the benefits of 'Autonomy'. Therefore it would be worthwhile to have a revised look into the following: i. ii. iii. Benefits from (Scientific output / Point of view) being an Autonomous Institution. If 'Autonomous status' is to be continued then definition / decision levels of Autonomous Institutions. Service conditions of staff in 'Autonomous Institutions' vis a vis 'Attached offices of the ministry.

Incentives for Staff o Ocean Technology development/demonstration and operationalization involve participation in long cruises and offshore field work. Inorder to attract young manpower suitable hardship allowances may be provided. The increment for scientist may be given similar to ISRO/DRDO/CSIR Educational Infrastructure in Ocean Related Technologies

o 6.4

Apart from the actions recommended under the earlier section to provide for skilled manpower for institution dealing with ocean technologies, there is a need to create awareness about oceans to the school children. Through interactions with NCERT and other state education departments of the state, the books prescribed for the 9th to 12th standard children, should be
49

provided with enough contents on ocean dealing with ocean features, land sea interaction problems, impact of oceans on climate, ocean resources including energy and on protection of ocean environment. For the students passing out of 12th standard class, enough opportunities be provided to take up a 3 years undergraduate programmes in ocean science or 4 year programme on ocean Engineering/ Technology. The science graduates may take up M.Sc. and PhD programmes in oceanography and 4 year engineering stream graduates can take up M.Tech and PhD programmes in ocean Engineering. Incentives / Fellowships should be made available for experts to write books on various topics related to ocean for different levels of education. Any student taking up studies related to ocean looks towards employment opportunities after they complete their studies. There should be a campaign highlighting the possible employment potential in offshore oil companies, Engineering Consultancy organizations like EIL, heavy industries manufacturing hardware for offshore industries, Shipyards, shipping industries, Nary, Coast guard central government departments like MoES Ministry of surface transport, R&D institutions etc. The UPSC and other state government recruitment agencies should be requested to include degree in Oceanography/ ocean engineering as one of the eligible degrees for employment through them. 6.5 Development of Infrastructural Supports Seafront Facility The complexities of ocean technology also demand special infrastructural support for the timely completion of the various projects, as in ISRO and DAE. Presently, MoES is providing three ocean going research vessels, one buoy handling vessel and two coastal research vessels. Of this, ORV Sagar Nidhi is equipped specially to handle heavy crawlers and deep sea ROV's along with multiple kilometer long tethers, cables and slurry handling hoses. There are also very frequent needs to go to sea for testing / trials of data buoys and other underwater instrument systems. Therefore, a Sea Front Facility could be established to support offshore platforms, windmills, caissons, a shore lab for launching/testing offshore equipments and instruments. An integrated fishing harbour could be established along with the sea front facility. The berth and test laboratory can have a depth of 10 m. Such a dedicated facility will help to avoid unnecessary loss of time of travel to ports and other coordinating activities with ports for the different projects. To avoid too much investment on berth construction and its maintenance, the berth could be a part of a new port development and the expenses could be shared with a first right to use the berth for MoES ships and during the rest of the period, the berth could be used for other port traffic. 6.6 Efficient Use of Ship Board Facilities

At present, the six ships of MoES are operated by three institutions and manned by three different contractors. While SCI runs 2 ships on a long term agreement with MoES, two private contractors based on annual tenders run the other 4 ships. Since the manning of the team constantly is changing as per norms of the contractors, their familiarity with various scientific instruments/ engineering equipments suffers. Because of this, assistance by the ship crew for difficult ship board operations suffers. There is a need to employ at least dedicated technical crew (not the navigational crew) in each ship by the respective institutes. This can be better achieved by providing 'technical manning' by one institute of MoES and giving the control of operation of all the vessels to that institute. These staff should also have a suitable career growth. The navigation and catering crew, who come from commercial shipping industry, can be hired on regular basis. 6.7 Training Cell for Operating 'Underwater Vehicles'

MoES is supporting the development of variety of underwater vehicles like, deep water ROV, manned submersible, autonomous underwater vehicle, and underwater crawlers. All these vehicles
50

need special capabilities to operate them. Special care is also needed to launch and recover them from ship's deck. Since some of these vehicles are likely to be needed frequently for survey, observation, and rescue and repair operation at various depths, multiple crew must be trained in the launching, operation and recovery of the vehicles. These skills can be imparted first on shore using a 'Simulator' similar to flight simulators. This can be part of the shore facility to be created. 6.8 Diving Training Centre

Scuba diving is as an integral part of the oceanographic research and has vital advantages over free and other forms of "technical" diving. Scuba divers have great freedom of movement underwater because they swim with fins and without heavy or expensive equipments. Development of a professionally trained diving team with scientific cum skilled divers is a long term vision of NIOT to cater its regular R&D activities. Creation of such a training facility (Diving School) for SCUBA diving within NIOT will be of immense help in execution of NIOT's and Ministry's (MoES) programmes in remote Islands and offshore locations which demand underwater survey and commission work as well as dedicated underwater consultancy programme. Development of diving competency and underwater skill are highly essential for carrying out any underwater study or survey related to marine ecology, biology, geology, archaeology and marine engineering programme in the coastal sea and open oceans. This proposed facility will also be helpful to other departments and institutes under MoES and could be extended to other Government and Private institutions on consultancy basis. The facility can also give training to the public and students in recreational diving, experience about marine life in the wild, awareness to preserve biodiversity. For development of training facility to organize scientific diving operations in new remote and offshore locations, a higher level diving certification from a national/international accredited organization is obligatory. Acquiring facilities to train people in SCUBA diving will be highly advantageous and will allow us to organize regular diving training programmes which will significantly contribute to in-house capacity building/up gradation and continuous development of safe and productive scientific skilled divers through proper education and training. Further, it will also help us in sustaining the technological advancements in scientific diving practices, certifications and dive operation within the country. 6.9 Partnership with Industries

The technology development for oceans, especially for deep ocean, requires design/development and fabrication of special heavy equipments like ship board launching / recovery systems, special winches, special cables, power system components, hulls for underwater vehicles, deep sea moorings, etc. Since, these equipments will be needed mostly in small numbers, not many industries are willing to quote against tenders for procurement. These equipments to be developed and procured from abroad will be prohibitively expensive. Therefore, it would be worthwhile to encourage some capable public and private industries to jointly develop these components /equipments with NIOT. For this purpose, MoES may provide the necessary financial and legal and procedural frame work, as followed in ISRO, DRDO and DAE. (More information in Annexure E) The oceans around India are affected by two monsoons. Therefore, favorable wave and weather conditions, for taking up major offshore operations, exist only for 6 months. During this fair weather conditions, all the offshore oil companies, both in private and public sector hire all the heavy tugs, supply vessels offshore cranes etc from India as well as from nearby countries are normally not available for ocean technology development /demonstration activities. While some companies from nearby countries are willing to bring their floating hardware, the delays in security clearances and financial approval through normal government procedures, diminishes the interest shown by foreign operators. To minimize such procedural delays, MoES may create a suitable mechanism. Ministry, MoES may issue a directive on this to all institutions.

51

52

Management Structure for NIOT

Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India

Governing Council

Director, NIOT

Scientific Advisory Committee

Core Technology Groups Operational Programmes Quality Assurance Industrial Partnership Data Management / Modelling Marine Operations Wing a) Data reception b) Data Analysis c) Oceanographic process modelling b) Deployment & Maintenance c) Indigenisation b) Offshore Deployment of vehicles, CWP etc. c) Field Surveys

Administration

Scientists In-charge 2. Mechanical Systems a) Design b) Stress analysis b) Design b) Bio fuels c) Fluid flow & thermal Components d) Marine material incl. Hyperbaric Studies e) Assembly/ Integration d) Applied Geology & Archaeology d) Fiber optics system c) Underwater Position Fixing System c) Coastal Habitat Protection b) Environmental Engg. a) Coastal Processes a) Theory a) Marine Biology 3. Coastal System Engg. 6.Ocean Acoustics 7.Marine Living resources Ocean Observation system

Finance & Accounts

1. Offshore Infrastructure

a) Technology transfer b) Vendors development a) Vessel Management i) Technical ii) Navigation c) Consultancy services

Stores & Purchase

Strategic Planning / Studies on Techno Economic /Tech. Transfer a) Buoy Components, Design/ Development

a) Fixed Platforms

a) Quality checking b) Quality certificati on

Internal Auditing

b) Floating Structures

Logistics

c) Mooring Systems

4. Electrical 5.Instrumentation system & control & Control Engg. a) Marine transducers a) Electrical Development/ Machinery / Calibration Control Engg. b) Data b) Computer & Acquisition/ Networking Processing c) High Voltage systems incl. Systems satellite links

Establishment & Personnel

Public Relations, Exhibitions, Website, Library/ Documentation, Printing

d) Riser Systems

Training & Human Resource Development (i) Integration Bay & Hyperbaric Facility (i) Water Quality lab (ii) Soil/Structures lab, Survey (ii) Transducer Calibration lab (ii) Energy /Fresh water lab (i) Electronics Lab

Campus Development & Maintenance

Acoustics Test facility

Living resources lab

Interdisciplinary Projects in Mission Mode

Development of buoy systems

Studies on Sunken artifacts & ships

Demonstration of coastal protection methods

Deep Sea Mining

Desalination

OTEC

Wave & Tidal Energy

Offshore Windmill

ROV

AUV

Manned Submersible

Technology for survey and extraction of Gas Hydrates

Offshore fish farm

Island Development

Deep sea components & material

Development of Marine Transducers

CHAPTER - VII MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

All the ocean technology related activities which are to be taken up on priority basis by MoES on exclusive basis (not being done by any other Ministry) have been detailed in sections II to V. "Man power development and capacity Building" detailed in section VI is a very important task to be taken up to achieve a success in the wide spectrum of technology development activities. However, the activities need to be prioritized to achieve certain technologies delivered at specific time frames with the limited man power available. Some suggestions on possible priorities and on some of the new administrative decisions to be taken up by MoES, to help fast technological growth are given in this section. 7.1 Prioritisation of Major Technology Development Projects The MoES may take up only those ocean related technology development programmes which are not under the mandate of any other ministry. Among such activities, such of those activities which have a direct impact on the strategic, societal and economic future of our country should have precedence. From these considerations, the following order of prioritisation may be considered by the ministry. 1. Deep Sea Technologies considering of I. II. III. IV. V. VI. Deep Sea infrastructure Under water Vehicles Subsystems and Components Renewable energy resources and freshwater from Oceans Gas Hydrates: Survey & extraction technologies. Deep Sea Mining

VII. Marine Data collection & instrumentation 2. Coastal Habitat related technologies I. II. III. 3. Protection against hazards from Oceans Cost effective coastal infrastructure Coastal protection measures

Establishment of training cell for underwater vehicles

53

54

OCEAN TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

Programmes / Priorities and time frames of Technology Development Programme

Short Term (3 Years) 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18 Long Term (4 to 8 Years) Beyond 8 Years 18-19-20

Activities

Indicative B.E (Rs.in Crores)

Deep Sea Technology

1.0
200 100 150 250

Deep Sea infrastructures

1.1

Platform for desalination

1.2

Deep sea mining / OTEC

1.3

Deep sea Moorings

1.4
250

Marine risers & their interfaces

1.5

Other designs for platform & mooring

For larger capacities

Continue

2.0
10 20 AUV 200 10 Shallow water (<300m) 2000m 6000m

Under water vehicles

2.1

ROV

2.2

AUV /Gliders

Gliders

2.3

Manned submersible

2.4
5 30

Manned submersible system

Deep water (>300m)

2.5

Simulators for UW vehicle

2.6

Hybrid ROV with AUV Cage

Activities Short Term (3 Years) 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18 18-19-20 Long Term (4 to 8 Years) Beyond 8 Years

Indicative B.E (Rs.in Crores)

3.0 5 5 5 10 5

Deep Sea component and sub Sea system

3.1

Cable terminations for deep Water

3.2

Connectors & slip rings

3.3

Electric / Hydraulic motors

3.4

New Materials & Electronic Components for deep water & cyclic loading

3.5

High capacity batteries and capacitors

Fuel cells

4.0 10 600 10 MLD 50 150 500 5 10

Renewable energy and fresh water

4.1

Development & Cost effective Heat exchangers

4.2

Establishment of desalination Plant

10 MLD

4.3

Alternative designs for OTEC systems (Submerged condensers)

4.4

Establish a 5 MW OTEC (land based) demonstration pplant

4.5

Detailed design & construction of a 40MW floating OTEC plant

Design

Construction

Commercial design

4.6

4.7

Establish a 1 MW floating wave energy buoy (BBDB) 100W rating Establish a 1 MW OWC based wave energy plant in a harbor

55

56
Short Term (3 Years) 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18 18-19-20 Long Term (4 to 8 Years) Indicative B.E (Rs.in Crores) Beyond 8 Years

Activities

4.8

Establish 500 kW offshore Windmill

10

5.0 5 50 50 20

Gas Hydrates

5.1

Scientific studies

5.2

Survey & Coring

5.3

Extraction technologies

5.4

Establish pilot site for (tenth DGHC) environmental studies

6.0 250 10 10 100 5

Deep Sea mining

6.1

Demonstration of nodule mining from CIOB (6000m depth

6.2

Designs for large scale mining & techno economics

6.3

Flexible Riser & pump studies

6.4

Crawler & cutter modifications for sulphides & cobalt crust

6.5

Cobalt crust mining demonstration

6.6

Designs for large scale cobalt crust/sulphide mining

Demonstration

Mining

Mining

Short Term (3 Years) 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18 18-19-20

Long Term (4 to 8 Years)

Activities

Indicative B.E (Rs.in Crores) Beyond 8 Years

7.0 20 7 2 10 20 10 6 15 5 5 20

Marine data collection & Instrumentation

7.1

Sensor Development for Variety of application including MEMS/NEMS

7.2

Integrated Underwater Survey system (IUSS)

7.3

Acoustic Camera

7.4

Underwater Positioning System

7.5

Synthetic Aperture SONAR

7.6

Underwater communication system (long distance)

7.7

Acoustic instrumentation

7.8

Indigenisation od Data Buoys

7.9

Profiling Buoys

7.10 Data communication through

Indian Satellite systems

7.11

Linking of all Coastal and Marine Data & Networking of all data stations

7.12 Large scale Data Acquisition

10

system with redundancies

II

Coastal Habitat related Technology

1.0

Protection against hazards from Oceans

57

58
Short Term (3 Years) 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18 18-19-20 Long Term (4 to 8 Years) Indicative B.E (Rs.in Crores) Beyond 8 Years

Activities

1.1

Validation for storm surge & Tsunami prediction model (with INCOIS)

20

1.2

design & Construction of Coastal protection using Soft measures

10

1.3

Demonstration of mud banks Protection (example Sunderbans)

50

2.0 50

Cost effective Coastal Infrastructure

2.1

Cost effective technologies for Deep Sea fishing harbours and mid sea berths for bulk cargo

2.2 100

Build an integrated Deep Sea fishing harbour

100

2.3

Ocean Co2 sequestration

III 10 50

Technologies for augmentation of fishery resources

3.1

Fish Aggregating Devices and Artificial Reefs

3.2

Development of near shore and offshore cage farming

3.3

Breeding/culture technologies for fishery resources

Short Term (3 Years) 10-11 11-12 12-13 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18 18-19-20

Long Term (4 to 8 Years)

Activities

Indicative B.E (Rs.in Crores) Beyond 8 Years

3.4

Open Ocean farming

40

IV

Creation of Cell

1.0 10 5 5

Training cell for Underwater vehicles

1.1

Establishment of Simulators

1.2

Training of operators

Continue.......

2.0

Diving Training Centre

TOTAL

3770*

* The indicative budget estimate given for 8 years is only for development work and it does not include manpower, infrastructure and operational/maintenance expenses.

59

7.2

Creation of Separate Cell for Technology Transfer, Industrial Partnership and Vendor Development

NIOT is currently burdened with the responsibilities of technology development, its demonstration in the field as well as multiplying it or replicating it at a number of locations as a government funded project. The example of such projects could be 'Setting up of Desalination plants', 'Ocean data buoys, their fabrication, testing, deployment and maintenance, operation of ROV for commercial and rescue applications, manufacture and marketing of marine instruments like Tide gauges, underwater connectors, coastal and offshore surveys for commercial organizations etc. In view of this a separate cell is required for the following:
l

To carry out the technology transfer by interfacing with the industry and the technical group of NIOT. To provide legal and contract documentation suitably for carrying out the transfer To encourage more Indian vendors who would be able to market the indigenized systems internationally. To interface between the technical groups and industry for consultancy services. To interface with the clients who require evaluation and certification of deep water components by testing them in the 900 bar Hyperbaric test facility, which is a unique facility in this part of the world. Details are in Annexure E. Technical Manning of Research Vessels

l l

l l

7.3

MoES has right now six research vessels operated by three institutions. While SCI provides 'Manning and maintenance' for two vessels, the other four vessels are manned by private contractors. All the research vessels have sophisticated scientific instruments and equipments on board which are being operated by different staff every year depending on the contractor and his employees. Some of these staff are not well experienced in the operation of some equipments/instruments. The practice in Germany and Russia is that there is a dedicated institute running the research vessels with trained scientists and engineers operating the sophisticated instruments and equipments. MoES has long term plans to develop ROVs, AUV's, manned submersibles apart from deploying large offshore energy and fresh water plants. Therefore, it will be worthwhile to develop a group of dedicated technical staff to man the special instruments and equipments on board all the research vessels. The Navigational staff of the vessels could still be from contractors. 7.4 Project Evaluation and Monitoring

Most of the ocean technology development / demonstration projects are of the pioneering type, involving expertise from multiple disciplines. In spite of multi disciplinary expertise available with the institutions, there could be some deficiencies in one or two aspects related either system integration or deployment in the oceans. Therefore, there should be a formal system to evaluate the designs and implementation schemes of every project by a group of subject experts at different stages of a project. At the end of the implementation / demonstration, a performance evaluation of the system should be carried out to provide sufficient data for improvement/scaling up for future. A Techno Economic Analysis for the developed technology should also be carried out to facilitate those data to be used for commercialisation during technology transfer through appropriate agencies of the 7.5 Collaborative Work on Technology Development Since the development of ocean technology involves a large spectrum of R&D in a variety of
60

areas, it would be difficult to take up all the work under one roof, for example, NIOT. There are many academic, R&D and industrial units who are working in allied areas of hardware and software development. It would be very useful to take them as partners in joint technology development programmes. Such joint programmes should be taken up after a clear definition of responsibilities among the partners for the time bound technology delivery. The IPR and financial issues should be clearly stated in the legal contract to be signed by all parties. An administrative arrangement to encourage such interactions should be created. Collaborative work also could be taken up on long term basis with other similar Institutes in the world like MBARI, Woodshole and Scripps Institute of Oceanography in the areas of their expertise. More information on country wise expert institution is available in Annexure F. Acknowledgements The content of the report is the result of extensive discussions held during two meetings among the members of the Subcommittee and Group Heads of NIOT held in NIOT on 10th July, 2009 and 24th July 2009. The member Secretary coordinated the exchange of material during the past one month among all through e-mails. This document has been edited and compiled by a smaller group consisting of Chairman, Member secretary and Mr. M. S. Nagar during the period 13th to 16th August 2009. The efforts put up by all the members of the Subcommittee and Group Heads of NIOT, are gratefully acknowledged Keying in of the document and other office assistance was provided by Deep Sea Mining team of NIOT. The members of Subcommittee thanks Director, NIOT for all the hospitality and logistic arrangements. Sub Committee Members 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Prof. M. Ravindran Shri. M.S. Nagar Dr. S. Kathiroli Prof. G.S. Roonwal Prof. D. Sen Dr. M. Hariharan Dr. K. Sudarshan Dr. Malcolm Lall Chairman Member Member Member Member Member Member Member

9. Dr. M. A. Atmanand Member Secretary -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

61

TECHNOLOGY VISION
For Ministry of Earth Sciences

Vol. 2

Ocean Technology Part-II Reference Document

By Subcommittee On Ocean Technology

VISION DOCUMENT ON OCEAN TECHNOLOGY PART - II

ANNEXURES
Annexure A1 Annexure A2 Annexure A3 Annexure A4 Annexure A5 Annexure A6 Annexure B1 Annexure B2 Annexure C Annexure D Annexure E Annexure F Annexure G Annexure H

Reference Document
PAGES
67 78 83 86 88 89 93 98 101 105 109 111 114 125

CONTENTS
Technologies for Exploration and Mining of Offshore Minerals Infrastructure for Harness Deep Ocean Resources Technologies for Survey and Extraction of Gas Hydrates Underwater Vehicles Subsytems and Components Underwater Instrumentation Including Moored and Profiling Buoy Systems Renewable Energy from the Oceans Large Scale Desalination Plants Technology Development for Coastal Habitat Technological Intervention Needed to Augment Fisheries and Other Living Resources in the Offshore Areas Industrial Collaboration International Scenario Recommendations of Das Committee Report Basic Current Infrastructure

65

Annexure A1 (For Chapter II, Section 1 of Part I Main Vision Document) Technologies for Exploration and Mining of Offshore Minerals
Manganese nodules are hydrated oxides of Iron (Fe) and Manganese (Mn), in which Copper (Cu), Nickel (Ni) and Cobalt (Co) are present in small amounts (~ 3 %) which make them resources of economic interest. It was at the end of 19th century, these dark brown rock like nodules' containing iron and manganese littering large areas of the deepest part of the ocean floor were discovered. The economic interest in them was generated only in the Sixtees after the publication of the Book "The Mineral Resources of the Sea (1965, J.C. Merd), which projected them to be huge resources of important base metals - Cu, Ni and Co present in the nodules. The over-projection of these resources, however, created complications in the negotiations of Law of the Sea Convention. Though there is still a long way to go to make the economic exploitation of these nodules a reality, there is a distinct possibility in the early half of the 21st century (~2020). The deep ocean has abundant mineral resources like polymetallic nodules, cobalt rich ferromanganese crusts and hydrothermal sulfide deposits. While nodules occur at a water depth of 4000-6000 m, an average nodule abundance of 5-25 kg/m2 is of potential economic interest. The cobalt rich crust and sulfides occur in water depth between 300-3500 m, though in different oceanographic environments. A1.1 Pioneer Status of India

India with its strong science and technology base, is carrying out the exploration and exploitation of polymetallic nodules under the Polymetallic Nodule Program (PMN) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). This is one of the major R&D efforts of MoES towards the development and use of ocean science and technology for exploration of marine non-living resources for the socioeconomic benefit of the Country. This multi -disciplinary program is being executed by multiinstitutional participation. On 26th January, 1981 the Indian Oceanographic Research Vessel `Gaveshni' collected the first sample of polymetallic nodule from Arabian Sea (Seychelles Plateau). Subsequent continued Indian efforts succeeded in identifying a prospective site of polymetallic nodules in Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB). Our efforts led to recognition of India as 'Pioneer Investor' in 1982 by the United Nations. Subsequently in August 1987, India became the first Registered Pioneer Investor along with Japan, France and the Soviet Union (now Russia). Today India is the only country with mine site allocated in the Central Indian Ocean Basin. All other countries' sites are claimed in the Pacific Ocean. Under PMN programme of MoES, Survey and Exploration, Environmental Impact Assessment, Mining Technology and Extractive Metallurgy are the four Areas where the Indian efforts are directed. India has almost no significant deposits of cobalt and nickel. The known resources of copper in land are also limited. The dependence on imports for these metals has been increasing yearly at a substantial rate. Polymetallic nodules in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) offer the closest possible solution to meet this demand and reduce dependency on imports. The resources available in 1,50,000 sq. km of Pioneer area are 759 MMT of wet and 607 MMT of dry Polymetallic nodules, from which 0.85 MMT of cobalt, 7.00 MMT of nickel, and 6.5 MMT of copper can be extracted. The proposed mining for economic viability is around 2 MMT of nodules per annum, implying that mining can be carried out for several hundred years. Considering the present consumption rate of copper, nickel and cobalt in India, the above resources will make us totally self sufficient, with lot more to spare for exports. The content of manganese in these nodules is also attractive. It may be noted that our land deposits rich in Mn are

67

fast depleting. Looking at the renewed demand for ferromanganese, miners are now working on old and low grade deposits. In this context, it is interesting to note that in the process of extraction of copper, cobalt and nickel, ferromanganese can also be extracted to a large extent. Extraction of all these four metals will enhance the metal value of the nodules. The value of the resources available in the Indian Pioneer area after relinquishment based on average market prices in the last two years, will approximately be Rs. 12 lakh crores. An estimate of the resources in CIOB is as given below: Area covered by the nodules in the Indian Ocean Total estimated reserves in the Indian Ocean In situ Poly metallic Nodules in the retained Area Nodules Nickel Copper Cobalt Manganese 10-18 million sq.km. 0-15 trillion tons. 75,000 sq. km of Area 380 million tons 4.70 million tons 4.29 million tons 0.55 million tons 92.59 million tons

India has made considerable progress in resource identification, assessment, associated technology and manpower development. Initial efforts were directed towards fulfilling the requirements under the UN convention for registration as a Pioneer Investor and for this purpose, identification of two area of equal commercial value, one of which was the reserved area and the other the pioneer area in Central Indian Ocean basin (CIOB). Over 4 million sq. km of area was explored and more than 10,000 locations were sampled for nodules, using sampling devices such as Free fall grab, Photo grab, Van veen grab, Okean grab etc. The vast data thus obtained provided new insights on the topography of the basin and the resource potential. Deep tow underwater photographic surveys were conducted on pre-selected tracks to get visual observations and confirm the techniques for resource estimation. Based on these the resource potential in 'abundance' and 'quality' was estimated. India has already relinquished 20% of the pioneer area as per the stipulations of resolution II of UNCLOS III and has communicated to the International Sea Bed Authorities (ISBA) additional 10% of the area for relinquishment. The proposed mining area allocated by ISBA to India is between 13.36S latitude to 75.60 E longitude, 13.78S latitude to 75.85 E longitude. It has been visualized that 25,000 tonnes nodules per year can be mined. A1.2 Properties of Manganese Nodule

For working out the design concept of collector, an understanding of the properties of the manganese nodules and the relevant data on the mine site is necessary.

68

Nodules are soft, amorphous, non-crystalline material. The minerals contained in the nodules can be identified through X ray diffractometer. The general mechanical properties of the manganese nodule are given in table below: Sl. No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. a. b. c. d. A1.3 Colour Nodule size Hardness Average nodule density, wet Average nodule density, dry Average substance density Porosity Composition Manganese Copper Cobalt Nickel 27-30% 1-2% 0.2-0.3% 1-2% Properties Detail Black when wet, Brown when dry 17 to 100 mm MOHS 2 to 3 (Soft) 2.0 kg/dm 1.4 kg/dm 3.2 kg/dm 60%
3 3

A Status Report on Offshore Mineral Development

As a Pioneering Country since Nineteen Eighties, India has made steady progress in respect of deep sea Manganese Nodules for winning Copper, Nickel and Cobalt. The knowledge of other equally important offshore mineral resources has also been growing, but still at the exploration stage in the establishment of these other off-shore mineral prospects as an alternative viable means of securing valuable minerals and metals. In General, all the Off-shore prospects can be cast in the following depth wise categories, starting from the deepest PMN sources:
l l l l l

Polymetallic Manganese Nodules from deep sea floors at 4000 to 6000 meters; Cobalt rich crusts from Seamounts at depths 2,000 to 4,000 meters; Polymetallic Sulphides from Seafloor at similar depths of 3,000 to 4,000 meters except those occurring in mid-oceanic ridges and similar environment; Phosphorites from Continental Margines at 400 to 2000 meters depth; Coastal Placer Deposits in shallow sea waters up to around 100 meters.

What has been left out in the above listing, is offshore Oil resources, which as we know, far exceeds all other minerals put together. It may be recalled here that India has already reaped the benefits of all its foresight and perseverance of the Sixtees and Seventies in successfully exploring and tapping its offshore Oil and Gas reserves and the decade ahead may succeed in establishing Gas Hydrates in this category. As we know, Globally over US$ 100 Billion worth of Crude Oil and Natural Gas is produced from offshore sites per annum and another around US$ 2 Billion per annum of all the other minerals. It may be pointed out here that while we have progressed to the stage of actually demonstrating a mining set up for the abyssal nodules, we are as yet to cover similar grounds in regard to the mineral prospects in other types of offshore mineral resources stated above. Other countries who are ahead of us in these fields, have come much nearer to commercial exploitation of Sulphides and Cobalt Crusts for the strategic metals and tapping fertilizer minerals also appears to be
69

a matter of relative economics of fast depleting richer land based resources. As the terrestrial options get more and more remotely located, the low economics of off-shore ventures are bound to turn in favour of large sized offshore ventures. In future, low grade ores would also be important. The technology will aim to extract associated metals, in addition to main targeted metals and thus make the same deposits more and more economically viable. This shall also be the case for deep sea minerals' mining -both in respect of the nodules and sulfides. At the outset it may be forecast that the second decade of this century would witness a couple of offshore mining ventures being launched in deeper seas (up to say 4,000 meters). Where as two Mining Companies are geared to tap Sulphide ores from a depth of 2,500 meters in the Bismarck Bay off Papua new Guinea in a couple of years from now, Cobalt crust mining on an experimental basis may follow suit soon thereafter US Pacific Islands. The first abyssal Manganese nodule mining project will in all probability, take place in the South Pacific EEZ sea of Cooks Island Group at depths of around 3,000 meters. These projects would definitely herald deep-sea mining on our planet. India, among the developing countries, which is awfully short of many of the targeted minerals, has had the foresight to be in the vanguard of pursuing these huge resources. The time has come for it to accelerate its endeavours and reap the rewards in store. This Annexure to Chapter II of main Vision Document - Part I, recapitulates the Global and Indian scenarios on the status of exploration, resource position, mining prospects and technology development in each of the above five categories. The technology gaps for further progress and how to achieve economic exploitation of such sources that we have access to, has been described in the main Chapter II of this Report. A1.4 Deep Sea Manganese Nodule Mining

As already mentioned the on going major research programme of Poly Metallic Nodules (PMN), has been involving a number of National Institutions working in various aspects of survey, mining technology, metallurgical processing and environmental aspects of deep sea mining. Design and development of a remotely operated underwater mining system with collector module, lifting system and instrumentation and control systems was first initiated in 1990 at the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI), Durgapur. Initial efforts were to test the concepts and generate basic data, and to understand the functional and operational needs of the system and its subsystems. The underwater mining system with a capacity of 100 tonnes/day had a remotely operable crawler-based collector module, a bucket-in-pipe based lifting system and control system with required instrumentation. The performance of the subsystems was evaluated on land and subsequently in an on-shore shallow test basin. The collector module for the seabed mining system consists of a crawler vehicle, a mechanical screw type collecting head, a bucket elevator to transport the nodule to a hopper, a crusher to grind the nodules and a pump to transport the nodulewater mixture to the flexible hose. The collecting head has two screw conveyors to sweep the scattered nodules lying on the seabed and converge them below the elevator so that they can be scooped up to the crusher via the hopper. The crusher has two rotary drums in which the nodules are crushed to the size ?10 mm. The crushed nodules were pumped to the riser module through a flexible pipe. The integrated mining system (IMS) was evaluated for performance in 5-m water depth in a specially constructed shallow basin. It was determined that during deep sea mining operations, this type of lifting system could pose several problems associated with large assembly time, pipe handling and alignment, rope-to-rope joint, reliability etc. Subsequently, development of a ROV for inspection and maintenance of the underwater systems up to a depth of 200 m was also undertaken by CMERI. (The performance of the ROV was evaluated and it is currently being upgraded by NIOT with enhanced features.) Since the formation of National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), the design and development of the deep sea mining system is continued by the Ocean Mining Group of NIOT. The high tech deep sea crawler developed by University of Siegen, Germany was utilised in working on
70

the mining concept of a crawler based mining machine with a mechanical collection device, a crusher, positive displacement pump and a flexible riser system. Multiple mining machines are proposed to cover the mining field during large scale mining operations. Development of this complex technology is being attempted in a phase wise manner. In the first phase an underwater mining system was developed and tested for mining sea floor material for a short duration at 410 m depth. The subsystems proved during the development were (a) crawler based mining machine, (b) flexible riser system, (c) positive displacement pump, (d) electrical systems, (e) sensors and control systems. A manipulator with a cutter was used instead of mechanical collector. Testing the system for long term operations called for cost intensive major augmentation in mother vessel ORV Sagar Kanya. Dynamic Positioning (DP) system with follow target mode of operations for dynamically positioning the mother vessel with the mining machine and Launch and Recovery system (LARS) for safe launch and retrieval of the mining system were commissioned in ORV Sagar Kanya. The mining system was then tested for long term operation for pumping sea floor material at 452-515 m depth during 2006. After the long duration tests, the existing machine is being modified in the second phase for fitting with a mechanical collector, underwater spike crusher for testing at shallow waters with artificial nodules. Development of a Remotely Operated Subsea Artificial Nodule Laying System has been done for creating a small mine site similar to that of the one in the CIOB. Artificial nodules have been prepared with mechanical properties close to that of manganese nodules. The system was tested off Chennai coast during the third week of June, 2007. Development of Underwater Collection and Crushing Systems: The augmentation of the deep sea crawler with collector crusher for deep ocean mining of polymetallic nodules is the major activity currently being executed by the scientific group at NIOT. (Second Phase) The existing crawler has been re-designed with 3 collector units and 2 crusher units and the fabrication and testing of the sub components are in progress. In order to carry out long term mining operations and also to reduce the cost and weight of the mining system various development activities have been initiated with the help of many R&D Institutions in India and abroad. An in-situ Soil Tester Programme: One of the major design parameter for the crawler is obtaining more precise information on the soil properties (shear strength and bearing strength) in the mining area at CIOB. Depending on the In-situ soil properties, the entire weight of the mining machine is to be properly distributed, which means the sizing of the mining vehicle, optimizing the system weight and sizing of bearing area becomes essential, which affects the trafficability of the mining machine during operations. The soil tester was developed and tested successfully at 5200m water depth in 2006. A Hydro-transport test facility has been developed by NIOT and Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) for testing the slurry flow through hoses of various radii, in order to perform the pressure loss studies. Technology Demonstration Vessel Sagar Nidhi: A new technology demonstration vessel TDV Sagar Nidhi was procured for the mining requirements in Indian Ocean. The vessel is fitted with DP (Dynamic positioning) with a handling facility for 60 tons. The vessel is having LARS, winches etc to carry out the deep sea mining operations. In future, the crawler system with collector and crusher will be tested in an artificially created nodule carpeted site. A1.5 Cobalt Crusts from Seamounts at depths of 2000 to 4000 meters

Cobalt (Co), by virtue of retaining its strength and magnetic property at high temperatures, finds extensive use in super-alloys, particularly in Aircraft Industry (40% of all Cobalt consumed), high-speed steel, cutting tools, surface coatings, cemented carbides, Alnico magnets, recording tapes, soft magnetic material etc. Its catalytic properties finds application in oil refining and its deep blue colour in paints and enamels. It is also being used in electronic industry and radio therapy.
71

Land Resources of Cobalt are usually associated with Nickel Ores (40% Co. comes from these) and two countries, namely Congo and Zambia account for more than one third of its global supplies of about 60,000 tonnes per annum fetching around US$ 60 per Kg. Other countries producing Cobalt are Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Canada, China, Cuba, Morocco, and South Africa. India's on land Cobalt resources, as well as those of Nickel are meager and of poor grade and considered insignificant from commercial point of view. We import around 5,000 tonnes of concentrates per year from Congo and Cuba to yield 500 tonnes of the metal. Under such a background, the off-shore resource of cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts on seamounts in the Indian Ocean, has received attention as they contain strategic metals -Cobalt (Co) together with associated metals like Platinum (Pt) and Rhodium (Rh) in which our land resources are deficient. Off-shore ferromanganese crusts are hydrogenous colloidal precipitates deposited on bare sea-mounts at depths of 800 to 2500 meters deep, 3-6 times richer in Cobalt metal (around 1%) than the abyssal polymetallic nodules and other deep-water crusts. Their formation is believed to require a stratum to initiate deposition from the sea water column having abundance of oxidizable Manganese/Iron colloidal flocks and perhaps the presence of certain types of organic matter. The process of accretion thereafter is autocatalyc, though extremely slow, hardly adding a few millimeters of crust every Million years. Besides Cobalt, some other metals like Titanium, Cerium, and even Platinum and Rhodium are picked up from the sea column. Though out of the 100,000 Seamounts, widely spread in all the world oceans, hardly 500 (mostly in the Pacific) are explored. It appears that quite a large number are exposed to conditions favourable for crust formation for millions of years and the total cobalt reserves in ferromanganese crusts is estimated at more than a Billion Tonnes. Indian Scientists from National Institute of Oceanography have recovered a representative sample of cobalt-enriched Ferromanganese Crusts from the Afanasiy-Nikitin Seamount (ANS, evolved as a part of 85 E Ridge) 3S Latitude & 83E Longitude in the Equatorial Indian Ocean. The Crusts were mainly Fe-Mn oxides deposited on hard carbonate substrates with cobalt content up to 0.8 %. The Indian western-EEZ also hosts several small seamounts, which were also thought to provide interesting sites for cobalt-crust exploration. Exploratory and multidisciplinary R&D work is continuing in the present Five Year Plan period. Other Seamounts of interest are in the Laxmi Basin (western EEZ of India) viz. Raman Seamount, Panikker Seamount, and Wadiya Guyot, which have been previously mapped by the multibeam and details are available in Bhattacharyya et al., (1994, Marine Geodesy). Few locations on the Lakshadweep Ridge were also considered for sampling. For exploration of the potential areas having the specific conditions, besides the basic bathymetry and seismic contouring, acoustic and radiometric (Gamma ray reflectance) techniques are also deployed to fully delineate the thin layer of the crust, where present. Of course, optical seafloor coverage, sample collection and its analysis is also essential, for which, ROVs may have to be used. The characteristics of the surface micro topography and its effect on mined crust ore grade will have to be studied by applying mining simulation trials. Keeping track of the environmental factors such as the sea water column above, its Oxygen content, biota and more importantly, the under sea currents surrounding the prospective site are also important for mine designing and securing necessary clearance from ISBA. In addition to the detailed geological setting, content and quality of the contained minerals, information on the thickness, hardness, and other engineering characteristics of the crust and its substrate is also necessary for designing a suitable seafloor miner and ore dressing apparatus in the mining vessel for processing the mined material. With such a data base on the potential deposit, a Feasibility Report could be mounted and site specific miner and other equipment designed, engineered, fabricated and tested on ground on artificial material and also in hyperbaric chambers for their fitness under water at the given depths and safety margins. A crust Miner design conceptualized by DOME in mid Nineties is a self-propelled crawler with mechanical fracturing, crushing, and hydraulic pick-up devices and collection and pumping units
72

mounted on it, The miner with hydraulic prime movers powered by electrical cables descending from the mining vessel, is around 6 meters wide and 16 meters long weighing 50 odd tonnes under water. The Fracturing and crushing devices consist of hydraulically driven Rollers of about 100 cm long and 50 cm dia embedded with carbide picks on their circumference. In our case, one of the technological tasks would be to evolve a suitable miner for cobalt crusts from the developments already carried out at NIOT for the crawler for manganese nodule mining. Since, Cobalt crusts are encrustations on a substratum, it is suggested that the miner design may consider the surface characteristics as well as the crust hardness, as different from the soft sea floor on which the nodules losely rest. The crux of the miner design lies in fine tuning its ability to cut and pick the undulating layer of the crust with minimum contamination from the substrate rock. Simulation studies have shown that increasing %ge recovery of crust is at the cost of picking up a higher %ge of gangue material, the economic compromise being in the range of a low 35 to 40 % crust recovery with a burden of substrate one and a half times the crust tonnage. This is an area which deserves in depth technological ingenuity, if crust mining is to be carried out economically. Also, unlike deep-sea manganese nodule ores, the ferromanganese crust ores require mineral processing to remove the substrate rock before their smelting. Tests have shown that gravity separation of the crushed coarse sized crust is effective in segregating substrate material. This can be done in the mining vessel itself and the waste rock disposed off back to the place of its origin in an environmentally benign manner. A1.6 Sulphides from Sea floor at depths of 3,000 to 4,000 meters:

Discoveries of "black smokers" since 1979 on East Pacific ocean spreading ridges have been a major landmark in underwater exploration. These consist of massive thick and spreading vapours, containing a wide range of minerals (upto 20), largely of the base metals such as Copper, Lead, Zinc and with traces of Gold and Platinum. The developments observed in the Pacific, point to opportunities for India nearer home in the Indian Ocean itself. There are indications that a) The Andaman Sea, b) Central Indian Ocean Ridge The Sonne Field, c) Carlsberg Ridge do have settings favourable to the formation of polymetallic sulphide deposits. It is therefore, timely to launch a couple of Exploration Projects during the next Five Years, adopting new methods for surveying and sample collection (similar to some extent but to be adapted from those deployed for the Manganese Nodules Programme) duly assisted by ROVs, equipped for the purpose. If successful and the feasibility report turns to be viable, a demonstration Mining Project could be started adopting the mining method best suited for the concerned ore-body. Possibilities of Joint Ventures should also be explored with any of the interested Countries in the Region or even with the International Mining Companies, who have already made forays in to Offshore Mining Technologies. As regards the technology development for deep sea mining, it is seen that when the ore body is relatively hard and massive, the method to be adopted is similar to the trenching operation at varying depths of a couple of hundred meters, which is in vogue for laying large dia pipes for carrying crude oil. The equipment used has to be adapted for deeper sea floors and the actual hardness and other mechanical properties of the ore body. Also, any system for mining the harder ore body will have to include a mechanism for dis-aggregating the deposit prior to transport to the surface, and at present, a few Companies in the USA / Canada have developed the technology. However, in the situations where the ore body is altered and becomes soft, but is in a dense mud form (or is amenable to be crushed and formed in to a slurry of sorts), mechanical Grabs, already available in the market, could be deployed with deposit specific adaptation. The Metalliferous Muds, could also be won by suction dredging and then the slurry pumped through flexible risers to the mining ship on the sea surface. A project in the Red Sea has proved viability of pumping metalliferous mud from over 2000 m depth. In either case, after the raw ore is lifted to the mother ship, it is subjected to preliminary beneficiation and sizing if need be, and then the
73

concentrates could be taken to the smelter Plants on the shore by self propelled ships or tugs towing trains of dumb barges. A couple of million tonnes of ore per annum appears to be the least viable scale of operation. In short, technological and economic criteria support the exploitation of massive polymetallic sulphide ore bodies from seafloor. Known Indian land based resources of copper, lead and zinc are limited and are of relatively poorer grades. Our resources of sulphur are negligible and costly imports of this element as well as phosphorites are made for use as chemical and fertilizer throughput. It would be highly beneficial for the country therefore to undertake intensive exploration work for metal sulphides of volcanic origin in our EEZ and also in the Indian Ocean. Assistance from the ISBA may also be sought, as also possible collaboration with Countries who are active in this regard. Our own pioneering efforts in respect of the Polymetallic Nodules will provide us a head start in establishing the exploitation techniques well suited for seafloor sulphides. More specifically, major research and technological inputs are required a) b) c) to identify potential areas is the Indian Ocean to identify suitable areas in other oceans, namely the Pacific and the Atlantic. to identify the technology needs for mining of seafloor sulphides.

It is necessary for India to update itself on all these three fronts and also initiate pro-active measures tailor made for achieving the Country's time bound objectives in this regard. Consideration must also be given to non-technological factors, such as legal (ISBA), economics, and metal prices, and environmental factors for future projections. This would help define the research and technological requirements for India to use this market opportunity. A1.7 Phosphorites from Continental Margins & Potassium from Brines;

Phosphorus and Potassium are important ingredients of all organic living matter and hence basic plant nutrients. Their growing importance as a Fertilizer resource and also in the Chemical Industry, is drawing increasing attention towards Phosphorites (mainly the Phosphorus bearing Apatite) and a number of Potassium salts of both terrestrial and marine origin. Presently, the land based deposits of fertilizer minerals are fulfilling the commercial needs but the richest of them (say with 30 to 40% P2 O5 from long standing traditional sources) are fast depleting and new discoveries of sizable deposits in some of the south east Asian Countries like Cambodia, Laos etc are saddled with their distance from the ports, inhospitable dense forests and even war ravaged approaches (still having minefields). For highly populous coastal economies like India, with scarce resources of Fertilizer Minerals of Potassium and Phosphorus, it is important to look for off-shore resources to which the Country has access. It is true that for a relatively low value mineral, economics of off-shore mining could still be adverse at the present juncture, but the fact that our demand is very voluminous and growing, excessively import dependent, that too with substantial freight component, must make us look for resources nearer home. In India's case, the viability of ocean mining as an alternative or supplemental source, is bound to be reached much earlier than many other countries. The head start that we already have in relevant scientific knowledge and technological aspects of exploration and exploitation of ocean resources, should encourage us to be a Pioneer State in respect of some of these Fertilizer Minerals also (i.e. Phosphorites from Continental Margins in our own EEZ or nearby Indian Ocean and Potassium from our vast brine resources such as in the Rann of Kachch). The genesis of Phosphorites, Carbonates and Iron are traced to earliest times, say 3x109 years ago, after our Earth was born. Their nodule laminations or other forms are deposited in shallow continental shelves where nutrient rich sea water upwells, promoting intense biogenic activity, which in turn, interacts with these selected elements transported and dissolved in sea water from river systems on land. The resultant formation of the mineral sediments (of stromatolitic origin and
74

believed to be caused principally by cyanobacteria), continued to be actively deposited all through the Paleozoic and Precambrian Periods, but gradually declined thereafter except in a few locations. As for Marine Phosphorites, though they are being studied for over a century, the recent technological advancements in ocean sciences and oceanic processes, have lead to better understanding of their bio-geochemical origin, conditions favouring their formation, location and geographic spread around the globe. Our scientists from NIO, Goa have carried out detailed investigations on phosphatised limestones and phosphorites from the upwelling regions off western India and also the Oman Margin. They have also looked for phosphorites in the non-upwelling regions (southeast coast of India) as well as on Seamounts. The studies have demonstrated the role of microbial organisms in assimilation and precipitation of phosphate both from interstitial waters and water columns. Also, phosphate stromatolites have been found in the continental margin off Chennai, which serves as Quaternary analogs of ancient phosphorites. Similar surveys need to be extended to other potential parts of our EEZ as well as promising continental shelf areas (particularly the western Margins) of Rim Island Countries in the Indian Ocean, around 30 degrees south and north of Equator, which is believed to host most of such deposits, as seen in the Trade Wind Regions of other Oceans like the Atlantic and Pacific. As regards Mining Technologies for Phosporites, these could be adapted from those already being deployed for other minerals being successfully extracted from comparable depths. The choice out of the four applicable methods would be dependent on the nature of the formation, its thickness and physical properties, overburden if any and water depth. Thus hydraulic suction dredging should suit surficial phosphorites and loose overburden or inter burden material. These dredges have been extracting large volumes of gravel, aggregates, silica sand etc. for use as construction materials on shore or for restoration of eroded coastlines. Secondly, the popular bucket-ladder dredge (used extensively for marine tin mining in south east Asian Countries) which can reach depths up to 45 meters and is capable of working heavier, more compact formations. Latest designs of dredging vessels claim depth capabilities up to 100 meters. For depths beyond the bucket ladder contraptions, Borehole mining is resorted which can selectively pick up the target minerals below overburden materials if any. A variant is solution mining, where in, the minerals of evaporite origin, are dissolved in water under pressure and the resulting brine solution, rich in the target mineral, is pumped out. Lastly, gathering/excavating hydraulic shovels or suction devises, fully submerged with pumps to raise the material, can deal with larger quantities from deeper sea. These are also being developed for much deeper and harder Sulphides, Crust and Nodules under the sea as explained in other sections of this Chapter. As we prepare for tapping the mineral wealth from our oceans, development of an appropriate method of mining and pumping ore to the shore (if nearby) or lift it to the mining vessel to be shipped to the land based Plant is necessary. It is recommended that the present facilities for development of the technology for deep sea mining of Manganese Nodules be broad based to include specific technologies for each of the other three alternative types of resources, i.e. the seafloor Sulphides, seamount Crusts and shallow sea phosphorites or brine/solution mining for Potassium Salts. While on the subject of offshore Fertilizer Minerals, it is also for consideration as to whether our endeavors in off-shore minerals can encompass trapped sea water in the form of huge underground water tables, dried or concentrated Brines in vast sun drying wetlands, large volumes of Bittern, being wasted after traditional salt making (which are all equally good if not cheaper resources of our target minerals in short supply from our land resources). Their importance is also due to the fact that they are capable of supplying the equally important Potassium to our fertilizer mix. Currently we are importing Millions of Dollars worth of MOP (Mureate of Potash) and SOP (Sulphate of Potash) mostly from Israel and Jordan, who are extracting these fertilizer and chemical feedstocks from the Dead Sea. The technologies involved in developing these resources are akin to those we are developing for our off-shore resources and it stands to reason that we extend our attention to these opportunities on land, which too are of significant socio-economic value to the Country. 75

Two good opportunities for import substitution with social impacts in remote backward areas are a) Commercialising Technologies for winning Potassium Salts from Brine resources in the Rann of Kachch in Gujarat and b) Exploiting possibilities of tapping Potassium Minerals like Glauconite from Evaporite deposits in Rajasthan, adopting Solution Mining. The chemical process for the former is already developed and demonstrated up to Pilot Plant Scale by CSMCRI at Bhavnagar. A1.8 Coastal Placer Deposits in Shallow Sea Waters

These consist of Off-shore mineral operations for Gold, Diamond, Tin, Phosphorites, Aggregates, etc. in USA, South Africa, Namibia, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, and a couple of other coastal Countries. India already has a well established Mines and Processing Plants for Heavy Minerals in the coastal areas of Kerala, Tamilnadu, and Orissa. These heavy minerals consist of Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon, Sillminite, Garnet and Monazite. India has the largest reserves of Heavy Mineral Sands in the World estimated at over 630 Million Tonnes. About a Million Tonnes of these Beach Minerals are produced per Annam and modest value addition to the dominant Titanium Mineral Ilmenite is also undertaken. Besides meeting the domestic demand for these high value minerals, their growing exports are also earning considerable Foreign Exchange to the Country. Their employment potential and the multiplier impacts of these mineral based Industries are also steadily growing in the coastal regions and elsewhere. Though the Technologies deployed for Dredging, Mineral Separation / first stage value addition are all considered up to the mark (with Indian mineral products competing well with advanced countries), there is scope for further advancement therein and for up-scaling the operations. There is also an urgent need for developing further value addition Technologies to suit Indian Mineral compositions, actively promote far more indigenous uses of these minerals, as also increased exports of value added finished products (through induction of suitable modern processes and technologies), there by achieving considerable import substitution and foreign exchange earnings.. Also, India has off-shore deposits of these heavy minerals at shallow mineable depths. A few of these prospects have already been identified by G.S.I. as shown below:
l

Orissa: Preliminary estimation carried out on 500m x 500m / 1 km x 1 km grid has indicated a resource of 75.575 million tonnes of placer minerals over an area of 269.5 sq km area in the Territorial Waters of Orissa between Gopalpur-Chilka. The most common minerals are ilmenite, garnet, sillimanite, rutile, zircon, monazite etc. Andhra Pradesh: Preliminary estimation carried out on 1 km x 1 km grid sampling has indicated a resource of 31.50 million tonnes of placer minerals over an area of 340 sq km area in the Territorial Waters of Andhra Pradesh between Bavanapadu to Kapasukuddi. The most common minerals are ilmenite, garnet, sillimanite, rutile, zircon, monazite etc. West Coast (Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra): Preliminary estimation carried out on 500m x 500m / 1 km x 1 km grid sampling has indicated a resource of 16.45 million tonnes of placer minerals over an area of 103 sq km area in the Territorial Waters of Maharashtra and Kerala-Tamil Nadu coast. The most common minerals are ilmenite, garnet, sillimanite, rutile, zircon, monazite etc. Ilmenomagnetite is most dominant off Ratnagiri coast in Maharashtra.

More such deposits are planned to be explored at shallow sea by Geological Survey of India. Many of these on-shore and off-shore deposits are on the same beaches, thereby improving their economics, when exploited in tandem with a large size processing Plant in the near shore location with evacuation facilities by land and sea routes.

76

GSI is in the process of procurement of a geotechnical vessel with 30 m drilling facility in the shallow water region between 6 m to 30 m isobath. The vessel is proposed to be equipped with piston corer and vibrocorer with core recovery capacity of 30 m and 10 m respectively. Geophysical equipment like multichannel seismic system with penetration upto 6 to 7 km along with sub bottom profiler, magnetometer, side scan sonar, underwater video camera etc are also proposed to be installed in the new vessel. Now then, for entering the Off-shore domain of these placer minerals of high value, it is necessary to introduce some of the latest technologies for offshore exploration, particularly for surveying, drilling, sample collection (down to the full depth of the deposit below the benthic levels). Also, to navigate in shallow waters, specially designed low draft flat bottom vessels are required, duly equipped with survey and sampling instruments. Their induction and adaption to the Indian sea and weather conditions and Indian off-shore formations are also necessary. Similarly the onshore dredging techniques (under tranquil conditions) need to be suitably adapted to the deeper and rougher sea conditions offshore. The transport of the dredged and concentrated material to the shore based stock yards and processing Plants, without interfering with coastal fishing and other activities and without contaminating the coastal sweet water regime also poses technical problems, which are yet to be overcome. It may be recalled here that the nodal Ministry for Mines and Minerals, i.e. Ministry of Mines has already got a separate legislation (Offshore Mineral Development and Regulation Act) and corresponding Rules there under for enabling off shore mining activities in the future, as the MMRD Act and Mines ACT do not cover the EEZ of our Country. These Mining Rules will become operational only after the concerned Authorities systematically make 'Mineral Deposit Blocks' in the off shore areas to be offered through public notifications and or competitive bidding route to prospective Mining Companies similar to the formation and offer of off shore Blocks for Oil and Gas. It is understood that more such potential offshore formations would be explored by GSI and at the same time Mineral Blocks for inviting Bids would also be formed and offered. Our neighbour Srilanka, which is also endowed with such offshore resources, has already invited Expression of Interest for detailed Exploration and Exploitation. Besides the Nodal Ministry of Mines, active involvement of the Dept. of Atomic Energy as also the coastal State Govts. with technological support from the Ministry of Earth Sciences would be called for. If necessary decisions are taken during the current Five Year Plan, a couple of State of art Offshore Units can be targeted to be operational in the next five years. These would be similar, if not better than the Off-shore mineral operations for Gold, Diamond, Tin, Phosphorites, Aggregates, etc. in USA, South Africa, Namibia, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, and a couple of other coastal Countries.

77

Annexure A2 (For Chapter II, Section 2 of Part -I Main Vision Document) Infrastructure to Harness Deep Ocean Resources
A2.1 Types of Offshore structures Offshore platforms and structures have all evolved due to rapid studies made in oil exploration and production. Requirements from the oil industry forced the developments of different types of platforms in various water depths. The main types of oil platforms are:1. Fixed Platforms:These are either of concrete or steel and are directly anchored into the seabed. The different types include steel jacket platforms, concrete caisson structures and hybrid platforms. Generally these platforms are used upto water depths of 400-500m today. The structure is connected to the sea bed via piles or large gravity bases. 2. Compliant towers:-

These platforms consist of slender flexible towers supporting a conventional deck for drilling and production operations. These can withstand significant lateral deflections and forces and are used even upto 900m today. In this also there are broadly two classifications: bottom supported and floating. The Tension leg platform is a floating platform tethered to the sea bed so that most of the vertical movement is eliminated. They are used upto water depths of 2000m. 3. 3.1. Floating platforms: Drillships, FPSOs:-

Drillships are vessels fitted with drilling apparatus. They are used mainly for exploration purposes and are generally fitted with a dynamic positioning system to maintain position over the well. They can drill in water depths even upto 3500m. A Floating Production System or FPSO consists of a large mono-hull structure generally ship shaped, equipped with processing facilities. These do not actually drill for oil or gas and they are moored to locations for extended periods. Generally FPSOs are moored to single buoy mooring systems for offloading the oil. The Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring (CALM) Buoy system is very popular. Among other technologies which have progressed due to the necessity of weather vaning is the turret mooring system. FPSOs/FSOs are now-a-days fitted with sophisticated internal, external or disconnectable turrets. 3.2. Semi-submersible:

These are floating platforms very different from standard ship shapes. They comprise of columns and pontoons. Semi-submersibles generally show far less motion in waves than mono-hull vessels making them especially suitable for tasks with very strict motion requirements. They also have large deck space for drilling and exploration operations. Today deep water and semi-submersibles are often equipped with DP systems. 3.3. Spar Platforms:-

A spar is a vertical floating platform which is moored with a semi - taut or taut mooring system. Different types of risers are used to provide the flow from the seabed to the spar. The different types of spars are classical, truss and cell spars. The spar has more inherent stability than a TLP since it
78

has a large counterweight at the bottom and does not depend on the mooring to hold it upright. The deepest spar today is at around 2400m. Other minor platforms are jack up platforms which are those that can be jacked up above the sea using legs that can be lowered quite like jacks. They are designed to be movable and can be anchored by deploying the legs in depths upto around 150m. Comparison of the various types of platforms can be made not only on whether weight is greater than or less than or equal to the buoyancy. The forces and behaviour in high frequency oscillations also differ. Fixed bottom platforms experience high elastic forces while complaint platform experience low forces. High frequency natural oscillations are in the form of elastic bending modes in fixed platforms. In floating platforms the restoring forces and high frequency natural oscillations are not really relevant. A2.2 Platforms that can be used for MoES projects like Deep Sea Mining, OTEC and Desalination:-

MoES has several programs where some of these platforms can be used. 1. Semi-submersible:Programs like desalination, OTEC and seabed mining need stable platforms with sufficient deck area which have low response to waves for most conditions since the plants have to operate round the clock. For such constant sea operation semi-submersibles are a good option. The oil industry is now using semi-submersibles very widely for long term operations and this platform is now proven in the field. NIOT has the capability for analysis and design of semi-submersibles suiting to the project requirement. Semi-submersible with dynamic positioning (DP) system: In order to have multiple underwater mining machines for manganese nodules mining from 6000m water depth on a large scale basis, it becomes necessary for the mining machines be controlled from a common floating platform, which will also serve additional purpose to store the mined ore which will eventually be transferred to a transport vessel for ore transport to main land. This setup is necessary in view of the location of mining site far away from the main land. The project objective will be to develop a small semi submersible platform that will be used for the Launching and Retrieval of mining system in the first phase of the commercial mining project. This platform will be a general one for mining and use in other NIOT projects. The specification of the platform to be developed is given below. General Features:
l l l l l l l l

Modular Power Supply and Control station for underwater mining system. Outboard DP system for station keeping and follow target mode. Collection of mined material and transfer to ore barge. Accommodation for crew and scientific personnel persons. Handling Facilities for docking of cable and hose and its attachment to a marker buoy (for moving away from site in the event of storms). Other basic facilities required in marine vessels. Final Configuration of Floating station will be decided with involvement of Offshore Design Consultants. Sea state conditions.
79

Operation: Deck area will provide enough space for installation, repair works or dry-tests of the mining machine which has the overall dimensions of 6 m length, 3.5 m width and 2.5 m height, it is necessary to have a free deck area of minimum 10 x 6 m nearby the launching position (aft launching, side launching or moon-pool launching will be decided). This position should be equipped with a support crane (carrying capacity 50 tons, height minimum 10 m) which can serve the complete area. In addition to this area, there should be another free bottom space with a length of minimum 15 to 20 m and a width of 8 to 10 m for the handling of the Hauser. Additionally, it is necessary to have a mechanical workshop (air-conditioned), equipped with at least 2 work benches, column-type drilling machine, turning lathe, milling machine, welding machine, appropriate tools, tiltable 5 tons column crane with trolley, slings, semi-finished material as well as an electronics workshop (air-conditioned), equipped with 2 - 3 anti-static workstations, usual measuring and test equipment, various power supply units, electronics tools, standard electronic components parts and spares, network connection to the control room, 2 Tons - crane with trolley, voice communication to the control-room which is to be located close to the working-area. Workshops shall have necessary manpower. Power requirements: Power is generated from a captive power plant which is generally a Diesel Generator sets working in parallel located on the barge. The power supply generated should cater to the power demands of the sub sea mining machines, ship systems including handling, propulsion system needs of DP and ore transport. Apart from the ship requirement it should be ensured for the operation of the mining system, full stand by power must be available. Storage capacity: The storage capacity is arrived from the designed mining capacity of 25,000 tons/annum, assuring an action window of 200 days and a working time of 16 hrs/day. From this a mining capacity of 8 tons/hr is calculated. With the planning of a continuous mining for 14 days, the required storage capacity will become 1800 tons. With regard to the hydraulic transport, at the port the nodules should be kept in water which can be used for the further handling. This means a slurry bunker with a volume of minimum 1500 m (nodules + water in the space between the nodules) is required. Regarding the requirement for a second vessel (ore barge) this bunker should be on the ore barge, so that the slurry can be pumped directly to this vessel. Slurry handling system, water drainage system: The complete slurry handling and water drainage system should be part of the ore barge (transport vessel). This system consists of the hose coming from the buoy, a pipe system onboard the ore barge, a separator, an optional filtering system and the discharge system. Discharging of the muddy water can be done through a disposal pipe to the deeper water regions. The higher density of cold deep sea water, increased by sediment particles and abrasion of nodules seems to be the main reason for a limited surface plume when discharging at the surface. The discharge water would quickly sink to deeper and colder layers. The advantage of a disposal pipe is that there will not be a disposal plume at the surface which seems to be the better solution from environmental point of view. Regarding the planning to use a semi-submersible as mother station for the mining system and a second vessel as an ore barge, there is no need for a slurry transport system from vessel to vessel. Unloading facilities, berth, pipelines, methods of slurry transport and the intermediate storage of nodules/slurry at the port are shown in figure 2.
80

General description of the Dynamic Positioning (DP) system: For off shore exploration and production operations in waters deeper than 300 m floating platforms such a drill-ships and semi submersible platforms are used. These vessels must be kept stationary at a desired location (reference) to accomplish their offshore E&P tasks. Therefore the platform must have means of producing forces and momentum to counterbalance environmental forces (wind, currents and waves) in order to keep it at the desired location. In most cases the platform is equipped with anchor lines. A mooring system usually has 8 to 12 anchor lines for each platform. However, in water depths deeper than 1000m a mooring system becomes impracticable or uneconomical. This problem is over come with the development of dynamic positioning systems (DPS). The operation of DPS in general is given below. 1. Need aspect: A seagoing vessel is subjected to forces from wind, waves and currents as well as from forces generated by the propulsion system. The vessel's response to these forces, i.e. its changes in position, heading and speed, is measured by the position-reference system, the gyrocompass and the vertical reference sensors. Wind speed and direction are measured by the wind sensors. The system calculates the deviation between the measured (actual) position of the vessel and the required position, and then calculates the forces that the thrusters must produce in order to make the deviation as small as possible. In addition, the system calculates the forces of wind, wave and water current which act upon the vessel and the thrust required to counteract them. The system controls the vessel's motion in three horizontal degrees of freedom - pitch, yaw and roll. DP-systems are automated systems enabling the automatic position and heading control of a vessel. Set-points for heading and position are specified by the operator and are then processed by the DP-system to provide control signals to the vessel's thrusters and main propulsion systems. The DP-system always allocates optimum thrust to whichever propulsion unit are in use. To control the vessel's heading, the DP-system uses data from one or more gyrocompasses, while at least one position-reference system (for example GPS, microwave, hydro-acoustic, laser beam or taut wire) enables the DP-system to position the vessel. Deviations from the desired heading or position are normally automatically detected and appropriate adjustments are made by the system. 2. Spars: Offshore platforms cannot use dynamic positioning if required for long term operations. Spars are very good for long term mooring. They are used in industry for transfer of contents all the way from sea bed. The same concept extended to large diameter pipelines can be used for the pumping of large volumes of cold sea water for OTEC and desalination. This will need innovative modifications to either truss or cell spars as also use of materials like composites and their interfacing with steel need to be explored. 3. Jack up platforms: NIOT carries out a lot of work in shallow waters. A Jack up platform can be taken to various locations, seated, operations carried out and taken elsewhere. This will be especially useful for survey, soil testing, sampling and the like. Jack up platforms can be designed to be made up of smaller modules for easy transportation for the different NIOT activities. 4.Fixed Platforms: Today offshore wind turbines are becoming increasingly important in European countries. NIOT also is attempting to venture into design of wind turbine platforms. Fixed steel and concrete platform design therefore needs to be taken up. Offshore platform mounted wind turbines will be particularly useful in remote locations like islands. A2.3 Current Status in the Offshore Structure Area

Until recently M/s.Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) was sub- contracting most of the offshore platform work to overseas companies. Recently India's largest engineering and construction giant M/s.Larsen & Toubro has won two orders for Offshore platforms from M/s.ONGC for the Mumbai High North process platform for a complete EPC contract. Thus while M/s.ONGC has made strides in the oil and gas sector in India for exploration and the like, it is very heartening to note that Indian companies can now put up platforms in Indian waters. However this is not in deep water
81

depths. Deepwater offshore structural technologies are yet to take off in India. For transfer of crude oil generally single buoy moorings are required. These are only a few in number in the country. They are also specific to 3-4 manufacturing companies in the world. This is an area where nobody in India has ventured to either design, fabricate or install. Maintenance of existing SBM itself is being given to foreign companies whereas it can easily be taken up by Indian companies. The Dabhol SBM is a case in point. GAIL has undertaken to put up 3-4 more SBMs all by companies abroad. Thus moorings and Crude offloading buoys are still not being designed or installed or maintained by Indian companies. Floating platform and vessels is another important focus area. There are a few Indian shipyards which have constructed and delivered Anchor Handling tugs, Bulk carriers, split barges, offshore supply vessels to Indian companies and abroad. However they are very few in number. Yards for large draft vessels like VLCCs and semi- submersibles are yet to take off in India. Till date no semi-submersible has been built in India. Similarly spars and other larger components for mooring have also not been attempted. M/s. EIL have a lot of experience with design and laying gas pipelines for the oil sector. But these pipelines are smaller in diameter and fairly standardized today. Less experience is available in handling large diameter pipes for offshore purposes. A handful of companies in India are now capable of handling marine outfalls from design to installation but these are all along the sea bed and in shallow waters. Expertise is yet to be developed for installation of large diameter pipelines with good equipment and handling facilities.

82

Annexure A3 (For Chapter II, Section 3 of Part - I Main Vision Document) Technologies for Survey and Extraction of Gas Hydrates
India is among a Select league of nations to have embarked upon the establishment of commerciality in the area of exploration of Methane from Methane hydrates. It is ranked third only after USA & Japan as regards the progress made in this direction The National Gas Hydrates Programme (NGHP) under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas is Steered by the Secretary Petroleum himself & technically guided by the Director General, Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. India has already established the physical presence of marine Methane hydrates in the offshore deepwater of Krishna-Godavari, Mahanadi & Andaman areas. The initial report covering all the operational aspects has been published and is available freely to all the members of the NGHP. The NGHP Expedition-01 conducted in 2006 proved the physical presence of the methane hydrates, but could not bring out any sand dominated area within the gas hydrate stability zone from which the exploration of methane becomes comparatively easier. Most of the hydrates encountered during the expedition were in clay, silty clay & volcanic ash. A3.1 Present Status

Presently there is R&D going on for the exploitation of methane from gas hydrates using the following methodologies 1. Thermal dissociation - A Method in which heat is introduced into the gas hydrates thereby destabilizing the same which yields the production of methane and water from the gas hydrates e.g. Mckenzie delta Canadian Permafrost Area (2007). 2. De-pressurization: A method in which the pressure is reduced within the Gas Hydrates Stability Zone (GHSZ) leading to the dissociation of gas hydrates into water and gas e.g. Mckenzie delta (2008). 3. CO2 substitution: - A method in which CO2 is injected into the gas hydrates and CO2 replaces the CH4 in the cage of the hydrates releasing CH4 and forming CO2 hydrates e.g. No fields example yet although the experiments has been successfully in laboratory conditions. A completion of two of more of the above or mining if the hydrates are found on the Seabed of near the Seabed. A3.2 Present status of MoES Gas Hydrate programme

Gas hydrate exploration is a nascent science and various countries are carrying out R & D activities to develop dependable techniques for detection and quantification of gas hydrates in sediments. In view of the above Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) have started a mission mode mega program for gas hydrate studies in India during 2004 and entrusted these jobs to three national laboratories: National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad, National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa and National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai. Monitoring and Program coordination is being carried out by NIOT with the advice of MoES. Under this program initially scientific studies will be carried out from already collected Multi Channel Seismic data to identify Bottom Simulating Reflector (BSR) for selecting two suitable blocks in the east coast of India. This will enable for detail scientific exploration survey and analysis for gas hydrate occurrence. From the detail geophysical, geological and microbial studies few suitable sites
83

will be selected for ground truth validation by drilling. Technology developments for the exploration and ground truth validation have been divided into two parts. Developments of Work Class Remotely Operated Vehicle for fine tuning the selected sites with necessary gas hydrate sensors and samplers. Development of suitable autonomous coring system for sampling the gas hydrates. After completion of necessary infrastructure and exploration activity; pilot scale production, transportation and environmental monitoring techniques shall be taken up. Ground truth validation of gas hydrates is a difficult task after completing the targeted exploration activity from ship based system and ROV. Gas hydrates occurs in deep waters in high pressure and low temperature condition and as per Indian temporal climatic conditions, gas hydrates are expected to be present below 100 m in the sea bed at around 1000 m water depth. In present scenario validating the occurrence of gas hydrates in ocean basins for detail scientific research is possible only with giant drilling ships like JOIDES operated by consortia of different countries. Schedule of ship timings and cost involved are big constraints for repeated ground truth validation of hydrate occurrence. In view of the above Autonomous Coring System concept has been initiated by NIOT and the system is under development in joint collaboration with M/s Williamson & Associates, USA. Design concept is such that, it can sit on the sea bed of up to 3000 m water depth and it will drill and collect 100 m sediments in 3 meter sections. After collecting the sediment cores in the storage magazine, system will be taken back to the ship deck for sub sampling and further investigations. System is designed to operate in wire-line drilling technology System is designed to interface with pressure core sampler and can be effectively used at the gas hydrate layers for sampling and sealing with pressure at in-situ condition. It has a sequence of starter barrel assembly followed by outer casing, outer barrel and inner barrel for sampling sequence continuously. Coring system is 5.7 m in height in leg retrieved position, 7.5 m in length and 2.7 m in breadth. Total weight of the system is 12 Ton in air and expected sediment sample for 100 m core could be 2 ton. The frame of the subsurface is fabricated from 6061 T6 aluminum structural shapes and protected with zinc sacrificial anodes. Three legs are connected with hydraulic cylinders for leveling the drilling system at the site. Tool handling subsystem is made of number of actuators designed for specific functions in the drilling sequence for handling drilling tools. It removes drill rod from magazine and turns 90 degree to drill rotary position and moves to the centre position of the drilling mast below the rotary and same reversed after completion of drilling operation to take back to the magazine. Complete sequence of operation is controlled with proximity switches feedback to the control software from the subsurface unit to the deck during real time operating System. It has hydraulic thrusters for positioning in the sea bed; cameras, lights, sensors and sonar for monitoring. System detail design, fabrication, assembly and integration have been completed and expected its deep water sea trial by this year end. With the development of challenging technological high-end tools, deliverables are expected from gas hydrate site in India by 2009 onwards. A 3.3 Indo -Russian Gas Hydrate Centre (IRCGH) at NIOT The Indo - Russian Science & Technology Centre for Gas Hydrate studies-IRCGHS was established at NIOT with the following objectives I. Define the infrastructure need for carrying out necessary research and development in line with the envisaged major projects defined by Department of Ocean Development (DOD) and ILTP. Identify skill requirement for carrying out the necessary activities.

II.

III. Identify suitable instruments and equipments for information collection carrying out the analysis pertaining to the major projects.
84

IV. V.

Create suitable storage systems for the collected samples. Create suitable facilities for integration and testing of GH technological hardware systems

VI. Define the methodology of working and interaction VII. Create a centralized databank VIII. Facilitate carrying out of projects as identified and approved by DOD and ILTP Identified Projects: As the end objectives of the establishment of the Centre the following areas of the Gas Hydrate Science and Technology projects will be implemented by taking up bilateral collaborative projects between different Indian and Russian Institutes. Following are the areas identified for joint participation: A) B) C) D) E) F) G) H) I) Geology of Gas Hydrate Natural processors involved in Gas Hydrate. Estimation and modelling of Gas Hydrate resources. Physical, chemical, mechanical and other basic properties of Gas Hydrates. Technology for exploration, recovery, purification and transportation of Gas from Gas Hydrate Ecological aspects of Gas Hydrate processing. Economics of Gas Hydrate exploitation Joint research of Gas Hydrate in Lake Baikal and its application to Indian conditions Design and Develop necessary instruments, equipments and observing devices for the above mentioned scientific and technical problems.

Under the Lake Baikal project NIOT scientists participated in the Summer and winter expeditions. Gas Hydrate cores were extracted and studies were carried out. ROV jointly developed NIOT & EDBOE Russia was modified to suit the needs of Gas hydrate exploration by augmenting the pay load with Methane, Oxygen, Conductivity, Temperature Sensors , water samplers and Multi beam Sonar. In the other projects exchange visits have been facilitated and the suitable project proposals are being prepared for the implementation. Infrastructure has been developed at NIOT for the centre and for data warehousing. An Indo Russian Workshop on Gas Hydrate has been conducted at NIOT in 2006.

85

Annexure A4 (For Chapter II, Section 4 of Part - I Main Vision Document) Underwater Vehicles
Underwater Vehicles are employed to carry out the observation/intervention work in deep water where human's cannot venture. ROVs have unlimited power supply but hindered by limited range due to the tether. Autonomous Vehicles have longer reach but limited longevity and intelligence. All these vehicles are fitted with sophisticated cameras, acoustic survey equipment, manipulators and samplers to overcome the hurdles in their way. . To facilitate men to participate in such deep water survey and repair work, manned submersibles are also necessary. The design of these submersibles has additional safety requirements and special procedures to take care of extreme high pressure. In addition to the commonly available ROVs the following related ROVs and their related equipment may be considered for the development.
l l

ROVs for Polar applications (could be considered for up to 300 metres) Variable buoyancy for submersibles to maximize the payloads and for better maneuverability Hybrid ROV with AUV cage Tethered Vehicles

A4.1

Since India needs to exploit resources up to 6000 meters depth, these vehicles should have a capability to reach the depth. Very few ROVs available in the world, are capable of operation in 6000m depth. With technical collaboration with Russia, NIOT as developed an ROV. This has all the sophisticated survey equipments, special sensors for sensing methane, sonars and hydro acoustic navigational systems. The remotely operable submersible ROSUB 6000/SS2500 is an electric work class underwater vehicle developed by NIOT in joint collaboration with EDBOE, Moscow. It comprises Remotely Operable Vehicle (ROV), Tether Management System (TMS), Launching and Recovery System (LARS), High Voltage High Frequency power conversion and transmission system, Data telemetry and Acquisition system (Hardware), Integrated Navigation System (INS), Control and operational system (Software). Support submersible (upgraded system of ROSUB 6000 with gas hydrate sensors) development has been completed. Deep water qualification sea trial up to 3000 m was completed (mentioned in ROSUB 6000 report). ROV scientific operation sea trial with Multibeam sonar (sea bed morphology and snippets images), scientific sensor, water and sediment sampling with sea bed video imaging devices is planned at gas hydrate site in KG basin, Bay of Bengal during September October 2009. A4.2 Autonomous Vehicles

For quick survey and location of underwater objects, Autonomous Underwater (AUV) vehicles are being developed, however for depths of a few hundred meters only. These are not tethered and are programmed for their mission. Once launched, they execute the programmed mission and surface. They are retrieved and the data is downloaded. Unlike ROVs AUVs have more range and can operate even in narrow spaces. IIT, Kharagpur and central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Durgapur is in the final stages of testing an AUV capable of operating at 200m water depth.

86

Under this programme IIT Kharagpur has developed a prototype AUV for shallow water s. A test pad has also been developed for testing the AUV with six degrees of freedom. Initial tests on the test pad and in the swimming pool were conducted. Tests with inertial navigation system and other sensor s are in progress. Shallow water trial in ATF tank of NIOT and harbor trials are planned in Nov/Dec 2009 by IIT Kharagpur and NIOT. A4.3 Manned Submersible

ROV has limited range and capability and AUV has limited intelligence and decision making and sampling capability. Manned submersible overcomes these limitations and provided unhindered and direct view of underwater objects and events. Inview of the above advantages NIOT has taken up a project to develop a Manned Submersible with a depth capability of 4000 metres and the process of identifying the suitable joint partner is in progress. The proposed Manned Submersible will have the capability to operate 6 hours at 4000 metres water depths with 6 hours of ascent descent times. Apart of the human payload of 2 scientists and one pilot it will the scientific payload like sample basket, water samplers, grabs, robotic arms, cameras with lights, sonars navigation equipment, underwater acoustic telephone etc. Typical mission profile has been prepared to bring forth all the capabilities of the manned submersible. Technical and financial bids have been obtained from internationally renowned developers. Evaluation of the technical bids by the experts from various national institute and laboratories has been completed and evaluation of the commercial bids is in progress. A4.4 Gliders, variable buoyancy devices

All the above mentioned vehicles are meant for inspection and intervention at a specific locations. But when long period, long range and in-situ observations like ocean currents are required self guiding or pre-programmed vehicles are required. NIOT has taken up the Indigenization of Underwater Profiling Drifter Technology (AUPD) with a commitment to procure and deploy 150 drifters in Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. The Autonomous Underwater Profiling drifter is a revolutionary concept that enhances the real-time capability for measurement of temperature and salinity along with reference to depth, throughout the upper 2000 m of ocean depth. It contributes to the global description of the seasonal and interannual variability of the upper ocean thermohaline circulation. AUPD is programmed to dive to sea depth of 2000 m where it drifts with the current. After a typical user defined time period, it is programmed to rise to the sea surface, measuring temperature and salinity with respect to depth. At the surface, it relays this information to satellites for immediate availability via the satellite telecommunication system. These profiling drifters operate by actively changing the buoyancy in order to ascend or descend through the ocean. This change in buoyancy is accomplished by changing the volume of float without altering mass. Volume change is accomplished by pumping hydraulic fluid from internal reservoir to the external bladder. NIOT had completed the deployment of 150 profiling drifters by Dec 2007 with 100 % deployment success. These drifters were deployed in an array of 3x 3 box in Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. Also NIOT has successfully indigenized the Underwater Profiling Drifter and deployed in Arabian Sea during Jan-2008.

87

Annexure A5 (For Chapter II, Section 5 of Part - I Main Vision Document) Subsystems and Components
With the experience executing underwater projects, the importance of non-off the shelf components in the sense of timely availability and cost has been felt by NIOT. To overcome this hurdle NIOT has taken up the development of some these components with the help of Indian industry. An underwater fibre optic connector has been developed through industry, FCI-OEN, Cochin. It has been qualified for 2000m water depth at NIOT hyperbaric chamber. Also, an underwater thruster of 1 kW rating has been developed for 1000m and was successfully tested. A remotely operable boat, equipped with this thruster for propulsion, was tested in placid waters. A 250 kW underwater motor, needed for the deep sea crawler, is being developed in association with M/s PSG college of Technology, Coimbatore. Patents have been filed for some of these components. The developed products are meant to be marketed national and international markets. Some of the international customers have shown interest in procuring these products. Critical components /Systems Some of the critical components used in the submersibles and underwater systems are listed below. Presently these components are imported with very high costs and the lead time for supply of these components is very high. In cases like buoyancy (synctatic) foam, export restrictions prevailing the country of origin may result in supply of obsolete technology/materials. There is a need to develop these components in India with the help of industries. In many of the cases vendor development with buy back guarantees and initial investment support may be required. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Underwater motors Surface & Underwater electrical and optical slip rings Underwater electrical and optical connectors Underwater cameras Electro mechanical cable Technology for termination of electromechanical/optical cables Buoyancy material for deep water applications Hydraulic valves Electrical/hydraulic thrusters with controllers

88

Annexure A6 (For Chapter II, Section 6 of Part - I Main Vision Document) Underwater Instrumentation Including Moored and Profiling Buoy Systems
Development of Underwater instrumentation systems is being taken up by many organizations in India. National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa, Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi, Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam, and NIOT are some of them. However, the technology developed and being developed by defence are not available for civilian oceanographic applications though there exists some common features since it is for underwater applications. Further NIOT has already established a NABL accredited Acoustic Test Facility (ATF) for the calibration and testing of underwater transducers and is one of the best facility available in India. This facility is being used by several organizations like BEL, Bangalore. More over, NIOT has established EMI/EMC analyzer, Helium leak detector, battery condition monitor as supporting facilities. Many instruments like Acoustic Tide Gauge (ATG), Pressure sensor based Tide Gauge (PTG), a 200kHz echo-sounder with remote display with an integrated GPS etc. have been already developed indigenously. Some of the components developed has also been taken up by Industry for commercialization. Technology transfer has been done for a low frequency transducer developed to Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) for production (collaborative work with public sector/industry). An Indian Patent application has also been filed for the technology development. The development of low frequency, broad band electro-acoustic transducers have also been initiated by NIOT. A6.1 Sea bed installations and networking (tsunami buoys, bottom observatory) Tsunamis consist of wave trains generated in a body of water by an impulsive disturbance (due to underwater volcano eruptions or earth quakes) that disturbs the water column. The Tsunami warning systems consist of a network of floating instrumented buoys placed well away from the coasts. They first receive the signals from the sea bed ( 3000 to 4000 m depth ) mounted sensors on the characteristics of surface wave trains to a floating buoy and transmit the same to the coast through satellite. A few such buoy systems have already been installed by NIOT and many more are to be installed to increase area of the network. A6.2 Acquisition and dissemination of data

Data acquisition by National Data Buoy Program and ARGO float program where meteorological data like wind speed, salinity, temperature profile, wave data, tsunami data and Tide data are acquired and send via satellite to the nodal agencies like INCOIS under MoES. Data are also utilized by IMD, NPOL and Coast Guard. Acoustic Test Facility Current status Acoustic test facility (ATF) is caters to the test and calibration needs of transducers required by NIOT, R& D Institutes and other organizations. This facility has got NABL accreditation and this is the only facility in India meant for civilian applications. Presently it is equipped with test equipments, capable of performing the following:
l l l

Receiving sensitivity Transmitting Voltage/Current Responses Impedance / Admittance / Phase vs. Frequency
89

l l l

Power/ Source level Linearity Transmit and Receive Beam Patterns Frequency Analysis

Measurements are performed in accordance with IEC 60565- 1977 and ANSIS1.20-1988. Full acoustic test instrumentation is provided with measurement tank and positioning system including impedance analyser, dynamic signal analyzer, Power amplifier, data acquisition and analysis systems. ATF can determine all the parameters that characterize any acoustic transducers for the above said parameters. ATF currently provides the following underwater acoustics calibration and testing services
l

Free-field calibration of hydrophones by the reciprocity calibration method from 3kHz to 100kHz. Free-field calibration of underwater acoustic transducers and hydrophones by a comparison method from 3kHz to 100 kHz. Directional response measurement of hydrophones and transducers in the frequency range upto 100 kHz over 360 degrees of rotation. Transducer electrical impedance / admittance in the frequency range of 100Hz to 15MHz. Power / Source level measurement of transducers.

l l

Future Enhancement
l l

Upgradation of all subsystems in ATF. Establishment of a lab for low frequency calibration of hydrophones in the range from 100Hz to 3 kHz in ATF.

A6.3 The Status of Data Buoy Network and its Indigenization Programme The status of data buoy network The National data buoy programme was established in 1996 for real time measurements of met-ocean parameters (surface parameters only) and in 1997 the first buoy was deployed off Chennai. A 12 buoy network was planned in the 9th Five Year Plan period (1997-2002) and it was achieved by 2002. Subsequently a 40 buoy network consisting of four types i.e. port buoys, ocean buoys, environmental buoys and meteorological buoys, was planned in 10th Five Year Plan period (2002-2007) in which a 28 buoy network was achieved by 2007 and 40 buoy network was achieved in 2008. The experience gained in a decade showed that buoys are more prone for vandalism in shallow waters and average life of a buoy in the sea is 6 months only considering the limitations of batter power, ship time availability and frequency of cruises for the maintenance of buoys in the sea. Subsequently, the above was discussed in the Project Monitoring Council Meeting held on 3rd February 2009 at INCOIS and an Expert Committee was formed for finalization of optimum moored buoy network, location and parameters to be measured, headed by Prof. B.N. Goswami, Director IITM, Pune, as Chairman. The expert committee consists of members from institutes such as IISc. IIT Delhi, NARL, NIO, INCOIS, MoD (Navy) and IMD. The first expert committee meeting was held on 12th March 2009 at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune and the committee recommended for 12 deep sea buoy network with surface/subsurface sensors, with 5 buoys in Arabian Sea and 7 buoys in Bay of Bengal, the locations of which are shown in the table II & table III. Also the committee recommended that a total new buoy system for measurements of surface/subsurface parameters in the deep sea to be made as a single system through tender process and the technical specifications for the same to be evaluated by technical committee under the expert committee. Accordingly the technical committee finalized
90

the specifications and the tender is under process. Till the total new buoy system is made the network will be maintained with the currently available systems/sensors. Accordingly, out of 12 buoys, 5 buoys in the Arabian sea AD1 AD5 have already been established with the currently available systems/sensors. Table I Buoys in the Arabian Sea LOCATION ID AD-1 AD-2 AD-3 AD-4 AD-5 Table II Buoys in the Bay of Bengal LOCATION ID BD-1 BD-2 BD-3 BD-4 BD-5 BD-6 BD-7 Indigenization programme The indigenization process for development of buoys was started in 2003 in NIOT. Initially mechanical components were indigenously made. Then the development of Data Acquisition Unit was taken up. In collaboration with industry, the DAS for the met sensors was developed. This was field tested for a buoy and while it was proposed to procure more units the firm declined as they changed their domain of functionality. In collaboration with industry, the DAS for buoys with INMARSAT communication link has been developed. These systems were field tested and are being used in the Tsunami buoy systems currently. In-order to achieve total indigenization, the development of DAS with INSAT communication system has been taken up in collaboration with SAC Ahmedabad and industry. The current status of this is explained below. Development of INSAT communication system The development of INSAT communication system interfacing with DAS, has been taken up in collaboration with SAC Ahmedabad and industry. The systems were tested in the lab for continuous transmissions and then have been incorporated in the met- buoys deployed in the Arabian Sea in May 2008 and in the Bay of Bengal in July 2008. The sensor fit for the MB series of buoys are as follows: o o o o o Air pressure Air temperature Humidity Wind speed and Direction SST
91

LAT N19.00 N15.00 N12.00 N8.00 N6.00

LONG E67.00 E69.00 E69.00 E73.00 E69.00

LAT N18.99 N18.50 N16.84 N14.20 N10.50 N10.00 N8.00

LONG E89.27 E88.00 E90.68 E82.90 E94.00 E88.50 E84.77

The quality of the data from these sensors has been found to be very good for Air pressure, Humidity, wind speed and Direction. The SST data is good yet the resolution of the SST sensor could be increased. The Air Temperature data is not good and it is found that Air Temperature/ Humidity are derived from the same sensor. The sensor which is used in the met buoys is procured from the same firm which supplied for the Oceanor buoys and those data sets are very good. So it is identified to be the problem in the Data acquisition/processing unit and to be resolved. However there are gaps in the data sets from all the MB series buoys with INSAT communication system and some of the buoys stopped transmission suddenly and after a few days revived and data transmission continued. These problems were identified and efforts to solve them are in progress. A6.4 Indian ARGO Project ARGO (earlier known as Array for Real-time Geo-strophic Oceanography) is a revolutionary concept, which enhances the real-time capability for the measurement of temperature and salinity along with reference level velocities through the upper 2000 m of ocean depth. It contributes to the global description of the seasonal and inter-annual variability of the upper ocean thermohaline circulation. Deployment of ARGO floats ARGO float is a free-drifting profiling float and will be deployed after Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). It is programmed to dive to the sea depth of 2000 m where it drifts with the current. After a typical user defined time period, it is programmed to rise to the sea surface, measuring temperature and salinity with respect to depth. At the surface, it relays this information to satellites for immediate availability via the satellite telecommunication system. As per the commitment, NIOT had completed the deployment of 150 floats by Dec 2007 with 100 % deployment success. These floats were deployed in an array of 3x 3 box in Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. Indigenization of profiling float As per as the indigenization is concerned, the project team has completed the indigenization of profiling float technology and based on the first prototype float's performance in the laboratory test, two profiling floats were fabricated for the sea trial. All functional, satellite transmission and pressure test were carried out in the laboratory using in-house facilities (Hyperbaric chamber and ATF tank). After completion of tests, NIOT had successfully deployed the indigenized profiling float in Arabian Sea at Lat 0999'87''N, Long 6898'02''E on 9th Jan-2008.

92

Annexure B1 (For Chapter 3, Section 1 of Part - I Main Vision Document) Renewable Energy from the Oceans
B1.1 The Role of Ocean Energy Ocean Energy is made available in various forms such as Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), Wave Energy, Tidal Energy, Salinity Gradient Energy, Offshore Wind Energy, Marine Currents, Marine Bio-mass Conversion etc. The following table shows the potential and status in India for these three technologies. It could be noticed that though vast potential is available from ocean energy resources, only little is achieved in harnessing it. It is mainly due to the fact that the technology is not matured or the cost implications are high. Table 1 The potential of ocean energy in India Ocean Energy Technologies OTEC Tidal Wave *transmissible OTEC power B1.2 Ocean Energy Activity in India Potential, MW 55,000* 17,400 20,000 Status, kW R&D stage In progress 50

The studies on ocean energy conversion have been initiated at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras during 80's. Various investigations have been carried out in the area of OTEC, wave energy and tidal energy such as theoretical modeling, laboratory tests and field surveys. An Oscillating Water Column type wave energy conversion plant was established at Vizhinjam harbor in 1991 with the total funding of Department of Ocean Development (presently Ministry of Earth Sciences), Govt. of India. The power module consists of a bi-directional flow and unidirectional impulse air turbine with a design capacity of 50 kW. This plant has demonstrated the technology of the conversion of wave power into electricity and its delivery into the local grid. Experimental investigation for an improved version of turbine and power system is still continuing. Also Backward Bent Ducted Buoy (BBDB) -a simple floating and efficient wave power absorption device -is a current area of research and development. In 1993, National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) was formed by the Department of Ocean Development (DOD), Government of India to pursue the research activities on ocean energy as part of the various mission-based activities. Under this mission a major thrust was given for the technology development for OTEC. Ocean Thermal Energy is the most important form of ocean energy for a country like India having a long cost of tropical waters. B1.3 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion and Desalination

OTEC utilizes the temperature -difference existing between warm surface sea water of around 27-30o C and the cold deep sea water of around 5-7o C, which is available at a depth of 800 to 1000 m, to run a heat engine to produce work output. The deep sea cold water is available at 40-60 km from the shore in the main land of India and 2 - 5 km in the Islands. Based on the power cycle the OTEC system can be classified in to two viz., open cycle and closed cycle systems. For the open cycle system, which uses seawater as the working fluid, the warm surface water is flash evaporated in a chamber maintained under high vacuum and the generated vapor is utilized to drive a low-pressure turbine connected with the generator. The exhaust steam is condensed using cold seawater from the ocean depth. In closed cycle a secondary low boiling fluid is evaporated in the send to the turbine.
93

After the vapor expanding and driving the turbine, it is condensed by cold seawater from the depth of the ocean. This condensate pumped back to the evaporator and recycled using the working fluid pump. The closed cycle systems are suitable for MW range OTEC plants due to the compactness of the turbine. Early 1997, DOD, Government of India proposed to establish a 1 MW gross OTEC plant in India, which would have been the first ever MW range plant established anywhere in the world. NIOT conducted detailed surveys at the proposed OTEC site near Tuticorin, South India off the coast of Tamil Nadu. Based on the temperature and bathymetric profiles, NIOT built the floating OTEC plant on a barge of 65 m long and 16 m wide. The power cycle of a closed Rankine cycle consists of components like evaporator, turbine-generator, condenser and pumps for seawater and working fluid. The warm sea water exchanges heat in the plate heat exchangers with the working fluid which undergoes a phase change in to vapor and this vapor is allowed to expand in the 4-stage axial turbine producing mechanical energy. The vapor from the turbine is allowed to condense in the plate condensers, which is again pumped back to the evaporator using the working fluid pump. Inside the condenser the heat is exchanged with the cold seawater pumped from the deep sea at 1000 m water depth. Though there were many pre-commissioning tests and experiments, the plant could not be commissioned due to the failure of the special joint between the floating barge and 1200m long cold water intake system. As a spin off of OTEC, desalination utilizing ocean temperature was successfully demonstrated on the OTEC barge in the year 2004 by drawing cold water from 350 m water depth. This was followed by the commissioning of a land based desalination unit at Kavaratti one of the Lakshadweep group of Islands. The 100 m3 per day capacity plant is in operation for the last two years and supplying the water requirement of the island community. In the year 2007, a floating desalination unit of 1 MLD capacity was commissioned off Chennai with a plan for developing floating desalination units of capacities upto 10 million litres daily. B1.4 Future of OTEC

The capital cost for installing a power plant for generating energy from the ocean is very high, because building a floating plant or a shallow water plant is expensive. The plant structure has to withstand the tremendous wave and wind forces experienced for few weeks during monsoon or during cyclonic weather. However, the recurring cost of fuel is zero in these plants. Therefore one should not only look at the capital cost per MW of installation, but the real cost of generation of one unit of electrical energy in Rupees/kWh. It is estimated that for a 20MW plant, an OTEC plant (land based) could provide better returns (in terms of IRR) than coal, furnace oil based or even wind or Hydro turbine based power plants. Table 2 gives the cost of coal and oil at 2002 costs. The cost of oil at that time was less than $40 / barrel. Now, with the present sky rocketing of crude oil price at around $ 75 / barrel, the techno-economics of OTEC plants will be much more attractive.

94

Table 2 Comparison of Cost of Various Energy Sources for a 20 MW Power Plant

Sl. No. Wind

Description Coal Furnace oil

Hydro

OTEC (Shelf mounted) 1,66,000 1021 nil 0.80 1,47,500 0.57 nil 0.80 140x10 5%
6

OTEC (Land based)

1. 0.25 1.89 0.69 120x10 16% 9% 8% 16%

6

Capital cost (Rs*. Per kW) 0.28 2.85 0.80 140x10

6

62,500 0.35 nil 0.23 40x10

6

47,500 0.36 nil 0.80 70x10

6

52,000

60,000

2.

O & M cost (Rs*. Per kW)

3.

Fuel cost (Rs*. Per kW)

4.

Plant load factor

5.

Annual generation (kWh / yr)

140x10 10%

6.

Pre-tax IRR @ unit cost of Rs*.4/- for 12 years

(M. Ravindran et. al., Environmental friendly energy options for India, International Journal of Environmental Studies

Vol. 64, No 6, Dec 2007, pp 709-718

(*The rate of conversion is 1$ = Rs.41/-)

95

OTEC plants have many more useful byproducts. The cold nutrient water drawn up for condenser and later discharged near the ocean surface can be used for mariculture, air-conditioning or even desalination. With a long cost line of tropical waters, India has the maximum potential for OTEC power in the world. No developed country can install large OTEC plants on them own shares, because of lack of warm sea water throughout the year on their coasts. But, India has not fully realized the great potential of OTEC, mainly because other developed countries have not built commercial OTEC plants. The failure of one component of NIOT's OTEC plant should not be a deterrent to the OTEC technology development program. Moreover, if additional benefits of aqua culture, desalination and air conditioning are added to OTEC power revenues along with carbon credits for this environmentally friendly source of power, OTEC power will surely become one of the important sources of power for India. B1.5 Wave Energy

Ocean wave energy conversion technology utilizes the kinetic energy of the ocean waves to produce the power. The incessant motion of sea surface in the form of wind-wave constitutes a source of energy, which is continually being replenished. About 1.5% of the incoming energy from sun is converted to wind-energy. Part of the energy from the winds is transferred to sea surface resulting in the generation of waves. This energy is carried to coastlines throughout the world where it is dissipated as the waves break. If this energy can be tapped and used economically it can provide a sizeable portion of world's energy needs. Extraction of energy from waves is more efficient than direct collection of energy from the wind, since wave energy is concentrated through the interaction of the wind and the free ocean surface. In this respect, the sea behaves like an immense energy collector whereby the wind energy, transferred to large sea surface is stored as mechanical energy in waves. The inertia of the waves provided this short time storage and also tends to smooth out part of the high variability in time and space that is characteristic of the wind. The wave energy potential varies from place to place depending upon its geographic location. Even at a given place, the energy availability varies during the different parts of the day, for different months and from season to season. The energy available in random sea is expressed as P = 0.55Hs2 T kW/m of wave crest where Hs is the significant wave height measured in meters and T the zero crossing wave period in seconds. But the waves in ocean are not regular sine waves and are really random in nature. This indicates that a wave condition having a significant wave height of 1.5 m and a zero crossing period of 7 seconds possess a power of about 15 kW/m of the wave crest. Among the many devices developed, the Oscillating Waster Column (OWC) concept was proved to be an attractive concept for Wave energy conversion. The OWC consists of a chamber in the sea exposed to have wave action through an entrance at the bottom or on the side. The air in the chamber gets pressurized or expanded due to wave action. Bi directional air movement through a small opening from or in to the chamber (depending on the pressure inside) is utilized to drive an air turbine. A concrete caisson of 10 m width with an OWC chamber has been installed at 10 m water depth and 600 m from shore in October 1991 at Vizhinjam, Kerala, South India. The caisson is connected to the top of the breakwater of the harbour by a bridge. The power module with a special bi-directional flow unidirectional rotation air turbine coupled to an Induction Generator of 50 kW rating has been installed. The plant has demonstrated the technology of the conversion of wave power into electricity and it is being delivered to the local grid. The overall efficiency of the plant varies from 5% to 45%. A new turbine with variable speed guide vane was installed and tested later. A desalination unit utilizing wave power was installed in the year 2001 and it is supplying fresh water at the rate of about 10000 liters/day to the nearby coastal community. Recently, an improved concept of this system, having two independent, efficient turbines, one for each direction of air flow has been estimated to have very high efficiency over a wide range of wave energy inputs. Such a concept will improve the techno economics of wave power generation. B1.6
96

Tidal Energy for India The tidal power generation has gone a long way by the installation of 240 MW Rance plant in

France in the year 1966. In spite of the high capital investment, the tidal plants are attractive now due the long plant life of the order of 75 to 100 years and the increased cost of oil. A tidal range of 3 to 4 m is considered viable for installing a tidal power plant. There are quite few sites in India suitable for tidal power development in India. The Gulf of Khambat and the Gulf of Kutch on the west coast of India have maximum measured tidal range of 12.6 m and an annual average of around 6 m. In Sunder Bans area of West Bengal, the annual average tidal range is 3.6 m. The Kalpasar project aims to create a sweet water reservoir across the Gulf of Khambat to store 12,250, million cu. m. water over 2,070 sq. km. area and will facilitate a tidal power generation of 5,880 MW from a single basin concept and 1,680 from a double basin concept. The estimated cost of the project is Rs.54,000 crores (10,800 Million USD). The western region power grid of the country will receive the power and integrate the same to meet the growing demand. It has been estimated that while generating 5000 MW of power by thermal combustion, about 22,660,000 tons of carbon dioxide would be emitted. The Kalpasar project therefore, would provide a renewable and environmentally sustainable power source in India that would spearhead the economic growth in the whole of western region of the country. B1.7 Extraction of fuel from Ocean Biomass

Ocean biomass studies are going on for many decades but looking it in the view of biofuel, it is a very recent topic of research. It requires actively developing technologies to allow and enhance the production of biofuels that derive from our unique understanding of plankton by plankton scientists, technologists, and engineers. The oil we are burning today was made by ocean phyto-plankton over the course of hundreds of millions of years. Ocean plants floating in seas a hundred million years before the dawn of man converted CO2 and sunlight through photosynthesis into their living biomass. Algae and microalgae oils can be converted into biodiesel using the same methods employed for crop seed oils. Algae can be harvested every less than a day or two, unlike land-based crops, which have much longer periods to grow. Few microalgae have oil content of 75 percent their dry weight. A comparison study made by National Renewable Energy laboratory, USA regarding oil yields of bio fuel from planktons is given in the table. The U.S. Department of Energy ("DOE") announced in July 2009, funding of up to $85 million over a three-year period from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("ARRA") for the development of algae-based biofuels and advanced, infrastructure-compatible biofuels. Mitsubishi University of Marine Science and Technology is working on sea weed cultivation and harvest for bio fuel. Technology requirements are, a floating bioreactors, and special facilities that use enzyme to break down seaweed down into sugars and then conversion into ethanol. The conversion will be done at sea and then transported to land by tankers. There are two main components of seaweed / algae that rise interest in producing bioethanol. They are Fucoidan and Alginic Acid. Scientists have already discovered enzyme to break down Fucoidan and now they are currently looking for enzyme to break down alginic acid. Globally researchers focusing on technological need for energy conversion to use bio mass as bio fuel. It is important that India should equip and develop capability in this renewable energy sector to satisfy energy demand of our country. Source: US NREL Report Oil yields Soybeans Sunflower Canola Jathropha Palm Oil Microalgae liters/ha-yr 400 800 1,600 2,000 6,000 60,000-240,000* barrels/ha-yr 2.5 5 10 12 36 360-1500*
97

Annexure B2 (For Chapter 3, Section 2 of Part - I Main Vision Document) Large Scale Desalination Plants
Water is an essential requirement of life on earth. There is a continuous increase in the demand for water for use in Agriculture, Industry and other Domestic needs due to increase in population and industrial growth and it is estimated that in India by 2050 the demand will exceed all available supplies. .Even though many desalination plants are being installed in our country, the R&D in search of economical, reliable and environment friendly desalination system continues. Many coastal villages, towns and cities suffer the lack of potable water to meet the common requirements. Govt. of India is providing special thrust on desalination activities. However, there are only very few research institutes in India actively involved in developing desalination technology. The conventional desalination technologies can be broadly classified into two- based on the technology used: membrane process and thermal process. In membrane process the sea water is filtered through a semi-permeable membrane by applying pressure to make it potable. In thermal process the sea water undergoes a phase change to vapor with or without the application of heat. This vapor is allowed to condense to get fresh water. Among the many thermal desalination technologies like Multi-stage stage flash (MSF) evaporation, Mechanical vapor compression (MVC), Thermal vapor compression (TVC), MSF is having prominence in the market. B2.1 Reverse Osmosis (RO): The 'technology of choice' of these days is reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis for water purification is a technological advancement in the last 20 years. About 77% of the world's installed desalination plants are by Reverse osmosis. In RO system the water from a highly concentrated region is transferred to a region of low pressure by applying pressure. A semi-permeable membrane having pore diameter from 0.5 nm to 1.5 nm separates the two sections. RO can remove high percentage of dissolved contaminants. About 35-45% feed water is purified and the rest simply goes down the drain. It has emerged as an effective technology for the generation of fresh water from seawater or brackish water. The electrical energy consumption for an RO plant is nearly 4-7 kWh/m3 of water production. The cost of desalinated water by RO has come down drastically in the last few years due to the development of technologies especially in the area of membranes. However the technology has the following limitations such as pre- treatment of water to protect membranes, higher pumping power proportional to feed pressure, bio-fouling of membranes, environmental pollution. B2.2 Multi-stage Flash Evaporation (MSF): In flash evaporation, vacuum is applied to reduce the boiling point of water and the water evaporates instantly. The water is supplied to a depressurized chamber and undergoes flash evaporation. There can be a series of flash chambers resulting in multi-stage flash evaporation. Most of the Middle East countries depend on multi stage flash evaporation technology for their water requirements. The capacity of MSF units has increased significantly over the years and designs are now available for single units with the capacity to produce up to 91,000 m3/day. Large size desalination plants are of MSF and the water produced by MSF process shares about 45% of total water production. MSF has the advantage of lower electric power consumption of the range of 3-4 kWh/m3.The generation and maintenance of vacuum and the problems of scaling are two technical challenges associated with MSF technology. B2.3 Low Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD): The low temperature thermal desalination is to make use of the sensible energy in the warm stream of water and to produce water utilizing temperature difference in the two streams. There exists a temperature difference between the different layers of the ocean surface and thus a huge reservoir of warm and cold water. Many international attempts were made in the past to produce energy and water using ocean temperature difference. The technology is also known as "Thermocline Driven Desalination" or "Low Temperature
98

Thermal Desalination" and a temperature difference of 10oC or above is ideal for desalination. The flash evaporation inside a chamber under low vacuum conditions is followed by condensation in a condenser using the cold stream of water. The major benefits of the technology are that it is environmentally friendly and have less maintenance problems. Desalination of sea water is proving to be a boom for coastal and island communities. 'Reverse Osmosis' systems are energy and maintenance intensive. "Low Temperature Thermal Desalination Technology" is very useful for islands and floating platforms. National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai under the sponsorship of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), installed a one lakh litres per day ( 100 m3 per day) plant at Kavaratti, one of the Lakshadweep group of Islands, in MayJune 2005. The plant has completed nearly two years of operation and is supplying the drinking water to the Island. There were several attempts in the past to install Reverse Osmosis (R.O.) based desalination plants for the Islands of Lakshadweep. However due to several reasons such as clogging of membranes, difficulties in transporting chemicals, unskilled manpower etc. all desalination units except one out of twelve are under shut down condition. The high salinity coupled with biological contamination makes the ground water unfit for drinking in all the Islands. The land based desalination plant using the ocean temperature difference draws deep sea water from 330 m o water depth at 12 C. The surface sea water at 28-30oC is flash evaporated in a flash chamber and the generated vapor is condensed in a shell and tube condenser kept below the flash chamber. The condensate is collected as fresh water. Two submersible pumps installed in a 6 m dia sump is pumping the warm and cold water to the plant. The flash chamber is kept about 10.5 m from the seal level and is maintained at about 25 m bar for the flash evaporation of warm surface water. The salinity of the water discharged into sea is negligible as only 1.5% of feed salt water is converted to fresh water and hence the disposal of salt water not a problem as in the case of RO plants. No chemicals are required except re-mineralization of the fresh water produced. It has been stated by the Lakshadweep administration that, after the commissioning of the desalination plant at Kavaratti, the number of gastro-entities have drastically come down. Hence, the environmental friendliness is the hall mark of the system. Also, it is maintenance free as the main rotary equipment is the pumps. Based on the confidence given by the pilot plant at Kavaratti, a scaled up model of 1 MLD capacity floating desalination plant was experimented at 800 m water depth off Chennai in April-May 2007. Further programmes are to build a 10 million litre daily floating plant. B2.4 Thermal plant waste heat utilization for freshwater

Technology is to be enhanced to ratings of 10 Million litres per day and above to meet the needs of large coastal cities in a cost effective manner. Such Desalination plants can be installed at very low costs adjacent to thermal power stations. The cooling water, after condensing steam is generally at a temperature of 60-80 deg C. It is cooled in a cooling tower to about 5 deg C above ambient, and discharged into the sea. The hot water can be diverted to a desalination plant before the cooling tower, and the discharge from the desalination plant sent to the cooling tower. This is a very energy efficient method of getting drinking water in a large scale. It is envisaged that a 500 MW thermal power plant would use about 10,000 m3/hr of cooling water, and it is possible to produce at least 200 m3/hr of drinking water, about 5 million litres per day. It is recommended that every new power plant design should consider part cooling to take place in a desalination plant. Thermal power plants have inherently low efficiencies of the order of 40 to 60%. In view of this the amount of heat that is dissipated through cooling towers is of the order of 200 MW for a typical power plant of 1000 MW capacity. For power plants in the coastal areas, this amount of heat is dissipated in the sea, leading to thermal pollution. A pilot plant on this principle has been commissioned at Ennore thermal power plant, near Chennai

99

B2.5

Large scale desalination for cities - floating A barge mounted desalination plant was demonstrated by NIOT about 40 km offshore

from Chennai. NIOT gained experience in deep water moorings, deployments and installation of large pipelines. The plant was designed in-house and made of indigenous components. The experience gained has paved the way for larger capacity offshore plants. The design of the floating platform and cold water pipeline is a challenge and will be the first in the country. This engineering will serve not only for the desalination but also capacity building for the nation.

100

Annexure C (For Chapter 4 of Part - I Main Vision Document) Technology Development for Coastal Habitat
C1.1 Technology development for making coastal Habitat safe for society
State of the Art in Coastal Engineering Coastal engineering in the developed countries are expectedly much ahead of Indian capabilities. Large scale state involvement in organization building (eg. US Army Corps of engineers), investments in coastal observation systems and maturity in the interaction between academia and industry may be making the difference. Networking and interactions among research organizations have proven to be fruitful in large coastal R&D efforts like DELOS in Europe which aims to integrate collaboration among engineers, coastal oceanographers, marine ecologists, economists and political institutions, involving 18 partners from 7 European countries and end users. The observation techniques and systems for data gathering in coastal space have undergone vast improvement over last two decades. Airborne bathymetric surveys, Multibeam echosounders, high precision positioning systems are some of the advances that greatly simplifies the data gathering efforts. Similarly, the software development in modeling and simulation have undergone tremendous changes and the culture of open source codes are promising a accelerated growth in application building as well as widespread understanding of the processes involved. With the availability of cheaper satellite and terrestrial communication facilities, the data gathering and monitoring of observation network is becoming more efficient. For the Indian Coastal engineering efforts to reach international levels, following approach may be considered 1. Improving the understanding of coastal phenomenon around Indian Coast o o This will require an advanced observation network to be established and maintained Modeling efforts that will involve extensive numerical studies with the field data, physical models in select cases, development of software depending on the need, adapting open source codes besides using available commercial software packages.

2.

Building capacity in application area that might include the following subsets o Port engineering l Dredging l Maneuverability l channels Shore protection l Inlets, estuaries, creeks l Open coast l Port area l Islands Structures l New methodology in construction l New materials

101

Operational models l Coastal state forecast l Tidal prediction along entire coast for navigators l Oil spill model l HF radar new applications (eg. vessel monitoring)

3.

Water quality modeling and pollution mitigation measures in coastal and near shore areas, creeks and estuaries

NIOT functions with a focus to explore and protect the coastal & offshore waters of the country for engineering applications and societal benefit through its team of a multi-disciplinary multi-functional engineers and scientists. The spectrum of specialization consists of Ocean Engineers, Water quality experts, Instrumentation Engineers, Hydrographers, Geophysicists, Geotechnical Engineers, Physical Oceanographers, Structural Engineers, Environmental chemists, Marine Biologists etc. NIOT possesses the state of art equipment / instrumentation, modeling software and laboratory facilities for carrying out: l Hydrographic Surveys l Geophysical Surveys l Marine Geotechnical Engineering Investigations l Water quality modeling studies l Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Risk Assessments l Environmental Management & Monitoring NIOT has carried out several studies in the past for l Port planning and development l Sedimentation studies at creek / estuarine mouths and navigational channels l Water quality monitoring and pollution modeling in estuaries, fisheries harbours and coastal areas Past experience and project studies by NIOT have shown that studies of varying degree are essential for the different engineering applications. Studies/research/demonstration are presently required in the following areas which are of immediate concern:
l l l l

Wave height estimations Sedimentation research Coastal protection measures Water quality management and pollution abatement methodologies in the creek, estuaries and near shore areas Design and construction of deepwater fisheries harbours

NIOT has conducted Waste Load Allocation (WLA) studies in several estuaries and harbours and near shore areas off the coast of India. It is found that the key issues in all these studies are the discharge of unregulated sewage by the municipalities which accounts for nearly 90% of the non point sources. While the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoES) regulates industrial discharges through the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB), the municipal sewage disposal is largely unregulated leading to the present pollution issues. There has to be liaison between the MoEF and MoES for water quality management of the coastal areas. Given NIOT strengths on monitoring and modeling of the receiving waters, a combined effort to develop water quality management plans needs to be undertaken. The expertise in the receiving waters with respect to engineering surveys, modeling, geotechnical, structural engineering designs etc., allows NIOT to use its expertise in locating diffusers/outfalls that technically feasible and meet the objective of clean waterways in coastal waters.
102

C1.2 Ocean CO2 Sequestration

Sources of CO2 Anthropogenic CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere from:
l l l l l l l

The combustion of fossil fuels for electricity generation; Industrial processes such as iron and steel making and cement production; Chemical and petrochemical processing, such as hydrogen and ammonia production; Natural gas processing; The commercial and residential sectors that use fossil fuels for heating; Agricultural sources; and Automobiles and other mobile sources.

Mitigation of CO2 involves three concepts namely 1. Capture 2.Transport and 3.Safe storage. Understanding all these three stages are important in planning the CO2 sequestration strategy. CO2 Sequestration Carbon sequestration is the process of keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere and there are at least three potential means of sequestering CO2: 1. Dump the CO2 into the ocean depths (oceanic sequestration), 2. Bind the CO2 in plants (terrestrial sequestration), and 3. Bury the CO2 deep within the earth (geologic sequestration). Ocean Sequestration One strategy being investigated to mitigate growing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere is to enhance the ocean's natural capacity to absorb and store atmospheric CO2, either by inducing and enhancing the growth of carbon-fixing plants in the surface ocean, or by speeding up the natural, surface-to-deep water transfer of dissolved CO2 by directly injecting it into the deep ocean. Determining the feasibility, efficiency, and environmental consequences of this process involves significant scientific, technological, economic, and legal investigation (IOC UNESCO, 2007). To be effective, an ocean CO2 injection program would require that large quantities of CO2 (i.e. billions of tons of carbon) be injected into the deep waters of the ocean. Dissolution of the liquid CO2 into seawater will elevate CO2 levels (hypercapnia) and, through a response of the carbonate buffering system of seawater, reduce its pH. The ocean as a CO2 sink The increase in atmospheric CO2 concentrations due to anthropogenic emissions has resulted in the oceans taking up CO2 at a rate of about 7 GtCO2yr-1 (2 GtCyr-1). Over the past 200 years the oceans have taken up 500 GtCO2 from the atmosphere out of 1300 GtCO2 total anthropogenic emissions. Anthropogenic CO2 resides primarily in the upper ocean and has thus far resulted in a decrease of pH of about 0.1 at the ocean surface with virtually no change in pH deep in the oceans. Models predict that the oceans will take up most CO2 released to the atmosphere over several centuries as CO2 is dissolved at the ocean surface and mixed with deep ocean waters. The Earth's oceans cover over 70% of the Earth's surface with an average depth of about 3,800 metres; hence, there is no practical physical limit to the amount of anthropogenic CO2 that could be placed in the ocean. However, the amount that is stored in the ocean on the millennial time scale depends on oceanic equilibration with the atmosphere. Over millennia, CO2 injected into the oceans at great depth will approach approximately the same equilibrium as if it were released to the atmosphere. Sustained atmospheric CO2 concentrations in the range of 350 to 1000 ppmv imply that 2,300 260 to 10,700 1,000 Gt of anthropogenic CO2 will eventually reside in the ocean (IOC UNESCO, 2007). The expertise in understanding the ocean behavior and developing instrumentation for deep ocean technological developments shall be used to start our thinking on sequestration of Co2. Engineering experience gained over the decades by NIOT shall be used to initiate the storage concepts and understanding the environmental impacts before going into real ocean sequestration
103

process. This is the right time to start time to start such an activity to understand the global warming phenomena and technological challenges involved for ocean CO2 sequestration to make it into reality. Following are the major domains of activities and proposal shall be initiated as plan project. Activities for ocean sequestration of CO2
l l l

l l

l l

Capacity building in understanding the mechanism of CO2 sequestration Methodical study on CO2 capture from the power plants Identification of feasible means of CO2 transportation to deep oceans for ocean sequestration Identification of ideal location for experimental study to capture, transport and storage for CO2 sequestration experiments Liquid CO2 disposal in deep ocean and observe the changes in the chemical properties in experimental scale Observation of ecological changes and biogeochemical effect at the experimental site Ecological impacts resulting from physiological stress on organisms during exposure to CO2 injection Identification of improvised methodology for CO2 storage in ocean basins Relevant technology development and measurement strategy

Different methods by which Ocean Sequestration of CO2 shall be experimented I) Ocean Fertilization to absorb CO2 from atmosphere a. Iron fertilization b. Fertilization with macro nutrients (i.e nitrogen) Direct disposal of CO2 in oceans a. Disposal as liquid CO2 by pipeline from land based plant b. Disposal as liquid CO2 by pipeline from ship c. Dry ice solid block CO2 dropping

II)

104

Annexure D (For Chapter 5 of Part - I Main Vision Document) Technological Intervention Needed to Augment Fisheries and Other Living Resources in the Offshore Areas
Near shore and offshore farming of marine organisms are being remarkably executed in developed countries as well as in Southeast Asian countries. In India, the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) introduced the sea cage farming of lobsters. The Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has recently introduced sea cages in few coastal areas for experimental farming. NIOT has also demonstrated mud crab culture in collaboration with the Directorate of Town Planning, Government of Tamilnadu and CMFRI at various places. Nevertheless, sea farming is yet to take off in India in a meaningful scale and the only successful attempt is the effort of cooperative fishermen societies in North Kerala who regularly produce 10,000 tonnes per annum of green mussels from backwaters. Therefore, India should develop technology know-how for introduction of near shore aquaculture as well as off shore aquaculture in order to meet increasing protein requirement through mariculture. NIOT deployed 28 Fish aggregating devices around Lakshadweep group of islands and it benefited the fishing community and also received appreciation from them. Presently, NIOT has taken initiatives for design, fabrication and emplacement of artificial reeves at 3 places along the coast of Orissa under a United Nations Development Programme sponsored project through the Department of Fisheries, Government of Orissa. D1.1 International scenario

The success of mariculture largely depends on the availability of technology for the production of seeds and feeds. Over 50 species of finfishes have been commercially bred in hatcheries in different parts of the world. A large number of pelleted feeds, which can yield appreciable food conversion ratio, have also been successfully formulated for different life stages of fin and shell fishes. Some of the developments happening around the world in offshore farming are construction of submerged grid that can accommodate submersible cages for finfish culture and operation of huge cages to fatten big fishes like yellow fin tuna and blue fin tuna. Free floating cages for open sea fish farming with remotely controlled self propulsive devices to correct its position and movement are also being developed. Submerged long lines for suspended bivalve culture have also been introduced in certain parts of the world. Offshore farms require surface structures including remotely operated feeders, acoustic telemetry systems and oceanographic instrumentation. Fish aggregating devices and artificial reef have also been demonstrated with a wide variety of disposable materials after necessary treatments. A wide variety of micro algae have been identified to be good source of nutraceuticals, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Regarding macro algae, phycocolloids, algin and carrageen are some of the commercially important products being manufactured in high quantity. At the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, USA, nutrient rich deep ocean water is being utilized for the culture of microalgae, macro algae and bivalves. Augmentation of basic requirements from Oceans through technological interventions World Capture Fish Production tends to be stabilized between 90 and 100 million tonnes and the latest figure is 95 million tonnes of which 85 million tonnes come from marine fishes. The world aquaculture production in the year 2005 was 47.8 million tonnes, of which marine production was 18.9 tonnes only in spite of long coastal and vast offshore areas. At the present rate of per capita fish supply of 16.6 kg per year, the gap between supply and demand by 2030 would be 40 million tonnes, which should come from fish aquaculture. Meanwhile, the emphasis of marine aquaculture is moving from the traditional near shore cage culture to open ocean farming.

105

Open Ocean Aquaculture is broadly defined as rearing of marine organisms on exposed areas like open sea conditions. It has less conflict with other uses and the area available for expansion is vast. Several varieties of finfishes and shellfishes have been explored for open ocean culture practices throughout the world. In addition to marine fauna, marine flora is also cultured globally for nutritional and pharmaceutical applications. Approximately 250 species of seaweeds are reported in the world so far. While 145 species of seaweeds have been successfully cultured for food production, 110 species have been proved to be commercially useful for phycocolloids production. About 90% of seaweed production is achieved through culture practices and China is the world leader producing Laminaria sp. in high quantity. Micro algae are the other important group for production of innumerous biochemicals including beta carotene, astaxanthine, lutein, phycocyanin, biodiesel, etc. Nutrient rich deep sea cold water has been experimentally utilized as an effective media for mariculture. Deep sea organisms including deep sea microbes remain largely unexplored due to lack of appropriate technologies for collection, transport and maintenance. Furthermore, the unique nature of genomic and proteomic assets of marine diversity has to be properly documented in order to mine out enclosed rich treasure of rare bioactive compounds which are uncommon in terrestrial environment. A Few of the important issues to be addressed for rational exploitation of marine resources are: l Establishment of Offshore fish farms, engineering design of cages and mooring systems and farming protocols l Design, fabrication and deployment of Fish aggregating devices and Artificial Reef l Production of marine biochemicals through sea farming l Deep ocean water mariculture l Technological needs / supports for exploiting deep-sea fishes and microbes l Marine bioinformatics for industrial services Technology development for Lobster farming and fattening The lobster catch in India is around 3000 tonnes and most of the lobsters are exported. High demand for live spiny lobsters particularly in South East Asian countries and its high price resulted in targeted lobster fishery in India leading to its over exploitation. Above one-third of the lobsters caught in India are below 150g with a major percentage below 100 g and are exported as live or whole cooked lobsters. To avoid targeted fishing of juvenile lobsters and to protect the breeding stock, Government of India has banned export of undersized lobsters below 200 g by a Gazette notification in July 2003. Nevertheless, juvenile lobsters are still caught in large numbers. The best way of utilizing these juveniles is to fatten them to bigger sizes for value addition. With this objective the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) took up the programme on lobster fattening and farming as a part of the Ocean Science and Technology for Islands (OSTI) programme. The important contributions by NIOT on lobster research are: Larval rearing of sand lobster, Thenus orientalis and squat lobster Petrarctus rugosus was completed. Larvae of P. homarus and P. ornatus, two commercially important lobsters, were grown up to 8th stage (Total 10-11 stages) in 90 days. Enrichment of larval feed, Artemia nauplii by feeding different species of micro algae and liposome encapsulated with a mixture of amino acids yielded better growth and survival in phyllosomas of lobsters. Evolved optimal management techniques for commercial fattening of lobsters, which inter alia include the water quality management, stocking density, species selection for fattening, disease diagnosis and management etc Technology package for fattening of juvenile spiny lobsters in indoor tanks was developed. It was demonstrated that juvenile spiny lobsters at a stocking density of up to 22 individuals/m2 can be successfully reared, even without providing artificial shelters in tanks, to market size (above 200g) in indoor tanks with 80-90% water replacement daily. A growth rate of up to 0.8g per day was achieved
106

for Panulirus homarus which is the maximum growth rate reported for this species in indoor rearing system. Good growth and survival of lobsters with better meat quality in terms of protein and lipid in flesh were obtained with semi moist pellets. These experiments proved that, pellets could be used as feed supplement in indoor rearing systems for lobsters. Further, it was demonstrated that composite culture of spiny lobsters and fish such as mullet, chanos and tilapia can be done in indoor tanks. Similarly, early juveniles of the sand lobster, Thenus orientaluis, was reared from 5 to 113 g in five months in indoor tanks indicating that it can be grown to market size of 150g in 6-7 months time with appropriate feed and water quality management. Early juveniles of squat lobster, Petrarctus rugosus was grown in the laboratory for the first time. This small lobster is a good species for marine aquaria. A moult related protein was identified electrophoretically in P. homarus. Moult-inhibiting and gonad-inhibiting hormones like activity were detected during different phaes of growth and reproduction in male and female lobsters. In addition, a biogenic amine, namely, dopamine was found to be responsible for bringing out moult related changes in lobsters. Vertebrate-type of steroids (estradiol-17? and progesterone) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) were studied during the different stages of ovarian maturation in the Indian spiny lobster P. homarus. D1.2 Sea cage culture of lobsters

Based on indoor rearing experiments, sea cages were designed and fabricated and technology package for sea cage culture of spiny lobsters was developed and transferred to coastal fishers in Tamil Nadu through NIOT's societal programme. Post larvae, early juveniles and sub-adults of the spiny lobster, Panulirus homarus and juveniles of P. ornatus were grown in different floating sea cages along the southeast coast of India at Tharuvaikulam, Erwadi, Kulasekharapatinam and Parangipettai. The first type of cage had a galvanised iron pipe frame with steel woven mesh and four inner detachable compartments. Fibrereinforced plastic was used subsequently to fabricate cages (1 m 1 m 1 m). Post larvae of P. homarus (1.5 g), stocked at 60 individuals/m2 were grown to an average weight of 123 in 266 days with a survival rate of 70%. Further, sub-adults of P. (123 g) at a stocking density of 21 individuals/m2 were grown to 340 g with a survival of 73 %. The post larvae grew by 0.46 g per day with a specific growth rate (SGR) of 1.64, whereas sub-adults had a growth rate of 0.97 g per day with a SGR of 0.43. At a higher stocking density of 80 individuals/m2, juveniles of P. homarus (52 -58 g) recorded growth rate of 0.86 to 0.97 g per day. This study indicates that post larvae of P. homarus can be grown to over 200 g in 12 months and up to 350 g in 16 to 17 months in sea cages. Juveniles of P. ornatus (78 g), reared with P. homarus at a stocking density of 80 individuals/m2, recorded a weight gain of 139 g in 155 days at a rate of 0.89 g per day. Marine live clam, Donax spp., was the main feed supplemented with the gastropod, Xancus pyrum, the green mussel, Perna viridis, marine crab (Charibdis sp.), squid (Loligo sp.), and fish such as clupeids and Leognathus sp. Post larvae of lobsters were attracted to the cages and settled in large numbers (up to 35 individuals/month in one cage) both inside and outside the cages. These experiments demonstrated that lobster post larvae and juveniles can be commercially cultured in sea cages for value addition. The success of sea cage culture in Tharuvaikulam attracted attention from DRDA of Tamil Nadu State to initiate lobster fattening by women self help groups in Tuticorin. NIOT provided technical support to the sea cage farming and fattening of lobsters in many places in Tamil Nadu. At present More than 25 fixed cages are being operated in Tharuvaikulam. D1.3 FAD deployment in Lakshadweep

Fish aggregating devices (FADs) are popular form of fisheries resource enhancement and management in many parts of the world. FADs help in increasing the fish catch and at the same time reducing the operational time and fuel cost. Among the various options for Tuna Fisheries
107

Development, the FAD is the most successful and favoured one. FADs gather fish from a large area to a smaller one and make them easier to be cited and caught. FADs allow fishermen to concentrate their fishing effort in an area where the fish are themselves concentrated. As a result, overall catches and catch rates around FADs tend to be higher. Lakshadweep is a Group of Islands located in the west coast of India, which is scattered between 80 and 120 30 North latitude and between 710 and 740 east longitude. The estimated marine fishery potential in the EEZ of Lakshadweep is about 90,000 tonnes consisting mainly of tuna and tuna like fishes, elasmobranchs, perches, etc. The present fish production is of the order of 14,000 tonnes. A reasonable estimate of the exploitation potential of tunas around Lakshadweep is 50,000 tonnes, while the present production is only about 10,000 tonnes. Pole and Line fishing is the main mode of fishing of Tuna in the Lakshadweep waters. Due to the highly migrating behaviour of tunas, traditional fishing boats spend considerable time searching for fishes. FADs will serve as an efficient, less expensive and time saving means of locating tunas and increasing the catch for fishermen. Incidentally, NIOT had deployed moored data buoys near Lakshadweep for the collection of oceanographic and metallurgical data under the Armex programme. These data buoys served as FADs and later NIOT designed and fabricated FADs exclusively for fishery enhancement. The design of FAD system envisaged a life span of more than a year in the normal sea wave loading condition. The NIOT took enough care to design the mooring system. A cylindrical design was selected for the float as it would withstand wave action better than the saucer shaped structure of floats of Data Buoys FAD were fabricated using readily available yellow colour, High Density Polyethylene (HDPE pipe), of 710mm OD, 25 mm thick, and 2.5 m length, the top and bottom sealed with HDPE lid. The bottom of HDPE pipe was filled with 50 kg marine grade concrete to maintain the vertical position of FAD. 10 no 25 l sealed containers were placed inside the HDPE pipe to increase the buoyancy. The entire HDPE pipe was filled with PU foam at a density of 32 kg/m3 without leaving air gap or over space. The floats were provided with a solar panel and marker lamp. In addition to this, an underwater light powered by solar panel and battery was also provided. The entire system was moored with anchor to take care of the upward & horizontal movement of the moored system due to wave and current action. Twenty eight Fads were deployed around 11 islands from depths ranging from 600 to 1200 m. The Lakshadweep Administration informed that there was an increase in fish catch around FADs and few of them were washed ashore and/or lost during the south west monsoon. Only 5 Numbers were in position as on August 2009. Loss of batteries and minor damages to few FADs were also reported. Based on the overall success of the FAD programme, the Administration requested NIOT to replace lost FADs and deploy more numbers around the islands.

108

Annexure E Industrial Collaboration

It is essential to develop reliable indigenous technology to solve various engineering problems associated with harvesting non-living and living resources in the Indian EEZ. In this context all the industries in Indian scenario needs to be supported for sustainability. Development of the components / subsystems / systems entailed in a project requires the full participation of external agencies at design, production and inspection stages. Some of the agencies who was associated with DRDO for onboard engineering and undersea technologies are listed in Table E1

Table .E1. Developmental Agencies

S.No 1 Item Winches, Handling system and Components Production Agency (a) Larsen & Toubro, Mumbai (b) Quantum Engg Works, B'lore (c) M/s Manjira Machine Builders, Hyderabad (d) M/s Sikka Interplant systems, B'lore (e) PPT Aerohydraulics Ltd, Chennai (f) Magtorq, Hosur (a) (b) (c) (d) TEAM Ltd., Chennai Triveni Engineering, B'lore Industrial Connectors, Kochi Titanium Tantalum Products

Underwater Bodies

3 4

Underwater Connectors Underwater Cables (armored and water blocked)

(a) Amphenol Interconnect, Pune (b) FCI-OEN Connectors, Kochi (a) (b) (c) (d) Uniflex Cables, Mumbai Incab, Pune Radiant cables, Hyderabad Servel cables, New Delhi

5 6

Fibre Bragg Gratings - Strain Sensors Central Glass & Cermaic Research Institute, Kolkata Underwater Communication Device Keltron, Trivandrum Keltron Controls, Aroor, Alleppey

Electronic Enclosures - Shipborne and Airborne Applications

Dinrack Modular systems Pvt Ltd, Mumbai Concept Shapers Ltd, Mumbai NeST R& D Centre, Kochi

E1.1

Technology Commercialization

DRDO has nearly 5000 scientists in 51 laboratories working on a wide spectrum of area including electronics and communication, life sciences, combat vehicles, engineering, naval research, materials, armaments, missiles and aeronautics. It has made tremendous strides in multitude of technologies and delivered state of the art products that make nation proud. Nevertheless the focus was on delivering the product to the services than commercializing our technologies for civilian applications.
109

Recently DRDO is seriously considering the possibility of marketing its technologies for commercial application at an international level. In its first attempt towards this end, it has collaborated with Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) and Innovation, Creativity and Capital (IC2) Institute, University of Texas at Austin. E1.2 CODE Program

The development of strategic and state-of-the-art subsystems and systems of DRDO is critically dependent on the availability of components and devices within a specified time frame. In view of this DRDO has evolved a programme called CODE (Components & Devices) for the development of critical components and sub-systems through private and public sector units for the ongoing and futuristic projects. The major objective of the programme is indigenization, selfreliance and creation of technology base. Technical and infrastructural resources of DRDO labs are shared with private and public sector units for this purpose. Concerted efforts put in during preliminary stages involving collection of requirements of components from various DRDO labs, analysis of the data collected for short listing the components with potential for development, interaction with representatives of Indian electronics component industry culminated in the launch of the programme CODE. A first of its kind, the programme had to overcome initial teething problems but able stewardship has seen to its evolving into a vastly successful conglomeration of indigenous products. A wide variety of electromechanical, micro and millimeter wave components, super components, Thermal batteries, Antennas, Radomes etc. Have been developed, productionised and qualified. Having reached the threshold of maturity, it requires an impetus to sustain. It is heartening to note that about 250 components/devices have been developed and qualified, against specific requirements of DRDO, with a financial outlay of Rs 19.00 crores.

110

Annexure F International Scenario

F1. Canada

List of a few leading institutes involved in ocean engineering research in Canada are Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Institute of Ocean Technology (National Research Council), McGill University etc. Canadian firms have established themselves as world leaders in oceans technology niches. Following are the details of long term technological program guiding the way for future activities. Source: Canada Ocean Action plan and Industry Canada for Ocean Technology approach. F1.2 NEPTUNE

NEPTUNE project is a joint United States / Canada venture led by the University of Washington and the University of Victoria. For the next 30 years, NEPTUNE will stream data and images back from the deep ocean in real-time, providing an innovative approach to understanding earthquakes, tsunamis, undersea volcanoes, marine mammals, fish stocks, hydrocarbons and climate change. F1.3 VENUS

VENUS project is a revolutionary approach to oceanography, delivering sustained observation of the changing characteristics of the ocean. A cabled observatory located in the shallow waters of coastal British Columbia, Venus will provide real-time, full-time, interactive observation of near shore ocean processes. Research and development (R&D) key drivers include the following activities:
l

ocean science and engineering research into such areas as the environment, icebergs and ice, aquaculture and oceanography development of navigation systems and ocean mapping for increased use of electronic chart systems and improved accuracy of satellite positioning systems marine communications development for increased use of data communications at sea and development of new satellite communications systems to offer wider bandwidth and lower costs high volume data base management; inter-operability of data and meta-data; marine sensors systems and deployment platforms for better data, at a lower cost and more accurate satellite positioning (i.e. intelligent buoys, sonars, ROVs); creation of knowledge for base data sets for coastal zone management; Niche application data processing and synthesis (for example, Lidar, seabed classification). United States of America

l l l

l l

F1.4

List of a few leading institutes involved in oceanographic and engineering research in USA are Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), Scripps Institute of Oceanography, NOAA, Harbour Branch Oceanographic Institution, SOEST, University of Hawaii, MIT, A&M University, Texas, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography etc. A proceeding of the workshop on oceanography 2025 was brought out by the experts of US organization. Following text is an extract of the document made by Dr. Meghan F. Cronin regarding
111

emerging new technologies of 2025. Sensors will become smaller and lower powered. Some highpowered oceanographic sensors will draw power from waves and solar panels. Wave energy will be used for oceanographic measurements, military installations, and will feed into the power grid for island and remote communities including Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands. Due to the expenses associated with ship time, transmission cables, and buoy maintenance, however, it is unlikely that wave energy will grow beyond these niche markets. Passive acoustic listening (PAL) technology will likely become widely used for meteorological, physical, fishery, and ecosystem studies. PAL rainfall measurements will be the robust in situ measurements used to correct biases in satellite rainfall products. There will be considerable effort made to combine the PAL wind, wave, and bubble measurements with buoy hull measurements (e.g., sea surface temperature), in order to eliminate the need for a tower for buoy measurements of air-sea transfers of heat and CO2. Relative humidity and air temperature will prove to be the most challenging aspect of the flux measurements. Thus while CO2 flux will be able to be monitored by small tower less buoys, high quality heat flux measurements will still require buoys with towers. These buoys with towers will also allow many other surface and atmospheric boundary layer measurements. Reliance upon wind farms for the general power grid will lead to rapid advancements in atmospheric boundary layer technology. Flashlight-sized LIDAR systems, which measure cloud structure and wind profile with a bottom bin as low as 10 m, will become part of the standard suite of meteorological sensors for buoys and voluntary observing ships (VOS). Golfers, mountain climbers, and sailors will impress their friends and competitors with these gadgets sold at outdoor enthusiast stores. US institutes are encouraged to have multi-intuitional cooperation to utilize the existing facilities and share the existing expertise for the countries benefit. F1.5 United Kingdom

National Oceanographic Centre, Southampton and Proudman Oceanography Laboratory are a few leading organization in UK work in oceanography domain and deals mostly on scientific aspects of the oceanography. Under National Environmental Research Council (NERC), it is proposed to work on new instrumentation technologies targeted for, and ultimately mission proven on, emerging next generation unmanned platforms (UUV's) of international standard. Observations from such platforms have the opportunity to provide high resolution constraints in a number of science topics, and provide a UK contribution to, international activities. Funding has been focused on networking of sensors, climate modeling, remote-sensing technologies for next generation plat forms etc. View of Theme Action Plan (TAP) is that the international science lead is likely to fall to those with the most advanced portfolio of instrument technologies that can take advantage of commercially available UAV platforms as they move into the environmental science domain F1.6 Europe (France, Germany and Norway)

Some of the leading marine technological institutes of the above mentioned countries were working on deep ocean technology focusing on the energy harvest (renewable and nonrenewable) and deep ocean explorations for scientific observation. Following are the list of few leading institutes such as Alfred Wegener Institute, GEOMAR research centre, Kiel, and MARUM in Germany, IFREMER and CNRS in France and Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, in Norway. Many international coastal hydrodynamic problems were solved by the contribution of Danish Hydraulic Institute and Delft Hydraulics, The Netherlands etc. European countries are working out a common policy to address the ocean engineering problems by framing Integrated Maritime Policy for Europe. F1.7 Asia (Russia, Japan, China, South Korea)

Following are the few leading ocean institutes of above mentioned countries. Shirsov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Department of Ocean Research, Experimental Design
112

Bureau of Oceanological Engineering, Lazurit Central Design Bureau and defense support naval organization's of Russia, Japan Marine Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and Ocean Research Institute in Japan, Institute of Oceanology in China and Korean Oceanological Research and Development Institute. Russia and Japan are leading ocean technological institute in the region and made many discovered in deep oceans by using deep sea vehicles such as MIR I &II, SHINKAI etc. Science and technology funding for ocean research is being increased to develop the technology for harnessing the ocean resources and extending the space for livelihood in ocean. Russia's, P.P Shirsov Institute Oceanology, Engineering department focus on development of technical methods and means for long-term observations of physical, chemical and biological parameters of the ocean, based on distributed intellectual networks of self-contained bottom, submerged and remote-operated scanning stations. Japan S&T has planned to have four priority areas for promotion and four other areas for promotion as the foundation for Japan's survival. Identified priority areas were Life sciences, Information and telecommunications, the environment and nanotechnology and materials. Promotion areas of research are Energy, Manufacturing, Social infrastructure and Frontier sciences. Advanced Underwater Technology Group of Underwater Research Centre of JAMSTEC is focusing on new generation of power systems for long distance and time of cruise of underwater vehicles, Hyperprecision locating and screening technology for accurate navigation, advanced underwater communication technology and precision exploration and survey technology. One important aspects of Japanese research is that out of the total number of research community 57.6 % are in private business companies, after which universities account for 36.8% and public research institution for 4.3%. The situation in USA is also similar, major research is related with business attitude. But Europe human resource is concentrated in public research institution which is being followed in India. Validation of research is happening all through as the process instead of after deliverables on the technology! South Korea is focusing to improve its technological efficiency for energy harvesting and deep sea resource harnessing by taking into account of the leading institutes of world. They would like to motivate the human resource by the way of giving incentives and awards to the personnel similar to the encouragement shown by US, Germany, France and other countries. Korean government will further reinforce research and exploitation of natural resources in the Arctic Ocean and Antarctic Continent, as part of a drive to secure offshore energy resources by 2020.

113

Annexure G Recommendations of Das Committee Report

NIOT
G1.1 Introduction National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) was started as the technical arm of the then Department of Ocean Development, Government of India in November 1993 as a society under the Tamil Nadu Society's Act. It was envisaged that NIOT should work under mission mode in the following areas: i. ii. iii. iv. Ocean Energy Deep Sea Technology and Mining Coastal and Environmental Engineering and Marine Instrumentation

During the last 13 years of its existence, NIOT has taken up a number of small and large projects in these areas. Noteworthy achievements have been made in areas like Desalination, Design of Remotely operable Vehicles (ROV), Design of nodule mining system and in-situ soil testing in deep waters. No other institution in India, is involved in such offshore oriented technology development / demonstration programmes. When NIOT was started in Nov 1993, no permanent posts were created. By the end of 1998, the total number of posts created were 30 (19 Scientists & Technical Assistants + 11 Admin / support) for core activities and further 28 Posts (19 + 9) for the operational programmes of Vessel Management Cell (VMC) & National Data Buoy Programme (NDBP). Major field demonstration projects like Ocean Thermal Energy & Deep Sea Mining were added to the activities of NIOT but without any creation of permanent posts. In the year 2000, a new area of activity namely Ocean Science & Technology for Islands was added. In 2004, a major technology development programme on Gas Hydrates was added to NIOT's activities. By the year 2005 - 2006, the core technology activities and technology demonstration programmes, grew, but the total number of permanent posts created for NIOT was only 93 (73 scientists / technical & 20 administration / supporting staff). In the year 2006-07, 25 more Scientists & Techical posts were added. The major programmes on Deep Sea Mining Technology and Gas Hydrates involved development of deep sea crawler based mining systems and a remotely operable vehicle for 6000m depth, and an automatic Gas Hydrate corer for 2000 m depth. These programmes are pioneering programmes not only in India but also in the world. The various components of these programmes were / are being implemented with active Participation of Germany, Russia and USA.

114

The Organization Structure of NIOT is given below:

Ministry of Earth Sciences
Government of India

NIOT

Governing Council

DIRECTOR Research Advisory Council

ADMINISTRATION

EXECUTIVE GROUPS

CORE TECHNOLOGY GROUPS

Finance & Accounts

Offshore
Structures

Strategic Planning Mech. Design

Establishment & Personnel

Public Relations

Coastal Process, Environ. Engg & Modelling

Fabrication Assembly Integration & QA

Marine Engg. & Offshore handling

Elec. & Applied Sciences

Marine Sciences

Ocean Survey & Allied Areas

Tech. & Allied Services

Stores & Purchase

Business Development PROJECTS STRUCTURE

Travel & Transport Cell MISSION AREAS Energy & Fresh

Human Resource Development

Accreditations Ocean Acoustics & Marine Systems

OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES

Technical Services

Deep Sea Technology

Ocean Science & Technology for Islands Coastal & Environ. Engg

Vessel Management Cell

National Data Buoy Programme

115

Table
Time bound Mission Mode Technology Demonstration Projects
Buoy Lab

: MATRIX for Scientific / Technical staff requirement for NIOT

Total

Wave Energy

AUV

Tech. for gas hydrates

Offshore wind mill

Manned Submersible

OTEC

Offshore fish farm

Studies on Sunken Artifacts & Ships

Demonstration of coastal protect. technology

Marine Transducer Development

Deep Sea Mining

Desalination

Island Development

1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1
2 3 5 2 2 1

ROV

Offshore Infra structure a) Fixed platform b) Floating structures c) Mooring systems d) Riser systems 4 3 3 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3
5 2 1 2 2 3

3 4 3 3 2 2 4 2 1 2 1

Deep sea comp & Materials

Development

Infrastructure

116
3 3 1 12 17 16 12 1 1 2 1 6 3 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 4 4 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 5 1 1 4 2 5 2 1 3 2 2 4 4 3 2 2 2 6 2 1 1 4 2 5 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 3 3
4 1

CORE TECHNOLOGY GROUP

Mechanical Syatems a) Design b) Stress Analysis c) Fluid flow & Thermal systems d) Mech. Handling systems e) Marine materials & Hyperbaric systems f) Assembly/Integration

30 11 15 26 20 45
11 10 9 3 8

Coastal System Engg.

a) Coastal process

b) Environmental Engg.

c) Coastal Habitat Protection

d) Applied Geology/Archaeology

4 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 3 2 1 1 3 2 3 2

Electrical systems & Control Engg. 3 2 2 1 3 1 2 1 2 2 2 7 2 3 5 3 2 3 3 1 29 23 10 11 36

a) Elec machinery/Control

b) Computers & Networking

c) High Voltage Systems

d) Fiber Optic System

Instrumentaion & Control

a) Marine transducers development & calibration

b) Data Acquisition/processing system & sat. communication c) Under Water positioning systems
1 2 1 1

15

Ocean Acoustics 4 4 1 4 5 8

a) Theory

b) Design

Marine Living resources 1 5 3 3 1 1 4 1 14 5

a) Marine Biology/Aqua cluture

b) Biofuels

Table
Time bound Mission Mode Technology Demonstration Projects

: Scientific & Technical staff for Operational Programme

II
Buoy

Scientific & Technical staff

Wave Energy

AUV

Tech. for gas hydrates

Offshore wind mill

Manned Submersible

OTEC

Offshore fish farm

Studies on Sunken Artifacts & Ships

Demonstration of coastal protect. technology

Marine Transducer Development

Deep Sea Mining

Desalination

Island Development

Ocean Observation Systems: 8 7 1 1 9 8

a) Buoy/component design & Development incl. Indigenization Data processing

b) Deployment & Maintenance

2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 1 1 3 3 1 4 1 1 1 1

Marine Operations Wing 1 1 2 2 1 1 20 20 16

a) Vessel management (I) Technical (excl Navigation)

b) Offshore deployments Under Water vehicles

c) Marine survey incl. diving

Technical & Allied services of the iinstitute 10 10 5 5 3 2 7 10 10 5 5 3 2 7

a) Campus maintenance

b) Computer

c) Library/Documentation

d) Security

e) Planning & Management

f) HRD

Quality Assurance

Industrial partnership

ROV

Deep sea comp & Materials

Development

Infrastructure Lab

for

Total

Operational Programmes

Data Management/Modelling

10

10

117
51

Scientist/Engineer

50

43

20

21

38

22

28

32

17

14

22

14

13

33

47

95

560

Note:
l

Each core technology Group will have Sr. Scientist / Engineer as a Head, who will technically review the work done by his group members deputed to projects. The project Head under whom the Engineer/ Scientist is working will write the Confidential Annual Assessment Report and send it to the technology group who will be the reviewer of the Assessment. The leave /travel of the engineer will be recommended by Project Head and approved by Technical Head. For other matters, the engineer will be under the administrative control of Technology Head. All Technical Group Head & Workshop/ Labs will have one stores in-charge and he will report to respective heads. Annual stock verification will be organized & monitored by stores & Purchase officer. All the group-D staff will be on contract basis only. Table 6.3. ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF TO BE CREATED AT NIOT Designation Additional Posts to be created

Chief General Manager General Manager 2

Addl. General Manager (Establishment & HRD, Stores & Purchase, Finance & Accounts, Audit) Deputy General Manager (Establishment & HRD, Stores & Purchase, Finance & Accounts) 4

Manager - Establishment, HRD, Stores, Purchases, Finance, Billing, - Auditing 8 Senior Private Secretary 2 Deputy Manager - Establishment, HRD, Stores, Finance, Billing 8 Officer - Establishment, HRD, Stores, Purchases, Finance, Billing, - Auditing, Hindi Officer 12 Senior Executive Junior Executive TOTAL 82 16 24

118

TABLE-2

The Current Manpower Status of NIOT for Regular and Contract Posts
In place NIOT (Regular) H G CADRE Coastal process, Environ.Engg & Modelling 1 4 1 2 2 1 4 4 1 1 0 0 8 4 2 3 3 1 2 4 11 1 6 5 4 18 2 37 1 3 3 1 10 7 16 2 1 1 2 2 Mechanical Design Fabrication, Assembly, Integration & QA Marine Engg. & Offshore handling Elec. & Applied Sciences Marine Sciences Ocean Survey, Geology, Oceanography, Remote Sensing, Marine Archeology Technical & Allied Services TOTAL Scientific / Technical 16 0 0 8 5 14 12 14 38 6 97 TOTAL Administration / Supporting Grand Total 4 14 8 Offshore Structures 1 1 2 1 3 4 1 F E D C B TA SA Total In place NIOT (Contract) temporary Tech/ B TA SA Total Con. 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 3 0 3 0 0 2 5 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 4 1 0 4 14 8 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 4 2 0 4 4 13 0 1 2 2 9 35 46 9 81

CADRE

Coastal process, Environ.Engg & Modelling

Offshore Structures

Mechanical Design

Fabrication, Assembly, Integration & QA

Marine Engg. & Offshore handling

Elec. & Applied Sciences

Marine Sciences

Ocean Survey, Geology, Oceanography, Remote Sensing, Marine Archeology

Technical & Allied Services

TOTAL Scientific / Technical

5 14 12 14 38 6 97

TOTAL Administration / Supporting

Grand Total

Note: B to H are Scientists TA: Technical Assistant and SA: Skilled Assistant

119

The problem faced by the organisation is that Ocean Technology is an interdisciplinary subject. There is no undergraduate programme in the country on Ocean Technology. The post graduate programme in Ocean Engg at IIT Madras does not include technologies of offshore and deep sea systems, their deployment and operations. Therefore, NIOT had to train all the staff on the job only. If these trained staff leave, the valuable trained manpower is lost. Since bulk of the staff carrying out these important programmes are on temporary contract appointment. The valuable experience gathered in these projects was being lost as contract scientist often leave these contract jobs for permanent jobs elsewhere.Long term technology programmes, like deep sea mining technologies, Gas Hydrate technologies etc are being operated with only temporary staff. NIOT has been depending on 'outsourcing' for its services like, campus maintenance, horticulture, security and transport requirements. Such arrangement will continue in future also The key areas of work that shall be undertaken by NIOT under its present Core Technology Development program, and that have in the chart been reflected as mission areas are descibed below as Technology Demonstration Programmes. These shall be the priority areas of work for the XIth FYP Technology Demonstration Programmes Following are the Technology Demonstration Programs(TDP) which will be further split into a number of sub-projects. Some of the important sub projects are: I. Energy and Fresh Water i. Desalination and Ocean Energy

II. Deep Sea Technology i. Gas Hydrates

l l l

Autonomous coring system for gas hydrate assessment. Fine tuning and utilizing support submersible for gas hydrate exploration. Storage, transportation and processing gas hydrate. Integrated Deep Sea Mining System for 6000 m water depth. Soil t esting in the Central Indian Ocean Basin. Manned submersible for 6000 m

ii. Development of Nodule Mining System

l l

iii. Development of Underwater Vehicles

l

III. Coastal & Environmental Engineering i. Coastal and Environmental Engineering

l l

Coastal Protection Measures Engineering criteria manual for coastal projects including waves, currents, wind and sediment transports. National Oil spill modelling and prediction systems Measurements of winds, waves, currents, sediments transport required for the engineering criteria manual indicated above. Developing capabilities in marine survey that allow rapid scanning of the seafloor and seabed.

ii. Ocean Survey (Hydrographic, Oceanographic, geophysical, geotechnical)

l

120

IV. Ocean Acoustics & Marine Systems i. Ocean Acoustics and Instrumentation l Establishment of comprehensive tide gauge and automatic weather station networking programme along Indian coast. l Deveopment of sea glider system. l Ambient noise scattering. l Acoustic emmision from ocean structures. l Vibro acoustics for floating / underwater objects. l Anti biofouling using acoustic techniques. l Shallow water ambient noise measurement and characterisation. l Sea bed classification / characterization l Time reversal acoustics.

ii. Development of Ocean Observation Systems l Indian Coastal Ocean Observational Network (ICOON) l Indian EEZ observational Network (IEON) l Ocean Observational Network l Tsunami warning system V. Marine Biotechnology l Development of marine bioformatics applications. l Marine micro-algal biotechnology. l Island resource information system. l Sea cage culture of lobster and crabs and open sea aquaculture.

Scientists and technical manpower for these projects will be drawn from Core Technology development Groups (CTG) which develop and consolidate the expertise. Core Technology Groups will also be responsible for building and sharing the infrastructure required for various Technology Demonstration Programs. Infrastructure in the form of laboratories, workshops and others will serve as common facilities to assist in execution of these projects. Adequate manpower is necessary inhouse to absorb and retain the developments in technology and also, to develop the support facilities to execute projects. While, NIOT should try to outsource manpower for routine jobs, it should necessarily have certain minimum expert manpower in-house for the purpose of planning, designing, indenting, contracting, inspecting, quality assurance etc. Also, in order to effectively support the Technology Demonstration Program activities, Core Technology Groups should develop, maintain and upgrade certain basic facilities Core Technology Development GroupsCore technology Groups are planned under the following areas: I. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. viii. ix. Coastal and Environmental Engineering. Offshore Structures Mechanical Design Fabrication, Assembly and Integration Marine Engineering and Offshore Handling Electrical and Applied Sciences Marine Sciences Ocean Survey and Allied Areas Technical and Allied Services

121

ADDITIONAL MAN POWER REQUESTED BY NIOT

Sl. No Programme Mission mode areas 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Energy and Fresh water from sea Deep Sea Technology Coastal and Environmental Engineering Marine Instrumentation system Ocean Science and Technology for Island ROSUB and Gas Hydrates ARGO VMC NDBP Technology Development Areas 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Marine sensors and electronics Offshore structures Offshore operations Ocean Acoustics Mechanical Design Administration & Campus development and maintenance Sea front facility Grand Total (No. of persons) 24 28 15 34 18 5 9 744 9 2 2 5 2 2 5 192 33 30 17 39 20 7 14 936 91 62 132 40 82 89 16 17 82 2 20 38 5 11 35 3 3 48 93 82 170 45 93 124 19 20 130 Scientific & Technical Administration n Total

After discussions with the Committee and reorienting the activities of NIOT into Core Technology Development and Technology Demonstration Programmes the Committee proposes the following manpower for NIOT.

122

Total Manpower for NIOT including the existing Scientists and Staff

Rows

: Core Technology Development Groups

Columns : Technology Demonstration Programmes

OSTI

NDBP

VMC

Energy & Fresh Water

Deep Sea Technology

Coastal & Environ. Engg

Coastal process, Environ.Engg & Modelling 9 17 1 1 5 0 1 50 0 5 8 35 126 6 0 6 5 34 0 74 34 0 19 0 0 1 0 22 0 0 1 25 4 0 1

29

Ocean Acoustics & Marine Systems

0 0 0 3 0 2 28 4 0 37

6 0 12 0 0 16 0 0 2 36

0 0 4 0 5 6 0 0 0 15

36 14 52 39 10 107 33 45 17 353 60 413

Offshore Structures

Mechanical Design

Fabrication, Assembly, Integration & QA

Marine Engg. & Offshore handling

Elec. & Applied Sciences

Marine Sciences & other island specific programmes

Ocean Survey, Geology, Oceanography, Remote Sensing, Marine Archeology

Technical & Allied Services

Total - Scientific / Technical

Total - Administrative / Supporting Staff

Grand Total

Grand Total

PROGRAMME

123

Details of the breakup of these numbers for Scientists, Technical Assistants are given in the Annexures to the report.

The proposed structure of NIOT as recommended by the Committee

S. No. Programme Coastal process. Environ. Engg & Modelling Offshore Structures Mechanical Design Fabrication, Assembly, Integration & QA Marine Engg. & Offshore handling Elec. & Applied Sciences Marine Sciences & other island specific programmes Ocean Survey, Geology, Oceanography, Remote Sensing, Marine Archeology Technical & Allied Services Total - Scientific/Technical Total - Administrative/ Supporting Staff Grand Total Current Strength 9 1 16 10 3 37 4 Committee Recomm. (Permanent) 27 13 36 29 7 70 29 Grand Total

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

36 14 52 39 10 107 33 45 17 353 76 429

8. 9.

11 6 97 16 113

34 11 256 60 316

124

Annexure H (For Chapter 6 of Part - I) Basic Current Infrastructure

H1.1 1. Facilities available at Naval Science and Technology Laboratory (DRDO), Visakhapatnam High Speed Towing Tank (HSTT): It is a hydrodynamic test facility recognized by International Towing Tank Conference (ITTC). The tank is fitted with a high speed towing carriage which runs at a maximum speed of 20 m/sec and runs on parallel rails which are fitted to have a tolerance of 0.2 mm over 100 m length and it follow the earth's curvature. It is fitted with a wave generator at one end to simulate random and irregular sea conditions while testing the models. It is also equipped with a model making workshop to make the scale down models of ships and submarines to carry out the model tests for determining the performance characteristics and evaluation of the power plant requirements, etc. The other features of High Speed Towing Tank (HSTT) are given below: Tank Dimension, m Carriage Speed, m/s 500 x 8 x 8 Ahead 20 (max), Astern 3 (max) With accuracy of 0.1% of set speed Wave Generator Dual flap type capable of generating regular and irregular waves (unidirectional) up to wave height of 0.5 m. Speed Control By Ward Leonard System feeding power through current conductors to 8 in number 129 kW DC drive motors. The facility is equipped with a Large Amplitude Horizontal Planar Motion Mechanism (LAHPMM) for carrying out planar motion studies of maneuvering characteristics of surface ships and submerged vehicles in surface condition. 2. Cavitation Tunnel
l

The Cavitation Tunnel at NSTL is one of the most modern and the state-of-art facilities in the world. This is used for study of cavitation inception of body profile and propellers. It is also used for the study of Acoustic measurements due to cavitation of propellers.

This facility can provide a water flow speed of 15 m/sec and create cavitation numbers 0.03 to 10. In order to design highly efficient propellers for applications to naval ships and platforms it is essential to carry out tests on these propeller models in the cavitation tunnel. The features of cavitation tunnel are given below: Test Section size 1.0 x 1.0 x 6.0 m long with an acoustic through positioned below the test section housing 8 in no. B&K hydro-phone array (PULSE) for recording noise signals Thruster controlled 700 kW DC electric motor 15 m/s 10-300 kPa (absolute) 0.03 + 10/v2, where v is the flow velocity in test section. < 90 dB ref 1mPa in 1-100 kHz band, 1/3 Octave scale.
125

Drive System Maximum Velocity in Test Section Pressure Range Minimum Cavitation Back ground noise

Various types of towing and propulsion dynamometers, component balances, wake rake, hydrophones pressure transducers, photographic and video recording systems and stroboscopes are also available to conduct model tests. 3. Wind Tunnel

A wind tunnel to study the aerodynamic characteristics of surface and submerged platforms and underwater weapons has been set up at NSTL with a test section of 1.5 x 1.5 x 4 m. A maximum speed of 60 m/sec can be produced with a 125 kW fan in this wind tunnel. The detailed features are given below: Test Section size Plenum Chamber Contraction Nozzle Diffuser Fan Size Drive Motor Maximum Speed at Test Section 1.5 x 1.5 x 4.0 m long 4.3 x 4.3 x 4.0 m long Varying from 4.3m x 4.3 m square to 1.5 x 1.5 m square; 4.0 m long Varying from 1.5 x 1.5 m square to 3.5 m dia; 7.8 m long 3.04 m dia made of CFRP 125 kW DC motor at 750 rpm 60 m/s

The Wind Tunnel is equipped with projection manometers, differential pressure transducers, velocity measuring probes, vertical catheto-meters, hot film anemometers, 48 port Scanivalve traversing gear as well as PC based data acquisition system and analysis software packages. H1.2 a. Acoustic, Shock, Noise and Vibration Test Facilities Shock Test Facility: Measurement, study, analysis and mitigation of underwater noise generated by ships and submarines are essential requirements to have a healthy and stealthy Naval Fleet. Floating Shock Platform: A field of shock testing facility using floating shock platform and mobile instrumented van for data acquisition are created by NSTL. Using the twin facilities ships main machinery such as the gas turbines, diesel alternators, etc., weighing up to 15 tons can be subjected to the desired shock levels to pass qualifying criterion before installation. b. Shock Test Tank: A double walled steel shock testing tank created at NSTL with a cross section of 15 x 12 x 10 m is capable of handling equipment weighing up to 2.5 tons and can subject them to desired shock loads. Shock Testing Machine: A shock testing machine is also installed at Shock and Vibration centre of NSTL. This micro-processor controlled machine is capable of generating variety of shock pulses such as - half sine, square waves ranging from 2 to 40 m/sec pulse duration. It can generate acceleration of 90 g on pay loads up to 500 kg. c. Vibration Shaker: In order to study the response of equipment and machinery subjected to severe vibration levels, Vibration Excitation Platform is set up at NSTL. This platform with a load capacity of 220 kg can generate vibration in the frequency range of 1 to 5000 Hz varying 'g' values up to 10. This machine is extensively used to test the shock and vibration isolation rubber mounts and various subsystems of torpedoes and mines.

126

d.

Shock and Vibration Mounts: The shock and vibration mounts are used to reduce radiated noise due to vibration of various machinery and safe-guard the machinery and equipment against underwater explosion. NSTL has developed several types of mounts such as plate, angular and cylindrical types for use with gas turbine engines, reduction gears, diesel engines on board ships. The imported mounts are no longer available for replacement.

NSTL mounts can withstand shock loads up to 6 g at the maximum weight of 1.5 tons. Vibration isolation of 20 dB and shock isolation of 15 dB were achieved with these mounts. Condition Monitoring System: Vibration signature analysis is an important tool in diagnosing faults on rotating machinery. e. Acoustic Test Centre: An Acoustic Test Centre is established at NSTL for noise evaluation and qualification of various types of equipment, machinery, torpedoes, etc. The test centre consists of an Anechoic Room and a Reverberation Room. Acoustic Tank Facility: The Acoustic Tank Facility is also established for calibration of underwater transducers in which near field and far field conditions can be simulated. The tank is of 8m x 8m x 8m size. The transducers operating at frequency of 3 kHz and above can be calibrated. Lake Test Facility at Nagarjuna Sagar: NSTL has setup a field testing facility for testing of the underwater systems and sub assemblies. This facility is setup at Nagarjuna Sagar lake which is a large inland hydro electric reservoir and when full will be able to provide a depth of about 60 m and in the lean season a depth of around 30m. In this vast reservoir an area of about 10-20 sq. km stretch is available to carryout the underwater testing and the facility is equipped with a Catamaran Launch and Recovery Vessel (CTLRV) and a Gemini boat. Prototype Workshop: Any design and development activity needs high level of internal manufacturing capabilities for producing components which are critical and complex in nature. The workshop is equipped with general purpose machines and high precision machines including CNC machines. Some of the components developed are combustion device for thermal propulsion, rubber moulding for vibration mounts and static and dynamic 'O' rings/gaskets, recovery aids for weapons and other equipments.

f.

g.

h.

H1.3 Facility available at Naval Physical Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL) DRDO i. INS Sagardhwani, the floating laboratory of 2000 ton ship built by GRSE Kolkota was acquired by NPOL in July 1994. This facility records ocean environmental data for analysis, from various locations at the sea for civil and military applications. Underwater Acoustics Research Facility (UARF) It is located at a lake at Kulamavu (100 km away from Kochi). It has been established for calibrating and full-scale testing of underwater acoustic transducers, arrays and other sub-sea equipment like fish finding sonars, echo sounders, velocimeters, underwater communication systems, decoys etc. ii. Acoustic Test Facility with Acoustic tank of length 50m, width of 20m and depth of 18m. It is equipped with an EOT crane of 10-ton capacity, which is remote-controlled. The tank has two moving platforms with a positional accuracy of 1 cm in the X, Y and Z directions. One of the moving platforms has a turntable that can take 5-ton load and the other platform has two turntables that can take 1-ton load. The acoustic tank is filled with fresh water. The transducers can be positioned to an accuracy of 0.5 degrees. The salient feature includes low frequency, high power measurements for bigger transducer arrays.
127

In the present facility, measurements at frequencies as low as 300 Hz are possible using tone-burst signal. H1.4 Materials and Acoustic Simulated Test (MATS) facility: established at NPOL in year 2000 is the only one of its kind in Asia-Pacific region and one of the very few in the world. MATS is designed for undertaking any static or dynamic measurement/evaluation/calibration of any material or sensors/transducers for undersea use. It can be gainfully used by people working in a variety of areas of Oceanography, Ocean acoustics, marine geophysics, underwater acoustic transducers or any other area dealing with undersea equipment like underwater cameras. DARPAN is a state-of-the-art cluster computing facility, established at NPOL to provide system level simulation of the sonar systems and its environment. Clean Room:-NPOL has established a state of the art clean room facility of Class1000 needed for the manufacture of MEMS & nano devices, micro circuits, etc. Assembly and testing of precision electronic assembly etc. It is possible to achieve and maintain the clean room conditions as per standards through HVAC - Heating, Ventilation and Air-conditioning. Prototype Manufacturing Facility with the latest machinery including CNC machines has been set up at NPOL to perform the Engineering operations required in the projects taken up by the laboratory. The facility has equipment for high precision machining and finishing jobs and trained man power. H1.5 Facilities available at National Institute of Ocean Technology (MoES) a. Acoustic test faculty (ATF)

A state-of-the-art Acoustic Test Facility (ATF) has been set up at NIOT to cater to the needs of testing and calibration of marine instruments of NIOT and other National Research Laboratories, Institutes & Industries. It consists of Underwater Acoustic Transducer Calibration Cell, Marine Calibration Cell, Acoustic Tide Gauge Calibration Cell and Ocean Ambient Noise Research Cell. b. Underwater Acoustic Transducer Calibration Cell (UAT cell)

This facility is used to test and calibrate sensor characteristics on all varieties of underwater electro acoustic transducers and arrays from the frequency range from 3kHz using IEC 60565 standard. Acoustic tank of 16m long, 9m wide & 7m deep, with a capacity to calibrate under water acoustic transducers and instruments. Overhead crane of 3 tonnes capacity (working lengths 20m x 14m x 14m). PLC, PC based ATPS with 2 moving trolleys (X, Y & Z directions, accuracy 1mm) and rotating mechanism (accuracy 0.5) capable of handling transducers of weight upto 500 Kg. Calibrate sensitivity characteristics of projector and hydrophone arrays at frequencies from 2kHz to 100 kHz This facility is used to evaluate acoustic and electrical measurements include spectrum analysis of noise sources and scattering measurements on objects. Acquired data can be processed through various analysis techniques such as FFT and spectrum analysis. The Underwater Acoustic Transducer (UAT) Calibration Cell consists of Acoustic Tank, Acoustic Calibration System (ACS) and Acoustic Transducer Positioning System (ATPS). This UAT cell obtained an ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation from National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for testing and calibration parameters. Acoustic sensors are characterized using comparison calibration and reciprocity calibration techniques. c. Marine Calibration Cell

The objective of the Marine Calibration Cell (MCC) is to provide testing and calibration of marine instruments which measure physical parameters like depth (Pressure), conductivity, salinity, temperature, pH, sound velocity, altitude sensing (roll, pitch, heave, heading, sway, surge, tilt)
128

signals (voltage & current) dissolved oxygen etc. Currently the laboratory is equipped with capability to calibrate pressure sensors and motion reference units. This cell has obtained an ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation from National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for calibration of pressure sensors d. Integration Bay

To facilitate assembly, integration and testing of underwater subsystems, a 320 sq.m bay equipped with a fifteen ton EOT crane is available for deep sea technology development such as crawler, soil tester, ROV etc. Another integration bay of 300 sq.mn is equipped with a five ton EOT crane is used for assembling and testing of data buoys. H1.6 Test Pond

A test pond with a jetty was created for testing the underwater systems. The test pond is 4.0 metres depth, 50 metres length and 15 metres width H1.7 Hyperbaric test Facility

Hyperbaric Test Facility first of its kind in the world is available to test the components upto 900 bar. Test facility is being effectively utilized for the components qualification for deep water operation. Programmable logic controller is used to set parameters for set pressure, dwell time etc. Facility is being commissioned during 2007. H1.8 Vessels

To cater the need of the activities NIOT has following ships as platform for ocean operation. NIOT have realized deep water ship called Technology Demonstration Vessel Sagar Nidhi, Medium water ship called Sagar Manjusha, Coastal Research Vessels Sagar Purvi and Paschimi. 1. ORV Sagar Nidhi

ORV Sagar Nidhi, a multi disciplinary vessel was constructed at Fincantieri, Italy and dedicated to the nation in 2008. The vessel is versatile ocean observing platform-equipped with technologically advanced scientific equipments and related facilities. The vessel has been built in conformity with highest-class requirements of Det Norkis Veritas (DNV) and Indian Registry of Shipping (IRS). The vessel is fully automatic diesel-electric type equipped with Azimuth thrusters improving the behavior of the ship in rough seas with DP2 classification. The vessel is capable of carrying out Geo scientific, Meteorological and Oceanographic research as major disciplines. The vessel is provided with all facilities to perform its tasks with the greatest possible efficiency worldwide voyages up to 10,000 sea miles lasting 45 days. Her normal operation will be around the Indian sub-continent and deeper parts of the Indian Ocean region. 2. Sagar Manjusha

During 2006, NIOT acquired new Ocean Research Vessel Sagar Manjusha for deployment of data buoys & for other scientific activities She has overall length of 62mts with draught of 2.6 meters and can accommodate 11 scientists onboard with an endurance of 20 days. 3. CRV Sagar Purvi and Sagar Paschimi

The vessel Sagar Paschimi was commissioned in November 1996 and Sagar Purvi in December 1996. The vessels have been specially designed by National ship design research centre (NSDRC) Vizag, for coastal oceanographic work. They are ideal for coastal oceanographic work. Both the vessels are identical and have an accommodation for 6 scientists with an endurance of 10 days. H1.9 Other facilities

State of the art coastal and deep water survey equipments are available to support coastal developmental activities. Equipments include Multibeam sonar of different series of RESON and SIMRAD, Subbottom profilers, side scan sonar, 3D sidescan sonar, swath bathymetry system,
129

parametric echosounder, sparker and boomer, marine magnetometer, single beam echosounders, current meters, tide gauges, waved radar, wave gauge, High Frequency RADAR etc. Measurement and calibration instruments are available for high voltage electrical device testing, hydraulic devices testing, electronic component testing, fiber optic measurements, etc. CAD based software packages, simulation and analysis studies packages with high speed workstation computers are available for structural design. Mathematical modeling/simulation packages, hydraulic simulation software's are available for design and realization of offshore structure, mechanical structure, coastal and offshore modeling studies, pollution monitoring etc. Sub Committee Members 1. Prof. M. Ravindran 3. Dr. S. Kathiroli 5. Prof. D. Sen 7. Dr. K. Sudarshan 9. Dr. M. A. Atmanand Chairman Member Member Member Member Secretary 2. 4. 6. 8. Shri. M.S. Nagar Prof. G.S. Roonwal Dr. M. Hariharan Dr. Malcolm Lall Member Member Member Member

130

TECHNOLOGY VISION
For Ministry of Earth Sciences

Vol. 3

Atmospheric Technology

By Sub Committee on Atmospheric Technology

Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10 11. 12. Vision statement Prologue Introduction and Overview Atmospheric Variables for weather and climate studies Developments in Observation systems Atmospheric Technology in India National Center for Atmospheric Technology Organization Chart of NCAT and Linkages with other Centers Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Appendix 1 Annexures 135 137 138 139 144 155 161 162 165 165 167 169

133

Vision Statement for Atmospheric Technologies

The Atmospheric Technology Vision is for an end-to-end, integrated and inter-operable network of Indian atmospheric observations, data communications, management and delivery systems, supported by a comprehensive user oriented software utilities to enable Nowcasting to climate modeling. To achieve maximal indigenous capacity in building sensors and observational networks on different platforms Like ground, upper atmosphere, aircraft and spacecraft.

2. Prologue
The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is mandated to provide the best possible services for forecasting of weather, monsoon, severe weather events and other atmospheric parameters, ocean state, earthquakes, tsunamis and other phenomena related to earth systems like climate through well integrated programmes. This implies development of facilities and expertise for Atmospheric Sciences, Ocean Science & Technology and Geotechnology in an integrated manner. This vision document reflects the demands that may emerge in the years to come up in the measurement of atmospheric parameters up to the year 2020 and a mechanism to meet those with indigenous efforts. The sub-committee constituted to provide inputs on Atmospheric Technology consisted of Dr. G. Viswanathan, Chairman, Dr. P.R. Mahapatra, Dr. P.K. Pal, Dr. P. Devara, Prof. U.C. Mohanty, Prof. A Jayaraman and Mr.K.C. Sai Krishnan, This Committee gathered inputs from various agencies such as India Meteorological Department (IMD), National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL), Space Application Center (SAC), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Indian Institute of Science (IISC), National Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Indian Air Force (IAF) & Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IITD).. Dr. B Simon, SAC represented Dr. P.K. Pal with valuable information regarding status and future payloads for satellites being built by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). Study of the atmosphere is primarily for understanding various processes taking place in atmosphere. The knowledge that is gained from the studies is applied to forecast the weather, and climate and understand their variability on different spatio-temporal scales. While the scientific understanding is coded into numerical models, the vast 3 Dimensional spread of Atmosphere needs enormous measurement or data at close spacing in time and space for these numerical models to work. It is in this context that precise measurement are so important for these numerical models to give reliable forecast of weather and all atmospheric events. The technology has to enable an overlay of the model output on the synoptic observation to combine the traditional wisdom of local weather, history with numerical model outputs.

137

3. Introduction and Overview

3.1 The Mission of the Ministry of Earth Sciences ( MOES ) is to address all aspects of sustainability of the planet earth in a comprehensive manner and organize scientific effort in the country to understand among others the atmospheric physics, chemistry and processes and most importantly the ocean and atmospheric interactions at global level with ability to forecast these in short, medium and long range scale. India Meteorological Department ( IMD ) is the parent body for meteorology and with the emergence of Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) for basic science aspect of meteorology, NCMRWF for Numerical Atmospheric Modelling and Indian National Center for Ocean Information System (INCOIS) for Ocean Modelling, IMD still remains the nodal organisation under the Ministry of Earth Sciences to provide weather, monsoon and climate related information and services. IMD has set up a vast network through an advanced Research Centre in Pune, 6 Regional Centres and 19 Met centres spread over the country. It has a hierarchical structure and is divided into basic divisions like Forecasting, Instrumentation, Computer Systems, application services like Agrometeorology, Aviation Meteorology, Hydrology, etc. In addition to daily bulletin for weather forecast, IMD forecasts arrival of monsoon, weather related warnings for cyclones, tornadoes and any other extreme weather events. The 135 years old organization has witnessed a glorious past with many world recognized weather scientists coming from IMD. 3.2. However, IMD suffered lack of attention and lack of modernization for over three decades. This has resulted in immediate requirement of structural changes and modernization. Forecasting services of IMD have been evolving since its inception and are summarized as belowi) Daily weather forecast for whole country in short (1-3 days) medium (3 to 7 days) and long term (upto one month). This is being done centrally as well as in each major State through IMD's office. This is the most visible and important service. Seasonal forecast of monsoon in the month of April and June every year and rainfall monitoring on daily basis.. Forecasting cyclones, their track and landfall on 24 hrs basis on occurence of these. Special weather services for any special event like satellite launch or Everest expedition.

ii) iii) iv)

All these services need continuous improvement in accuracy and details. The present modernization is part of this endeavor, which encompasses updating observation system, improving connectivity with real time data acquisition, and dissemination to all centers, setting up meteorological data centers, acquisition of High Performance Computers, improvement in numerical models and data assimilation from satellites and creating a modern IT environment for overlaying numerical model outputs with synoptic outlook, - ultimately develop ability to forecast at district and village level. 3.3 Meteorological support to Civil Aviation is a very specialized service, following international guidelines from world bodies like International Civil Aviation Organization and requires massive improvement to provide support to this growing sector. 3.4 The Agro-meteorological services provide a very special kind of inputs to the farmer as advisories that can make a significant difference to the agriculture production by taking actions in time against extreme weather events like downpores,floods and frosting. This has a potential to change the face of India in terms of food security and poverty alleviation. The Agro-met Services constitute a collaborative effort between the IMD and the Ministry of Agriculture through its vast network of Agricultural Universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras and other infrastructures. This involves dissemination of advisories to the farmers specific to the soil conditions, moisture, met-outlook for next 5 days and other local inputs like fertilizer availability, groundwater, etc. A reliable weather forecast is key to the Agro-met advisories. While the initial target of district-level advisories has been achieved, the service needs to reach every farmer possibly utilizing the existing and growing IT infrastructure. 4.5 Hydro-meteorological observations are important in the context of flood forecast and related disasters. The real-time modeling and data communication capability pertaining to this component are required to be enhanced to a significant level and effective data dissemination needs to be targeted.
138

3.6. Weather and climate are important scientific issues and finding newer applications, whether in Commonwealth Games, or scheduling cricket matches. Each of the commercial and entertainment activity is looking for weather inputs, which are specialized for that field. Growing shipping industry requires that weather advisory is available to them in the high seas. IMD has to create capability and capacity to meet such services, including adventure sports like mountaineering. IMD should also work closely with INCOIS to provide Met services to the oceanic region and integrating with ocean state forecast of INCOIS. 3.7 (i) Observational systems of the next decade need to be designed with the following in mind with reference to climate variability: Sustained multi-decadal measurements of parameters which are key to understanding the state of climate and its changes. l Climate change research including observational system need to be tied directly to understanding of the processes for improving predictive capabilities and resolve the probabilities associated with different outcomes due to the change. l Evaluation and Assessment of model capability will be the focus of measurement activities, observational systems and field campaigns. l Higher spatial resolution in observations and regional forecast and assessments will be needed for establishing a better co-relation between climate change and societal effects, thereby enhancing the benefits of climate research. (ii) Key to the climate change problem is the long term balance between sunlight reaching the earth and being observed and infra red radiation emitted by earth (Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR). Other processes like snow and ice cover, vegetation and desert and the status of the atmosphere including green house gases and aerosols and different physical and chemical processors in the land, ocean and atmosphere as a system need to be continuously monitored. Realising the importance of global warming and related issues, MoES has already set up a centre for climate change at IITM. Also DST is setting a centre of glaciology at Dehradun. Currently, efforts are on to have modeling and forecasting ability for climate change for different kind of variability like emissions, solar activity etc. These efforts need to be further augmented and enhanced, so that the global climate change and its effects at national and regional level can be predicted with reasonable confidence. Precursor to this should be to archive all the information currently available at different centres of IMD (mostly in analog form) over the last 10 decades and to digitize this data to get an archive which can provide a data base for decadal variability of climate over India. Further, monitoring of the parameters like greenhouse gases will be taken up which otherwise was not so important for weather forecast. A number of space based missions are being planned and are augmented to the existing missions by the International community in the next decade which will provide a greater insight into climate change and variability. Indian contribution of space based observations has been significant and will further be enhanced by satellites like Megha-Tropique and INSAT 3D.

(iii)

(iv)

4.
4.1

Atmospheric variables for weather and climate studies:

(i) Global NWP models are used to produce short and medium-range weather forecasts (upto 10 days) of the state of the troposphere and lower stratosphere. Forecasters use NWP model output to issue forecasts of important weather parameters for their areas of interest. These models make use of the complementary strengths of various parameters such as pressure , temperature, humidity, winds from AWS, radiosondes and satellite- based observations; have shown strong positive impact from Advanced Microwave Sounding Instruments (such as AMSU-A);
139

are starting to take advantage of high spectral resolution sounders with improved vertical resolution (such as Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS), Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI), Crosstrack Infrared Sounder (CrIS) ); are advancing in the use of 4D data assimilation systems to benefit from more frequent measurements (e.g. from geostationary satellites, from AMDAR) and from measurements of cloud, precipitation, ozone, etc.; would benefit from increased coverage of aircraft data, particularly from ascent/descent profiles;

l would benefit from more timely availability of all observations, in particular satellite data, and from several types of in situ measurement that are made but not currently disseminated globally.

The critical atmospheric variables that are not adequately measured by current or planned systems are (in order of priority): l wind profiles at all levels; l temperature and humidity profiles of adequate vertical resolution in cloudy areas; l precipitation; l snow equivalent water content. The basic dynamic var3iables which remain important to be observed are described under Table 2.

Table 2: Dynamic variables for Global NWP

Parameters used at present. 3D winds For Medium term cloud cover. For Long term For validation purposes For inter annualClimate

sea-ice thickness outgoing Sea surface longwave radiation temperature, with higher accuracy. outgoing shortwave vegetation type radiation surface emissivity spectrum accumulated precipitation Fraction of photosynthetically active radiation ocean topography (surface height) ocean salinity. ocean chlorophyll. ocean suspended sediment Ocean yellow substance.

3D temperature surface pressure

Cloud top height. 3D aerosol. Cloud base height cloud drop size (cloud-top) 3D cloud water/ice. 3D cloud drop size surface precipitation 3D precipitation 3D wind (vertical component) aerodynamic roughness length

surface wind 3D humidity

Land surface surface temperature (air) temperature. surface humidity (air) Sea surface temperature sea ice cover sea-ice surface temperature Snow water equivalent vegetation index and/or leaf area index.

snow cover soil moisture 3D ozone significant wave height direction & period
140

(ii) To initialize numerical models, an accurate estimate of the complete atmospheric state is required. Observations from surface-based, airborne and space-based platforms are all used to define this initial state. The observational requirements for global NWP are based on the need to provide an accurate analysis of the complete atmospheric state at regular intervals. Most benefit is derived from data available within 3 hours of measurement time. Modern data assimilation systems are able to make effective use of asynoptic observations. Observations are most easily used when they are direct measurements of the model variables (temperature, wind, etc.), but recent advances in data assimilation has resulted in effective use of indirect measurements (e.g. satellite radiances, which are linked in a complex but known way t o temperature, humidity, etc.) and also the extraction of dynamical information from frequent (e.g. hourly) time series of observations. (iii) Improvements in long term forecast would require development of Ocean-Atmosphere coupled model and assimilation of global ocean state in the models. A lot of modeling effort has to be put in to tune the model for typical and unique monsoon driven south eastern region. 4.2 Requirements of observation parameters for NWP in terms of a) b) c) d) Horizontal resolution (dx, dy) Vertical resolution (dz) Frequency (temporal resolution) (dt) Accuracy

and various ranges: a) b) maximum - value beyond which there would be no significant impact on global NWP ; and threshold - value below which observation would not yield any significant benefit are described in the Tables 3 - 6 below:

141

Table 3: Primary input parameters

Accuracy Break through Horizontal/ Sensor (Threshold/ Vertical/Time Systems level (if any) optimum) (dx/dz/dt) Horizontal 3 m/s - 1 m/s 300 km/500m Spaceborne 50km/25mwind profile CD Lidar Pol. 50m/6h DWR Network 100m/3h Temperature 1.5 K - 0.5 K 300 km/500m GPS Sonde 50km/25mprofile /6h M/W Radiom- 50m-100m/3h eters MODIS Required variable Primary Model Input Data Water vapor 10 % - 5 % profile 1 hPa - 0.1 hPa Surface pressure 300 km/500m /6h 50 km/single level/1h MODIS Surface observatory AWS Net AWS Net AWS Net Sensor Systems Spaceborne CD Lidar Pol. DWR Network GPS Sonde WP-RAS, RO Technique MODIS MODIS

50km/25m50m-100m/3h 10km/single level/ Surface 30min-3min observatory 10km/single level/ AWS Net 30min-3min 10km/single level/ AWS Net 30min-3min 10km/single level/ AWS Net 30min-3min

Surface wind 3 m/s - 1 m/s 50 km/single level/1h Air humidity 10 % - 5 % 50 km/single (2m) level/1h Temperature 1.5 K - 0.5 K 50 km/single (2m) level/1h

Table 4 : Land Surface parameters

Required variable Soil temperature Soil Moisture Snow coverage Snow equivalent water Primary Surface Land albedo Surface Data Fraction of vegetation Accuracy Horizontal/ Sensor (Threshold/ Vertical/Time Systems optimum) (dx/dz/dt) 2K-1K 50 km/single Ground Based level/1h Micro Meteorological sensor TDR SMOS Spaceborne SAR (Pol) constellation 20 mm - 5 mm 50 km/single MODIS level/1h BHR ISO (BRF) 10 % - 2 % 50 km/single BHR ISO level/1h (BRF) 50 g/kg 10g/kg 50% - 5% 50 km/single level/1h 50 km/single level/1h 30 % - 10 % 50 km/single MODIS level/1h 50 km/single NDVI level/1h 50 km/single AVHRR (Vis/IR), BUOY level/1h Break through level (if any) Sensor Systems

10km/single level/ Ground Based 30min-3min Micro Meteorological sensor TDR SMOS Spaceborne SAR (Pol) constellation 10km/single level/ MODIS 30min-3min BHR ISO (BRF) 10km/single level/ MODIS 30min-3min BHR ISO (BRF) 10km/single level/ MODIS 30min-3min 10km/single level/ 30min-3min 10km/single level/ 30min-3min 10km/single level/ NDVI 30min-3min 10km/single level/ AVHRR (Vis/IR), BUOY 30min-3min ABI, AVHRR, MODIS GRACE (Gravimetry) ICEsat (Laser Altimetry)

Leaf area 50 % - 20 % index 1.5 K - 0.5 K Sea & lake Surface temperature Fraction of sea 50% - 5% and lake ice Sea and lake 1 m - 0.1 m ice thickness

50 km/single ABI, AVHRR, 10km/single level/ MODIS level/1h 30min-3min 50 km/single GRACE (Gralevel/1h vimetry) ICEsat (Laser Altimetry)

142

Table 5: Parameters for model data verification

Required variable
Accuracy (Threshold /optimum)

Horizontal/ Vertical/Time (dx/dz/dt)

Sensor Systems

Breakthrough level (if any)

Sensor Systems

Vertical wind 5cm/s - 1cm/s 300km/200m/ S P Lidar, wind profiler, laser profile 6h wind finder network, Spaceborne CDLidar Pol DWR 300 km/200 Vertical 1 mm/h Space borne m/6 h precipitation 0.1 mm/h Precip Radar flux 50 km/single Pol DWR Rainfall 1 mm/h level/1h ARG Network 0.1 mm/h Boundary layer 1.5 K - 0.5 K 50 km/single Instrumented Temp. profile level/1h Towers, AWS Primary 300 m - 100 m 50 km/single Sodar RASSVerification Boundary WP level/1h Data Layer height Total cloud 20% - 5 % 50 km/single INSAT VHRR, cover level/1h DWR Network 1 km - 0.5 km 50 km/single Pol DWR, Cloud top height level/1h Lidar 1 km - 0.5 km 50 km/single Pol DWR, Cloud base Ceilometer, height level/1h Lidar Cloud liquid 50 % - 5 300 km/200 m Pol DWR /12 h Network Water profile % Cloud ice 50 % - 5 % 300 km/200 m Pol DWR Network water profile /12h

50km/25mWind Profiler/ 50m-100m/3h laser wind finder network

50km/25m50m100m/3h 10km/single level /30min-3min 10km/single level /30min-3min 10km/single level /30min-3min 10km/single level /30min-3min 10km/single level /30min-3min 10km/single level /30min-3min

50km/25m50m-100m/ Network 3h Pol DWR 50km/25m50m-100m/3h Network

Pol DWR Space borne Precip Radar Dense ARG Pol DWR Dense AWS Network Sodar RASSWP Pol DWR Network Pol DWR, Lidar Pol DWR, Ceilometer, Lidar Pol DWR

Table 6: Additional inputs for Model.

Required variable Aerosol profile Additional Model Input Data Sea wave significant height Sea wave direction spectra Sea wave period spectra
Accuracy Horizontal/ Sensor (Threshold Vertical/Time Systems (dx/dz/dt) /optimum) 20% - 10% 300 km/500m Lidar Network Spaceborne /6h CD Lidar 0.2 m - 0.1 m 50 km/single Spaceborne level/1h Altimeters constellation 20 deg 50 km/single Altimeter 10 deg level/1h Spaceborne SAR CODAR 1 s - 0.5 s 50 km/single Spaceborne SAR CODAR level/1h

Breakthrough level (if any)

Sensor Systems

50km/300m/3h Lidar Network Spaceborne CD Lidar 10km/single level Spaceborne /30min-3min Altimeters constellation 10km/single level Altimeter Spaceborne /30min-3min SAR CODAR 10km/single level Spaceborne /30min-3min SAR CODAR

143

5.

Developments in observation systems

Currently, Ministry of Earth Sciences/ India Metrological Department are engaged in upgradation of sensor systems, ground based, ocean based, air borne and space borne platforms as well as incorporation of new sensor technologies such as Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) to study the atmospheric variability with required temporal & spatial resolutions. 5.1 Surface Observations: (a) The ongoing program of upgradation of surface observatory network and the Automatic Weather Station/Automatic Rain Gauge (AWS/ARG) networks in every district need to be completed in the next two years, to obtain reliable data on surface pressure, temperature, surface wind, humidity, radiation fluxes, soil moisture, soil temperature etc so that the required horizontal spatial resolution of 50 kms needed for NWP is achieved. One program that could be included in the AWS system is the Lightning Data (LD) Program. The LD program provides the required lightning data and information to support operations and forecast product development which assists the issuance of convective weather watches, warnings, advisories, and statements. Lightning data is also used in aviation planning and operations for aircrafts to avoid high convection and lightning active areas. Future LD developments plan to improve lightning data and products which will advance storm prediction, tracking, and thunderstorm warning times. Creation of Mesonet for Metros where weather events cause heavy losses are required to be completed in 5 years. Mesonet needs to have high density of observatories with sensors networked providing data hopping from one hub to another. The sensor data in digital form needs to be archived online in a universal format (like Net cdf), at centralised data centre as well as at the Regional Met Centres so that it could be used for operations and research. Data should be available through internet to any registered user. In addition to the existing conventional sensors, ground based microwave radiometers which complement for obtaining humidity and temperature profiles are to be established. Global Positioning System (GPS) based columnar (integrated) water vapour measurement may be implemented, initially for every 100 kms, to be enhanced suitably in a phased manner. Instrumented a few Tall towers of heights 30-100 m or higher as pilot study for continuous in side recording of the variation of atmospheric parameters in the atmospheric layers sent to the surface and hence of most significance to human activities. These could be located in areas of strong vertical shear and stratification.

(b)

(d)

(d) (e)

(f)

5.2 Tropospheric Profiling: (a) Tropical Tropopause being at altitudes between 16-18kms, and taking into account the strong coupling between Stratosphere and Troposphere, it is felt that a height region from the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) right upto 20kms above Mean Sea Level (MSL) be monitored by regular profiling of the region for Temp, pressure, humidity, three dimensional winds, aeorosols, clouds, hydro meteors and resultant precipitation. Troprosphiric stratospheric (ST) Radars, established on a 500-500 km grid can provide continuous data as inputs for accurate weather modeling, boundary layer wind profilers covering the height range of 0.1 to 4 km can operate at relatively high frequencies (9151300 mHz) and hence be small and inexpensive enough to cover the country initially approximately on a 200-200 km. grid, on a 100-100 km grid in the medium term and eventually on 50-50km. Grid The spacing for upper air radio sondes needs to be enhanced to one in every 150 kms as against the current spacing of ~ 200-250 kms, in the next two years with a potential to reduce it further over the specified regions of Mesonet in a phased manner as needed by

(b)

144

NWP. Since these upper air sounding systems are more expensive then surface systems, A systematic plan is needed for their enhancement and quality as well reach of instruments in order of priority. (c ) The existing Radio-Sonde/Radio Wind (RS/RW) system is required to be replaced by GPS sondes. There is a strong need to indigenize RS/RW system for sustained cost effective observations. Indigenous automatic radiosonde launcher is also to be designed and developed in five years time. Ground based radiometers will provide temperature and humidity profiles and complement the sonde observations. This is advance technology, to be developed with priority. The ongoing program for Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) network by IMD is expected to be completed in next five years. The data would provide a national Mosaic through real time networking of DWR data. With such radar mosaics continuous watch could be kept on intense weather events which would facilitate nowcasting of disastrous weather events. Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar: ( ) Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radars (PDWRs) provide data on reflectivity (precipitation) as well as radial winds in a topo-centric frame of reference. Most of the modern NWP systems can directly assimilate this data. In addition the Polarimetric capability provides an insight into the height wise distribution of different types of hydrometeors found in the cloud systems. From the different Polarimetric variables like the differential reflectivity (Zdr), propagation phase, specific differential phase (kdp), in combination with the conventional reflectivity data with horizontal polarization provides a number of combinations to estimate quantitative precipitation. This method based on fuzzy logic algorithms has proved to provide more precise estimates of precipitation, without depending upon empirical methods using Z-R relationships. All the radars constituting national weather radar network will be polarimetric. Indigenous development of Rapid scan polarimetric Doppler weather radar to reduce time for one hemispherical volume scan is an emerging technology. Active aperture phased array radar technology using TR module is in various stages of development in different industries in India to meet the emerging requirements of DRDO and ISRO. This industrial base would be utilized to realize these radars in a cost effective way. (ii) The Sikka Committee recommendations(2006) include a nationwide PDWR Network consisting of coastal S-Band Radar systems and a combination of C & X Band PDWRs for interiors to provide severe weather alerts as well as precise aerial precipitation estimates. X-Band PDWRs were recommended for hilly stations as well as at major Airports to provide information on Aviation hazards like Microburst, Wind Shears and Squall Lines. It was also suggested to use X-Band PDWRs as gap filler radars in the network consisting of S & C Band Radars. The methodology for assimilation of polarimetric radar data into regional and local numerical models needs to be developed on high priority. 5.3 Environmental Monitoring : The importance of global climate change and the underlying anthropogenic factors have made environmental monitoring as an essential requisite for earth science studies. Ground based lidars, multi-wavelength radiometers and chemical grab samplers play an important role in environmental monitoring. Deployment of low cost multi-wavelength radiometers at district level Met observatories will provide a first hand information on aerosol optical depth. IMD has long history of monitoring environmental parameters following international standards in tune with Global Atmosphere Watch programme of World Meteorological programme. Environmental monitoring networks for following systems /equipments would be required to measure various species across the country :
145

(d) (e)

(f)

(i)

Greenhouse gas (CO2 , CH4 , N2 O, SF6) Monitoring systems to estimate radiative forcing and quantify source and sink potentials.
l l l l l l l

On-line- is situ system (NDIR/CRDS Technology) Off-line-grab sampling systems (CRDS/Gas Chromatographs) Flux measurement systems Tall Tower monitoring systems Aircraft measurements Systems Column measurement systems Satellite based monitoring systems /sensors.

There is a plan to install flux towers for climate change programme and this data would also be useful for operational needs of IMD. (ii) Trace gas measurement systems- Ozone Chemistry measurements including CO and NO2 to estimate ozone depletion and formation and health impacts.
l l l

Surface Ozone Monitoring equipments Total Ozone Monitoring equipments Column Ozone Monitoring equipments

(iii) Aerosol monitoring system- to estimate aerosol radiative forcing and aerosol characterisation of insitu and transported aerosols in the country.
l l l l

Skyradiometer network Aethalometer network Nephalometer network LIDAR

These technologies provide information on Environment monitoring particularly, atmospheric aerosols whose concentrations have increased at the atmosphere due to human activities. This data should be bought to IMD data centre for research activity. (iv) Precipitation Chemistry measurements /equipments to estimate acid rain threats and pollution loads.
l l l l

Ion chromatographs Vis-spectrophotometers. High volume samplers Air quality gases monitoring systems

New instruments like Space Borne Lidar (SBL), Indian Satellite for Aerosols and Gases (I-STAG) pay load and network like I LINK (Indian Lidar Network/ are planned to study atmospheric aerosol-cloud environment interactions, multi-dimensional mapping of atmospheric water vapour, temperature and winds. CAIPEX Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment(CAIPEEX) was launched by Ministry of Earth Sciences with Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology as the nodal agency. This includes (1) Cloud-Aerosol interaction and (2) Precipitation Enhancement. While intensive cloud and aerosol observations have been taken over different parts India, the precipitation enhancement experiment would follow in the next phase.

146

5.4 Ocean Based Observations: Considering the strong linkages between atmosphere and ocean, the following implemented : a) b) c) d) e) f) may be

The Ocean Research Vessels need to be equipped with polarimetric Doppler Weather Radars for winds and precipitation. Where the Deck constraints permit a low level (4 kms) wind profiler (~ 1.3 Ghz) should to be installed. GPS and Ozone sondes as required should be carried out. AWS should be installed on research vessels in the country. All observational data would be linked to the Central Data Centre in real time. Buoy based observatories should be enhanced.

5.5 Air Borne Observations: a) Detailed structure of clouds, nature and concentration of cloud condensation nuclei, three dimensional velocity and hydrometeor fields, etc. can be found out in situ measurements and these measurements can be collected with an instrumented aircraft. There are several other weather related issues that cannot be addressed without a research aircraft. A dedicated multi sensor air borne platform needs to be created as new national facilities. The aircraft should be fitted with multiwave length Doppler weather radars, LIDAR, high speed cameras for hydrometeor detection & analysis and radiometers apart from standard atmospheric sensors and dropsondes. The aircraft would also be fitted with instruments for direct aerosol monitoring. Aircraft should be qualified for flying through thunderstorms and into the peripheral regions of severe cyclones, with a provision for Dropsonde release. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) need to be used for measurements during occurrence of specific atmospheric events. IITM should take up studies in Cloud Physics (e.g., droplet growth processes under different meteorological situations), Atmospheric Chemistry (e.g. estimation of rate constants for establishing emission inventories) etc. The Aircraft Meteorological DAta Relay (AMDAR) data from commercial airlines would have to be collected on a regular operational basis for NWP and aviation weather service.

b)

c) d) e)

f)

5.6 Aviation Meteorology Support observations: Atmospheric observation for aviation sector requires specialized instruments capable of accurate and persistent performance. Detection of adverse weather in the form of storms, fog, Clear Air Turbulence and heavy precipitation is the primary goal. In this context, Auto-nowcasting capabilities need to be deployed. The major aviation hazards like squall lines, microburst and wake vortex turbulence in addition to the wind shears need specialized instruments as well as visualization software and warning system. The following are recommended: a) b) c) d) e) Rapid scanning narrow beam (~ 0.5deg. ) Terminal Doppler Weather Radar system in C / Xband to be located in close proximity with good visibility to runways. Low-level wind profilers (upto 4 kms) for wind shears. 3D wind sensing LIDAR Turbulence (CAT). for wake vortex detection as well as wind shear and Clear Air

Microwave radiometers for temperature and humidity profiles. Satellite picture data reception and integration with other relevant met info as overlays.

147

f)

An effective aviation weather support system based on this multisensor data fusion to produce user/sector specific short term warnings/forecast for severe and hazardous weather phenomena around the airport as well as for aircraft enroute. Due to higher sampling rates possible using commercial aircrafts it is recommended that all Indian aircrafts have integrated MET detector package having measurements of Pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speed. Airport located AWS Low Level Windshear Alert System ( LLWAS ) and software for tracking, analysis and nowcasting of severe weather systems in and around the airports. Space Based Observations:

g)

h) I) 5.7

Space based atmospheric observations provide 95% of data assimilated into NWP. A majority of the data is obtained in the form of radiances. Currently the meteorological pay loads are available on Kalpana and INSAT in the geostationary orbit and OCEANSAT 2 with scatterometer, Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) and ROSA.in LEO. Related information to certain extent comes from the IRS series of LEO satellites. The space craft planned in the immediate future by ISRO are INSAT 3D (2010) with 6 channel VHRR and IR sounder; MEGHA TROPIQUES (2010) with microwave imager, water vapour sounder, scanner and the GPS-RO; SARAL (2010) with ALTIKA and microwave radiometer as major pay loads. These spacecraft will provide a number of parameters of specific interest to atmospheric science and should directly get ingested into the NWP. The continuity of these satellites need to be maintained. The following recommendations are made: a) MoES should have collaborative agreement with Department Of Space (DOS) for dedicated space craft with meteorological and atmospheric observation pay loads in both Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO), Intermediate Earth Orbit (IEO) and LowEarth Orbit (LEO). Spacecraft should be able to give data for the entire region covering the subcontinent along with stored data transmission for important regions as commanded. A spacecraft in LEO (~ 300 kms, ~ 30-40? inclination) with pay loads both radiometric and radar (including Coherent Doppler LIDAR(CDL), in phase synchronization with the planned Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) constellation, would provide excellent revisit time for monitoring precipitation, lightning and ocean state apart from other atmospheric parameters including tropospheric wind profile. The efforts of ISRO-DOS in the area of radio-navigation the Radio Occultation(RO) techniques currently attempted with GPS needs to be operationalised at largerscale. RO technique to be seen as a cost effective standard alternative for Temperature and humidity profiling with its known constraints. This will reduce dependence on RS/RW network. In future an advanced imager with 16 or more channels similar to Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) of US will provide scientists and meteorologists with additional and improved data (Ref. Appendix 1 for details.) Another satellite similar to Metop-series polar satellites of Europe may be designed in 2025 time frame. (Ref. Appendix 1 for details of main payloads) Three major sensor technologies of importance for the immediate future are: () (ii) Hyper spectral infrared sensor (a) in Geo stationery Orbit and (b) in Sun synchronous/LEO Orbit. Coherent Doppler Lidars (CDL) in SSO/LEO for (a) three dimensional wind field measurements in the troposphere (b) Aerosol and trace gas monitoring (for ex: Co2, water vapour).

b) c)

d)

e)

f) g)

(iii) A dual wave length cloud and precipitation radars in LEO (Ku&W band) to complement the Ku/Ka Band radars on board GPM and to be in phase synch with GPM for enhancing revisit time.
148

h)

Other studies: (i) (ii) Radio Occultation (RO) measurements from Ocean Sat -2 is required to be tried regularly for adaptation into operational use. There is a requirement of a plan for systematic Ground Validation sites for all Meteorological Satellites to understand and validate advanced space borne measurements. Since not many cal/val sites are available in the tropics, establishment of 3 to 4 validation sites by India will provide a lead position to India among the international ocean/atmospheric scientific community. There is need for long-term tide gauge data for the cal/val activities of SARAL-Altika. For altimetry missions tide gauge data is used for two requirements; (I) to calibrate the coastal tide models and (ii) to validate the sea surface heights derived from the satellite. To calibrate the tide models long time series data of few tide gauges are required. The data from Tsunami buoys in the open ocean gives millimeter level accuracy and this data available with INCOIS, can be used for the validation of sea level heights derived from SARAL. Met parameters such as radiation and rainfall are required for atmospheric studies. Presently an AWS is functioning at the Kavaratti Island. Another AWS at the cal/val site (on the buoys) is required for rain parameters from the open ocean.

5.8

Space Weather Monitoring:

Although space weather pertains to the interactions in the upper reaches of the solar terrestrial region, the effects of the solar weather percolate down to the troposphere through Thermosphere, Ionosphere and the neutral middle atmosphere. Considering the economic impact of the adverse effects of the space weather MoES needs to study the regions of Earth atmosphere like Thermosphere, Ionosphere and to certain extent Mesosphere and Stratosphere also. Collaborative initiatives with agencies like ISRO (which are already involved considerably) and a few of the national laboratories and academic institutions are recommended. Tools for monitoring these layers consist of incoherent scattering radars and navigation satellite (marsat) receivers (e,r, GPS) Formal networking with a number of similar global facilities will enable global data interchange. 5.9 Mountain Meteorology:

Establishment of Mountain Meteorology Research centers in Western and Eastern Himalayas for R&D work in thrust areas for overall improving the understanding and forecast of weather & Climate in complex terrain. Considering the above, the requirements of Various Observation Systems have been projected upto the year 2020 in Table 7.

149

150

Table 7
Existing stations Proposed stations up to XI plan Requirements Upto 2020 April 2012 9200 70 0 3600 (of which 500 to have Temperature & Humidity Sensors) 50 (Manual) Himachal & Sikkim , J&K Metro Cities High and Flood Prone River Basins. 500 automatic snow gauges 9200 70 30,000 AWS nos. Agro met /insurance requirement

Various Observation Systems

Justification and remarks

S.N .

Observation sub-system priority Proposed network as per Sikka Committee as per 11th plan.

Rainfall registration (i) Ordinary rain gauge (ii) Self recoding Rain Gauges

Automatic Rain gauges

Snow Gauges

10-20 Avalanche detection radar in critical slopes

199 199 (Manual & AWS) AWS No change as AWS meets additional requirement AWS

Surface meteorological Class I and Class II A Observatories 224 (Manual) 0

Surface meteorological Class IIB and Class II C

224 (Manual & AWS) 253 (AWS)

Observatories All districts+ talukas+blocks to be covered

AWS in Districts

Automatic Weather Stations (Mesonet) areas

475

All Metros+ Validation of emerging metros High resolution with 10km grid models spacing

3. 236 (Manual) 250 (Manual) 149 with AWS 57 with Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) technique 60 Over dry and semidry areas 149 42

Soil moisture/ evapotranspiration

(i) Pan Evaporation

(ii) AWS Observatories

(iii) Lysimetric (Evapotranspiration) 43

(iv) Soil Moisture

4. 100 25 2.5X2.5 Latitude Longitude basis 50 100 with AWS

Marine Meteorology on ship which ply 300 over Indian Ocean North Indian Ocean 200

(I) Voluntary Observing 100 Ships(VOS)

(ii) Met. - Ocean bouy of NIOT/ INCOB Coasts and above 880 & 720 - 25E (Cost under INCOIS/NIOT -

5.

Aeronautical Meteorology current weather and runway parameters

Internation and 200 Major Airports. All other airports by April, 2012 as per ICAO Standard. -

6. 62

Upper air

(i) Pilot Balloon

62 (with latest verson of optical thedolities

151

152

(ii) Radio Sonde / Radio wind

39

60 + Navy

(iii) Wind Profilers (IAF profilers too are in addition) 70 Boundary layer + ST

44 (5 Each in the GPS system of MFI & IMD with SIPPICON 2 Under MFI 5 under IMD 10 5 under IMD under DST Total (7) program likely

Operational + research requirement

7. 55(IMD)+2(ISRO)+ 14 11(IAF)+12 (ATWR by IMD) = 80

Weather Radars 100 (polarimetric) Operational including short network range X band for under NWROC mountain terrains Data from at least All civil aviation aircrafts to be 1000 aircrafts covered 3 50 (IMD to conduct facility study with IAF Met.) Meghatropique

Highest priority for Delhi, Mumbai, 30 Cochin, Bhuj, Goa, Lucknow, Bhopal

8. Nil 10 (IMD to liaise with DGCA and Airline operator 2 10 -

Airborne

(I) AMDAR

(ii) Instrumented Aircraft Nil

Nil

(iii) UAV

Equipped with radars, lidars etc. Capable of dropsonde release (I) GEODedicated Metsatellites with sensors and communication links for met data networking (ii) SSO and (iii) LEO (met sensors including CDL, Precipitation Radars, Lightening sensors, microwave radiometers)

9. KALPANA + INSAT 3 + OCEAN SAT

Satellites

INSAT &

INSAT 3D

For improved spatio temporal resolution, proper phasing of LEO, SSO along with international spacecraft

10. Nil 2 in IMD Delhi & Patna 20 20

Emerging Technology Alternative to wind profiler Research Atmospheric Boundary layer studies 2 per district

(i) Laser Wind Finder

(ii) Doppler SODAR

(iii) Surface GPS/GPS Occultation Nil Nil Nil 650 10 (MFI) 5 by IMD (Central India)

25

1200 300 & Satellite based

(iv) Lightening Detectors

(v) Microwave radiometers

At every district HQ and major airports 600 At every district HQ 8 Retrieval from satellite data

11. About 50 2 4 6 3 (2 in Eastern part of India and 1 in Central part) 2 0 Nil 3 2 in IMD 40 4 10 4 50 additional on AWS -

Environmental Monitoring

(i) Solar Radiation

(ii) Radiometer Sonde

(iii) Total Ozone

(iv) Ozone Sondes

(v) Surface Ozone

40 100 Delhi & Patna 100 Distributed across nation

(v) BAPON / GAW

(vii) Green House gases

Atmospheric pollution

(i) Micropulsed Lidar

153

5.10. Modernization of observation system 5.10.1 The impact of the changes to the observation system in the next decades will be so massive that new revolutionary approaches for science, data handling, product development, training and utilization will be required. The future Observing system should build upon existing components, both surface-and space-based, and capitalize on existing and new observing technologies, not presently incorporated or fully exploited. Each incremental addition to the Observing System should be reflected in better data, products and services from the national agencies engaged in providing services utilizing these observations. Advances in Atmospheric technology will be accomplished by : i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii) 5.10.2 Dense and High quality Observational platforms. High speed Transmission. Mega data centre. High Performance Computational Resources. Visualization of massive observations/Analysis/ forecast products. Various methods of dissemination of forecast products. Highly qualified , skilled & trained human resources Integrated Information Architecture and Sensor Web Enablement:

(a) Developing and sustaining a reliable enterprise IT architecture capable of moving and processing large volumes of data with increased throughput to meet accuracy and timeliness are equally important. Hardware, software and communication architectures will evolve to take advantage of technological advances and converge to emerging enterprise standards. It is necessary to design and add information content to the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) and exploit telecommunications advances to eventually make available a comprehensive, real-time, four dimensional environmental information data base of observations, model output, forecasts, warnings, and other information in internationally accepted and other formats. MoES/IMD needs to implement enterprise information delivery and access systems to meet customer needs more quickly, efficiently, and cost effectively. Currently, various dissemination methods are used to provide services supporting specific customer needs. These individual systems are not able to keep pace with the increasing volumes of data and information available and requested in a timely, costeffective manner. It is worth while to merge dissemination methods into an enterprise information delivery and access system that meets increasing and evolving customer needs for data and information. The major objectives of the operational system architectural changes are: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) I) j) Reduced ground system life-cycle costs, Reduced system footprint and power requirements, Improved future standardization between component systems with an enterprise approach, Enhanced IT security, Standardized operation and maintenance of operations ground equipment, Reliable 24x7 operations with hot backup and fault-tolerant systems, Automatic logging of subpar components, failures, and major events, Strong predictive diagnostics to allow for manual or automated failover to backup components prior to the onset of failures, Ability to effectively tune and re-tune the server system so that processor loading is effectively distributed, Ability to perform system hardware or software upgrades without incurring long system downtimes, and Consolidated enterprise backup, archive, and recovery services. Developments need to be done for ingesting and displaying surface data, geostationary satellite data, radar data, numerical weather prediction model data, and other geolocated data using web mapping application. The synergistic use of satellite data from multiple sensors on multiple satellite platforms promises the ability to address fundamental scientific questions about detailed processes and connections in the Earth system. However, issues of data integration, visualization and analysis remain a challenge. Methods of interactive

154

exploratory analysis and visualization, particularly in three (spatial) and four (spatial + temporal) dimensions are in their infancy. Currently, the most sophisticated data visualization approaches rely on dimensional reduction techniques (e.g., cross-sections, Hovmller diagrams) to represent datasets that are fundamentally 3-D (or 4-D) within the 2-D limitations of the page or computer screen. Visualizations have to be created for the instruments on board INSAT, Meghatropique, Oceansat series of satellites. (ii) To facilitate environmental resource management of intensively populated countries like the India, integrated information systems which are capable of real-time monitoring of fundamental processes in the environment, as well as providing vital hazard warnings, are required. In an initiative called sensor web enablement (SWE), the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and World Meteorological Organization have been developing a framework of open standards for exploiting web-connected sensors and sensor systems of all types. The available services include access to sensor measurements, retrieval of sensor metadata, controlling sensors, alerting based on sensor measurements and automatic processing of sensor measurements. Future developments in sensor technology may require conformance to above standards.

6.

Atmospheric Technology in India

6.1 At present the technology for atmospheric sensors and instrumentation in India is primarily dependent on imports. Some good developments did take place in IMD in the 1970s and some of those instruments are still in production, though not much useful due to obsolescence. Some recent initiatives include development of Automatic Weather Station (AWS) and Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) by the Department of Space, optical range measurement by National Aeronautical Laboratory (NAL) and development of Radio sonde by Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER) with funding from IMD. Further, NARL of ISRO has successfully indigenized Boundary layer Lidars. It may take a couple of years to reach the state-of-the-art and produce these indigenously. The following paragraphs outline in detail the indigenous efforts by various organizations 6.2 Indigenous capability exist in the design, development and operation of Wind Profilers and ST Radars operating in 50 MHz and 400 MHz Bands. However, considering the variability of the scale size for inertial sub range at the tropical latitudes, the effectiveness of 400 MHz band is suspect. Ongoing Indigenous development of a ST Radar operating in the 200 MHz band is expected to fill this need. The plans for deployment of a ST Radar Network for Atmospheric Research by DST consists of Radars operating in 200 MHz as well as 50 MHz bands. Indigenous development of low level Wind Profilers operating at 1250 MHz band has resulted in an effective coverage of 6 Kms in clear air mode and up to 9-10 Kms with precipitation. The ability of Wind Profilers and ST Radars to measure the vertical component of Wind makes them unique sensors to provide this data for NWP models. This feature also results in deriving the fall velocity of hydrometeors in precipitating systems which indirectly provides an insight into the very essential Drop Size Distribution (DSD) of Tropical Rainfall. MoES needs to establish wind profilers/ST Radars to augment judiciously the RS/RW/GPS based upper air network, to derive wind and temperature profiles (along with RASS). 6.3 Consistent with the Sikka Committee Report the present committee recommends that the National Weather Radar Network should target for a grid spacing with slant range not exceeding 100 Kms, with the low cost X-Band gap filling radars (with a effective coverage of ~50 Kms) supplementing the S & C Band Radars, for quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE). The proposed National Weather Radar Network needs to include Weather Radars of other agencies like IAF, ISRO and DRDO, in addition to the bulk of the weather radars of MoES. The network should derive effective communication support through satellite based data links with adequate margins for signal outages during heavy precipitation. The network should have a distributed architecture with at least two geographically separated hub stations which acquire the base data from the radar systems of the network and generate National Mosaic of Radar based weather. The network will also facilitate the distribution of radar data to different constituent user agencies (like IMD, IAF, ISRO etc.) for generating data products specific to their applications . 155

6.4 Weather modification: This would include techniques for cloud seeding, dispersing the cold & warm fogs, real time in-situ measurements. 6.5 The technology vision in short (2 years), medium (5 years) and long term (10 years) have been provided in Tables 7 - 9 respectively. As sensors become part of the web technology in future conformance to open geospatial consortium/ World Metrological organization (PCC/WMO) recommendations would be mandatory for all efforts towards sensor development in future. 6.6 In order to consolidate, expand and sustain the improvements due to modernization which was undertaken largely through import as a short term measure, it is necessary to put in place the National Centre for Atmospheric Technology, an attached office of MOES which can pool in the national resources from different government departments, autonomous organizations, universities and even private industrial enterprises; design & develop the prototype technology through research efforts; transfer the technology to industries for mass production. It may be structured with the induction of a core group of 60 scientists and technicians. 6.7 At the end of the next decade maximal atmospheric technology in the country is expected to be indigenous and hence self-sustaining. Table 11 provides the Technology Development Profile of various key indicators in the country.

Table 8: Technology vision for next 2 years

Item Technology Development Program AWS/ARG network Indigenous AWS/ARG in each district to include solar radiation measurement. Mesonet in Metros Development of Lightening Detection Sensor for indigenous AWS/ARG network.

Radar Network

Development of indigenously developed Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar at an optimally designed S, C and X band configurations (contd.). Upper Air Network Ground based Prototype Microwave Radiometers for temperature and humidity profiling (contd.). All RS/RW stations are to be replaced by indigenous GPS sondes along with indigenous radio-sonde launchers aftertransfer of technology to industry (contd.) Replacement of Pilot Balloon Stations with prototype wind profilers at 50, 200 and 1250 Mhz. and transfer of technology to the industry (contd.). Space based Observations Ocean based observations Design and Development of Coherent Doppler Lidar (CDL) on board LEO satellite (contd.). Development of CAL/VAL Sites by User

Design and Development of Ship borne AWS/ARG/PDWR/Windprofilers (contd.). Lab simulation Set-up Laboratory experiments in Cloud Physics, Atmospheric Chemistry studies etc. (contd.). Calibration, Validation Establishment of facilities/sites bby user (contd.). and visualization Data Management Development of Meteorological Information System (contd.). and visualization Assimilation Development of 4D-Var (contd.). Post Processing of Development of Indigenous Package (contd.). Model Outputs Sector specific product Development of Indigenous Package (contd.). generation to meet different stake holders. Dissemination of Development of Indigenous Package (contd.). forecast & warning Weather modification Cloud physics/atmospheric chemistry studies, fog dispersal and other experiments (contd.). 156

Table 9: Technology vision for next 5 years

Item AWS/ARG network Technology Development Program Indigenous AWS/ARG in each taluka to include all indigenously developed sensor with Sensor Web Enablement as per WMO specifications. Mesonet in Non-Metro Cities Development of prototype Lightening Detection Sensor in national AWS/ARG network.

Radar Network

Deployment of indigenously developed Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar at an optimally designed S, C and X band configurations (contd.). Development of Multifunction Phased Array Radar as replacement of PDWR.

Upper Air Network

Ground based Prototype Microwave Radiometers for temperature and humidity profiling (contd.). All RS/RW stations are to be replaced by indigenous GPS sondes along with indigenous radio-sonde launchers after transfer of technology to industry. Replacement of Pilot Balloon Stations with prototype wind profilers at 50, 200 and 1250 Mhz. and transfer of technology to the industry (contd.).

Space based Observations Ocean based observations Lab simulation studies Calibration, Validation and visualization Data Management and visualization Assimilation Post Processing of Model Outputs

Design and Development of Coherent Doppler Lidar (CDL) on board LEO satellite (contd.). Design and Development of Ship borne AWS/ARG/PDWR/ Windprofilers (contd.). Set-up Laboratory experiments in Cloud Physics, Atmospheric Chemistry etc. (contd.). Establishment of facilities/sites bby user (contd.). Development of Meteorological Information System (contd.). Development of 4D-Var (contd.). Development of Indigenous Package (contd.).

Sector specific product Development of Indigenous Package (contd.). generation to meet different stake holders. Dissemination of forecast & warning Weather modification Development of Indigenous Package (contd.). Cloud physics/atmospheric chemistry studies, fog dispersal and other experiments (contd.).

157

Table 10: Technology vision for next 10 years

Item AWS/ARG network Technology Development Program Indigenous AWS/ARG in each block to include all indigenously developed sensor with Sensor Web Enablement as per WMO specifications. Deployment of indigenously developed Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar at an optimally designed S, C and X band configurations (contd.). Development of Multifunction Phased Array Radar as replacement of PDWR. Ground based Prototype Microwave Radiometers for temperature and humidity profiling (contd.). All RS/RW stations are to be replaced by indigenous GPS sondes along with indigenous radio-sonde launchers after transfer of technology to industry. Replacement of Pilot Balloon Stations with prototype wind profilers at 50, 200 and 1250 Mhz. and transfer of technology to the industry (contd.). Space based Observations Ocean based observations Lab simulation studies Calibration, Validation and visualization Data Management and visualization Assimilation Post Processing of Model Outputs Development of Coherent Doppler Lidar (CDL) on board LEO satellite. Development of Ship borne AWS/ARG/PDWR/Windprofilers. Laboratory experiments in Cloud Physics, Atmospheric Chemistry etc. (contd.). Establishment of facilities/sites bby user (contd.). Development of Indigenously Developed Meteorological Information System. Operational Development of 4D-Var. Operational Development of Indigenous Package.

Radar Network

Upper Air Network

Sector specific product Operational Development of Indigenous Package. generation to meet different stake holders. Dissemination of forecast & warning Weather modification Operational Development of Indigenous Package (contd.). Cloud physics/atmospheric chemistry studies, fog dispersal and other experiments (contd.).

158

Table 11: Technology Development Profile

S.No. 1. Observation sub-system Automatic Raingauges Snow Gauges Up to 2 years Partly imported, and initiation of local development Mass production and validation Up to 5 years Up to 10 years Realisation/ Remarks

To be Continued development activity in private industries Continued activity Continued activity

2. 3.

AWS Agricultural Meteorology (iii) Lysimetric (Evapotranspiration) Soil Moisture (I)TDR

To be imported initially, ESA SMOS data utilization

4.

(ii) SMOS Marine Meteorology (I) VOS (ii) Met. Ocean bouy of NIOT/INOCB Coasts and above 88E & 72 25 E (Cost under INCOIS/NIOT)

Indigenous Continued production, activity development of payload for satellite launching

5.

Aeronautical Meteorology current weather and runway parameters Upper air

6.

Limited imports at important airports Limited imports at important airports

Complete indigenizati on Complete indigenizati on indigenous production

(ii) Radio Sonde/Radio wind Totally indigenous (iii) Wind Profilers (IAF profilers too are in addition Weather Radars National polarimetric Dopper Radar network under aeges of NWROP

Validation indigenous of Indigenous production production indigenous network 2 years-5 yaers procurement. operation, Priority for creating national mosaic. prioritise civil works for radar installation International interfaces to be established, data collection to be established
159

7.

8.

Airborne (I) AMDAR

(ii) Instrumented Aircarft

(iii) UAV

Design configuration, identification of payload, choice of aircraft to be finalised. Design configuration, identification of payload, choice of UAV to be finalised. Dialogue with DOS on special payloads. Finalization of programme schedule, utilization of data from planned Indian satellite and foreign satellite

One instrumented aircraft will be operationalised

Start with simple payloads and migrate to complicated payloads 10 UAV will be All 50 UAV Collaborate operationalised will be with DRDO, operationalised IAF for basic UAV designs

All 3 instrumented aircraft will be operationalised

9.

Satellites Indigenous development/ foreign collaboration for identified payloads, selective launch of spacecraft indigenous development Continued programme Continued indigenization of payloads, launches and data utilisation. Prioritation of payloads for GEO, SSO and LEO by joint MoES-DOS team

10.

Emerging Technology (I) Micropulsed Lidar (ii) Doppler SODAR (iv) Lightening Detectors

limited import Deployment

Continued proggramme Continued proggramme Continued proggramme Technology available with SAMEER

Microwave radiometers

Precipitation Radars(PR)

Plan ground Establish ground network and network and spaceborne sensors launch spacecraft with lightening sensors Limited import Establish ground and indigenous based network development and launch radiometric payloads on Indian satellites Validate PR Design PR for space applications on airborne platform, (Dual/Multiple 1 space lauch wavelength)

Continued proggramme

Pol Doppler Radar with Solid state Phased array Technology

Tri band PR on Ku band, ka LEO spacecraft band and W band for different cloud and precipitation levels Configuration and TR module Production of Phased array development, phased array radar reduces system Design, sub-array identification of weather radar time for validation, industry for hemispherical for limited system collaboration volume scan deployments integaration and trial operation Space bond sensors development Continued programme

11.

Environmental Monitoring Limited import (I) Solar Radiation and indigenous development of sensor

160

(ii) Radiometer Sonde (iii) Total Ozone

indigenous development Space bond sensors initial development and launch

Operation Space bond sensors initial development and launch Operation Operation

Continued programme Continued with multiple launches

Space bond sensor with international collaboration if required

(iv) Ozone Sondes (v) Surface Ozone (vii) Green House gases

Indigenous Development Indigenous Development

Configure spacecraft Deveopment payload for of payloads monitoring

Launch and operation alisation

7. National Center for Atmospheric Technology

7.1 As can be easily inferred from the discussion in the above chapters - considerable gap exists between the contemporary developments in Atmospheric Technology worldwide vis--vis the indigenous developments in India in the areas of sensor development including Sensor Web Enablement ( SWE ) for surface observations, upper air observations, Polarimetric Doppler Weather Radar, Multi-function Phased Array Radar, Space Technologies, IT-technologies for Weather and Climate Analysis and Testing. Presently, there is no mechanism in the country to address most of these issues. Space Application Centre (ISRO) at Ahmedabad has excellent group on Space based instrumentation but, there is no contemporary group in MoES or elsewhere to supplement with scientific investigations and develop scientific base for space meteorology. Underlining such issues, the Narasimha Committee had recommended a separate National Centre for Atmospheric Technology more on lines with National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai which addresses technology needs of ocean exploration/ observation. 7.2 However, the atmospheric technology is much more science-driven than any other technology. One needs a mix of atmospheric scientists of highest calibre and engineers with appreciation for the required scientific needs. With higher priority on modernization of meteorology in all aspects, observation systems as recommended by the Sikka Committee, creating modern forecasting environment and connectivity through MFI, acquiring High Performance Computers to run high resolution models, acquiring skills to assimilate data from satellites and other sensors, improvements in model physics and advance techniques like multi - model ensemble, it was a conscious decision to delay the planning of such a Centre. However, a continuous and sustained effort of re-establishing a modern, scientific and goal-oriented organization has started showing results. Most of the modernization program is now under implementation and will be in place during remaining period of the 11th five year plan. It is now time to start thinking and planning this center. The National center for Atmospheric Technology should be located away from IMD Headquarters and preferably in the vicinity of a good Institute of Physics and Instrumentation. A close institutional coordination with Space Application Centre could be ensured. 7.3 Without such an institutional mechanism in place MOES / IMD has resorted to a short term measure of modernization of the facilities through an XIth plan allocation of Rs. 3500 Crore to catch up with the developed countries in terms of quality and timeliness of the forecasting services. But in order to consolidate, expand and sustain the improvements it is necessary to identify and put in place an overarching agency who can pool-in the national resources from different government departments, autonomous organizations, universities and even private industrial enterprises; design & develop the prototype technology through research efforts; transfer the technology to industries for mass production. This will ensure that the operational departments like IMD uses the latest and state of the art systems as per international standard to provide forecasting services. 7.4 Indigenization of mass manufacture items such as AWS, ARG, PDWR, MPAR, RS/RW, Wind Profilers, Space technology components is strategically important from the point of view of selfsufficiency in the event of natural disasters and preparedness for weather and climate sensitive sectors of the Indian economy. Secondly, lot of Information Technology development effort would be
161

needed to manage, visualize, process and generate custom products for multiple areas of application of forecast products which are not available off - the - shelf. 7.5 Calibration, Validation and Testing of Oceansat-II, radar sensors, Insat 3D and Meghatropique instruments is normally a user domain expertise and is advisable to be kept independent of technology development center. It will also provide important feed back link to the developing center to know the deficient areas of the technology to improve upon continuously.

8.

Organization Chart of NCAT and Linkages with other Centers

8.1 The National Center for Atmospheric Technology(NCAT) could be set up as an attached office under MOES with focus on development of Microwave, IT, opto-electronic and space science and technology related to measurement, communication and networking, processing, visualization, storage and retrieval and dissemination of atmospheric variable. It will also transfer technology to PSUs and private industrial organizations for mass manufacture of atmospheric equipments indigenously. The centre will have Atmospheric Technology Advisory Council to guide the activity from time to time A horizontal structure considering the vastness of India will allow growth of science from the fundamentals to the applied. Figure 1 below describes the broad organizational chart of the proposed center.
Atmospheric Technology Advisory Council MOES

National Center for Atmospheric Technology Director (1) Administration & Logistics Support Group (15)

Core Technology Development Group (60)

Opto-Electronics Division (15) Gr. Head (1) Scientist (4) Engineer (5) Technician (5)

Microwave Division (15)

Space Meteorology Division (15)

Information Systems Division (15)

Gr. Head (1) Scientist (4) Engineer (5) Technician (5)

Gr. Head (1) Scientist (4) Engineer (5) Technician (5)

Gr. Head (1) Scientist (4) Engineer (5) Technician (5)

Figure 1: Organizational Chart of National Center for Atmospheric Technology 8.2 The center could be headed by a reputed senior scientist / technologist as Director reporting directly to the Secretary, MOES and advised on policy matters by an Atmospheric Technology Advisory Council comprising Heads of Govt. Departments, Academic & Research Institutions, User Departments and Industrial Enterprises including PSUs and Private Industries. As maximum developments center around four identifiable technology areas, namely, Opto-electronics, Microwave, Space Technology and IT, it would be logical to set-up Divisions for each area under a Group Head. A group of 10 scientists and engineers and 5 technicians are identified as the initial manpower requirement to start with the activities falling under each group area making a total of 61 162

technical staff and 15 administrative and logistics support people are identified to run the administration, finance and logistics matter of the center thus making a total of 76 people. 8.3 Currently, IMD has large manpower supporting maintenance and calibration of the equipment spread all over the country. As the network of instrumentation spreads, this maintenance activity would require technology upgradation and automation in monitoring. While routine maintenance and calibration should continue to be the responsibility of IMD, NCAT would carry out p[periodic calibration and audit the records for ensuring that the calibration is being done as per the world standards. 8.4 Role of the proposed center for indigenous development of atmospheric instruments through technology transfer to industries vis-a-vis current practice with user departments is listed in the Table 12 below :

Table12: Broad Schedule of Activities of NCAT vis--vis user Departments

NCAT I) Review & Identification of Atmospheric Technology Items in Consultation with User Deptts., Academic, R&D Institutions and Industries . Development of Indigenous Systems in Laboratories of Govt. Departments, Academic, R&D Institutions and Industries. Transfer of Technology to Industries for production and installation at users end. Work on Feed Back from the User Deptts. to improve upon the deficiencies. Periodic calibration or Audit of the equipment. User Deptts. Operation and maintenance of systems after deployment. Field Maintenance of Systems. ii) Calibration/Validation/ Testing of Systems. iii) Feed back to NCAT for improvement.

ii)

iii) iv) v)

8.5 Figure 2 below describes the linkages between the NCAT and the user Departments via R & D Labs and Industries in the continuous cycle of Review - Development - Operation Calibration/Validation/Testing - Feed back - Review:
Academics Govt. Deptts. Technology Develpm ent & Transfer
ISRO NARL SAC IITs NIOT IISC INCOIS ACADEMIC & RESEARCH INSTITUTES SAMEER IITM NAL National Centre for Atmospheric Technology NCMRWF AAI DGSHIPPING Private Industries IMD BEL Power ECIL Agriculture

Industries

User Deptts.
Defence

Figure 2: Linkages between NCAT and different agencies

163

8.6 Table 13 shows a tentative list of facilities which will need to be created during the next five years ( 2010 - 2015 ) Table 13: List of facilities for NCAT S.N. 1. 2. 3. Facility Infrastructure including Building, Communication and Networking, Quarters, Guest Houses etc. Phased induction of Manpower. Lab Equipments for Opto-Electronics, Microwave, Space and Information Systems for Data Processing and Integration.

8.7 Table 14 shows tentative break-up of cost on infrastructure, equipments and items which will need to be established -

Table 14: Tentative break-up of cost*

( Year wise estimated expenditure in Rs. Crore ) Item Infrastructure Equipments Consumables TA/DA Salary & Wages Contingency Total Grand Total ( 2010 - 2015 ) 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 5.0 10.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 17.0 85.0 5.0 10.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 17.0 5.0 10.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 17.0 5.0 10.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 17.0 5.0 10.0 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 17.0

*This is establishment budget only. The center will be taking up developments of sensors/equipments in project mode and organize production in the industry resulting in multifold overall savings to the country. 8.8 Table 14 shows a tentative schedule of induction of manpower for the Center -

Table 14: Induction of Scientists, Engineers for the Center

Division Opto-Electronics No. of Scientists and Tentative Profile Engineers (2010 - 15) 15 Ph.D. / M.Sc. / B.Tech for Scientist / Engineer & B.Sc. with above 60% / Diploma in Engg. Ph.D. / M.Sc. / B.Tech for Scientist / Engineer & B.Sc. with above 60% / Diploma in Engg. Ph.D. / M.Sc. for Scientist / Engineer & B.Sc. with above 60% / Diploma in Engg. Ph.D. / B.Tech for Scientist / Engineer & B.Sc. with above 60% / Diploma in Engg. B.A./B.Sc./B.Com with computer background

Microwave

15

Space Meteorology 15 IT Administration

164

15 15

8.9 The Center could be located in IMD premises at Pashan, Pune which is nearer to the Pune workshop facilities, IITM, Pune University etc. Alternatively, it could be located in IMD premises at Ayanagar, Delhi. 8.10 The center may take up setting up Physical, HR and 2-year vision target as the outcome target in the next two years and prepare for the 5-year and 10-year vision targets upto 2020. At the end of 10 year period it is envisioned that the maximal atmospheric technology in the country will be indigenous and self-sustaining.

9.

Acknowledgement

The Chairman of the committee thanks all members of the committee for their contributions in different areas of atmospheric technology, in spite of their busy schedules. The Chairman and other members of this committee express their gratitude to Dr. P.S. Goel, Chaiman of the core committee for technology vision of MoES, for providing an opportunity to contribute to an important task initiated by Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, MoES. The members of the sub-committee would like to thank NIOT for extending all help in arranging the meetings at MoES-Delhi & IMD, Bangalore and to Sri. M. Gopalakrishnan, NIOT, for prompt actions with respect to logistic and financial matters. Special mention is also to be made of Dr. Ajit Tyagi, Director General of Meteorology, for providing valuable inputs, by arranging a mini brainstorming session at IMD. The committee also acknowledges the important inputs provided by Dr. A.K. Bohra, Head NCMRWF. Contributions of IAF and Prof. U.C Mohanty, CAS - IITD during the brainstorming meet have provided important inputs for the technology vision. The committee appreciates the efforts put in by Dr. Muthuchami, Director, IMD, Bangalore for excellent arrangements made for the meeting. Last but not the least special thanks is due to Shri. D. Chakraborti, retired DDGM(ISSD) of IMD, for giving the final shape to this document in its present form.

List of Abbreviations
ABI AIRS AMDAR AMSU ARG AVHRR AWS BEL BHR BRF CAT CDLidar CODAR CrIS DMO DOS DRDO DSD DST DWR ECIL GEO GIS GPM Advanced Baseline Imager Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder Aircraft Meteorological DAta Relay Advanced Microwave Sounding Instruments Automatic Rain Gauge Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Automatic Weather Station Bharat Electronics Limited Bi Hemispherical Reflectance Bidirectional Reflectance Factor Clear Air Turbulence Cloud Detection Lidar Compact radar Crosstrack Infrared Sounder Data Model Output Department Of Space Defense Research Development Organization Drop Size Distribution Department of Science and Technology Doppler Weather Radar Electronics Corporation of India Limited Geosynchronous Earth Orbit Geographic Information System Global Precipitation Mission
165

GPS GPS GRACE IAF IASI ICESat IEO IISC IITD IITM IMD INCOIS InSAR INSAT IRS ISO ISRO KML LEO LIDAR MADRAS MODIS MoES MOS MPAR NAL NARL NCAT NCMRWF NCR NDVI NWP OCM OGC OLR ORV PAR QPE RASS RASS WP ROSA RS/RW SAC SAMEER SAPHIR SAR SAR SARAL ScaRAB SIM SMOS ST SWE SWE VHRR WMO 166

Global Positioning System Global Positioning System Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment Indian Air Force Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite Intermediate Earth Orbit Indian Institute of Science Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology India Meteorological Department Indian National Center for Ocean Information System Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar Indian National SATellite Indian Remote Sensing ISOtropic illumination Indian Space Research Organization Keyhole Markup Language Low Earth Orbiting LIght Detection And Ranging Microwave Analysis and Detection of Rain and Atmospheric Structures MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Ministry of Earth Sciences Model Output Statistics Multifunction Phased Array Radar National Aeronautical Laboratory National Atmospheric Research Laboratory National Centre for Atmospheric Technology National Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting National Capital Region Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Numerical Weather Prediction Ocean Color Monitor Open Geospatial Consortium Outgoing Longwave Radiation Ocean Research Vessels Phased Array Radar Quantitative Precipitation Estimation Radio Acaustic Sounding System Radio Acaustic Sounding System Wind Profiler Radio Occultation Sounding for Atmosphere Radio-Sonde/Radio Wind Space Application Center Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research SAR, Polarimetry, Holography, Interferometry, Radargrammetry Synthetic Aperture Radar Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite with ARgos and ALtika Scanner for Radiation Budget Space Interferometry Mission Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Stratospheric Tropospheric Sensor Web Enablement Sensor Web Enablement Very High Resolution Radiometer World Meteorological Organization

Appendix 1
A. Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) In future an advanced imager with 16 or more channels similar to Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) of US will provide scientists and meteorologists with additional and improved data faster. The following ABI Scan Mode of 15-minute timeline that interleaves three independent image collections can be considered : l One full Earth image l Three India and adjoining region - 5 minute intervals l Thirty storm watches (mesos) - half-minute intervals. l In addition, a blackbody observation and space looks are needed for radiometric calibration and star observations for geo-location. If Indian meteorologists are given these data it will be very useful to monitor and predict mesoscale phenomenon e.g. Thunderstorm, squall line, dust storms and heavy rainfall events due to cloud bursts etc. ABI has sixteen channels and has resolution of 0.5, 1 and 2 kms. in various channels. Such a system will also be very useful for measuring cyclone intensity and centre accurately which in turn can be fed to NWP models for forecasting accurate Track of cyclone. Such an imager in year 2020 time frame may be considered in collaboration with ISRO. The products delivered by such an imager are the following : l Aerosol Detection (including smoke and dust) l Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) l Volcanic Ash: Detection and Height l Cloud and Moisture Imagery l Cloud Optical Depth Cloud Particle Size Distribution l Cloud Top Phase l Cloud Top Height l Cloud Top Pressure l Cloud Top Temperature l Hurricane Intensity l Rainfall Rate / QPE l Legacy Vertical Moisture Profile l Legacy Vertical Temperature Profile l Derived Stability Indices l Total Precipitable Water l Clear Sky Masks l Radiances l Downward Shortwave Radiation: Surface l Reflected Shortwave Radiation: TOA l Derived Motion Winds l Fire/Hot Spot Characterization l Land Surface Temperature (Skin) l Snow Cover l Sea Surface Temperature (Skin) B. Metop-series polar satellites of Europe

The Metop-series polar satellites of Europe has eleven payloads whose products are useful in weather forecasting. The payloads are listed below: 1. Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A) is a microwave sounder with 15 channels
167

in the 23-90 GHz range. This instrument is used primarily for derivation of temperature soundings along with several surface and hydrological parameters. 2. Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR/3) is an imaging radiometer with six channels (3 visible/near infrared and 3 infrared) in the range of 0.6-12 microns. The Metop spacecraft has the capability to record full resolution 1-km global imagery for one complete orbital pass. A station in India to record full earth coverage may be established. High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS/4) is a temperature sounder with 19 infrared channels in the 3-15 micron range, and one visible channel. The HIRS/4 is an upgrade from the HIRS/3 currently orbiting aboard the NOAA-KLM series of satellites. The HIRS/4 has a smaller field of view at 10-km, compared to 20-km on the HIRS/3 model. Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) is a microwave sounder with five channels at 89, 157, and around 183 GHz supporting production of humidity profiles and other hydrological products. Space Environment Monitor (SEM-2) is a multi-channel charged-particle spectrometer. Solar Backscatter-Ultraviolet Radiometer (SBUV/2) is a spectral radiometer with 12 channels in the 252.0-322.3 nm in discrete mode and 160-400 nm in scan mode, used for generating total ozone and ozone profiles. Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) is pulsed C-band radar at 5.255 GHz, and is used to generate ocean surface wind vector products. Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME-2) is a nadir-viewing spectrometer with four channels in the range of 0.240-0.790 microns. It is used to derive total ozone and ozone profile products. Global navigation satellite system Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding (GRAS) is a radio occultation receiver that uses signals from the global navigation satellite systems for applications including atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles. Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) is a Michelson interferometer covering the 3.6-15.5 micron range. IASI thinned radiances can be used in a manner similar to those generated from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. IASI data computation can provide the generation of atmospheric temperature and moisture soundings to complement the HIRS, MHS, and AMSU-based soundings. Search and Rescue receiver. India will almost be at par with the developed nations in the satellite-meteorology if the above mentioned payloads are available in the spacecrafts and their data is properly utilized i n forecasting / NWP. It is also required simultaneously to develop methods for assimilation of the data / products derived from these payloads into NWP models.

3.

4. 5. 6.

7. 8.

9.

10.

11.

168

Annexures
Inputs from Members of the Committee:

Annexure - I
1.1 Inputs from Dr. A. Jayaraman, NARL
1. (a) GPS based studies GPS Radio Occultation (Satellite based)

As the Global Climate Change studies getting importance, it is necessary to develop innovative ideas, new techniques and instruments capable to measure globally the temperature, pressure and humidity of our atmosphere. The Radio Occultation (RO) Technique is emerging as a powerful tool for sounding the structure of atmosphere, which provides accurate measurements of the atmospheric refractive indexes from which vertical profiles of temperature, pressure, humidity, and profiles of ionospheric electron content are derived. The Radio Occultation technique uses satellites of the GPS (Global Positioning System) constellation as the transmitting sources. A GPS Radio Occultation occurs when a transmitting GPS satellite, setting or rising behind the Earth's limb, is viewed by a LEO (Low-Earth Orbiter) satellite. The relative motion between the GPS and LEO satellite facilitates the vertical scanning of the atmosphere. As the radio wave passes through the atmosphere it is refracted and delayed due to the vertical gradient in the atmospheric air density. By measuring the phase variation in the received GPS signal vertical profile of the bending angle can be retrieved. A GPS receiver on board a LEO satellite with forward and backward viewing capability can provide up to 500 globally distributed occultations in a day. The advantages of GPS RO technique is that they are calibration free, relatively more accurate, and provides data in all weather conditions with high spatial and temporal coverage especially over oceans and remote mountainous areas. GPS/MET (GPS based Meteorology) is the first program established by the University Corporation of Atmospheric Research (UCAR) jointly with the University of Arizona and Jet propulsion Laboratory in 1993 for studying the atmosphere using GPS RO technique. The successor of GPS/MET is the German geoscience satellite CHAMP, (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload), launched in July 2000. Based on the success COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate) project was conceived jointly by the Taiwan's National Space Program Office (NSPO), UCAR, JPL, NRL, University of Texas at Austin, University of Arizona, Florida State University and other partners in the University Community. COSMIC is a constellation of eight LEO satellites launched in September 2006 which provides about 4000 daily soundings. This is about a factor of four increase in the vertical sounding of the atmosphere compared to the existing global radiosonde network of about 900 stations. However, one of the major limitations in all the earlier studies is the poor spatial coverage over the tropics. India's involvement in GPS RO based study is so far mainly limited to the use of derived data products such as Temperature and Humidity profiles from CHAMP and COSMIC missions. However the forthcoming ISRO's Oceansat-II satellite, scheduled for launch in 2009 is carrying a GPS RO payload called ROSA (Radio Occultation Sounder for Atmosphere) provided by the Italian Space Agency. This will enable the Indian scientists to get involved in the development of inversion algorithms as well as validation of the products. The products will also be available to the Meteorology community on a near real time basis for operational weather forecast. The Megha Tropique (MT) satellite, an Indo-French joint venture, scheduled for launch in 2010 will also be carrying a GPS RO payload. As the MT satellite will be in a low inclination orbit the number of soundings over the equatorial region will be high, which will fill the void generated by earlier missions. Effort is also being made within ISRO for the indigenous development of the GPS RO receiver. This effort needs to be supported and strengthened to have a cluster of low inclination LEO satellites for continuous mapping of meteorological parameters over the tropical region. A large number of vertical soundings going to be available over the ocean region, surrounding the peninsular India on a near real time basis will greatly help in improving the quality of prediction of weather and cyclone tracks. 169

(b) Ground based GPS receiver for water vapour measurement As the GPS signal pass through the earth's atmosphere both the ionosphere and the neutral atmosphere introduce propagation delays. The ionospheric delay can be determined and removed by recording both the L 1 and L2 frequencies transmitted by the satellite using the dispersion relations for the ionosphere. The delay caused by the neutral atmosphere is both due to dry air and water vapor. Water vapor has a dipole moment contribution to its refractivity which is about 20 times larger than the nondipole component. It is necessary to treat the dipole component of the water vapor refractivity separately from the nondipole components of the refractivities of the water vapor and other constituents of the atmosphere. These two components are referred to as the "wet" and "hydrostatic" delays. Both the delays are the smallest in the zenith direction and increase by about a factor of 4 from zenith to an elevation of about 15 deg. There are software packages available such as the GAMIT by MIT, Bernese by Univ. of Bern, GIPSY by JPL for the estimation of Zenith Total Delay (ZTD). There are also indigenous effort by the Indian Atmospheric Science community (for example at NARL, Gadanki) to develop software package tailored for tropical region. The Zenith Hydrostatic Delay (ZHD) is a function of surface temperature and pressure which can be estimated while the Zenith Wet Delay (ZWD) is highly inhomogeneous with high variability in space and time. The estimation of ZWD is indirect as one has to remove all other delays with high accuracy. It is possible to derive an approximate relationship between the observed ZWD and the vertically integrated water vapor (IWV). The limitation however with one GPS receiver is that only overhead information can be retrieved. Even taking the maximum elevation cut off as 20 degree only a region of about 30 km diameter around the receiver could be studied. Thus it is necessary to establish a network of say 5 to 6 units to cover a region. Such networks along the cyclone prone coastal region will be of immense value to meteorologists for cyclone modeling and forecast. 2. Aerosol Studies

(a) Aerosol Vertical profiles using lidar network The present knowledge of the aerosol distribution is far from adequate to estimate properly the role of aerosols in regional and global climate change studies. Information on the vertical distribution of aerosols is important in modeling many of the aerosol processes involving their formation, transport, sedimentation, and their impact on dynamics of boundary layer, modification of cloud microphysics, formation of fog and haze. In order to address these issues, a network of lidars is necessary which can map the aerosol distribution and its variability in space and time, with specific attention given to vertical distribution. This lidar network will also monitor the boundary layer dynamics and is also useful for validation of satellite retrieval of aerosol concentrations. The principal objective of this network is to establish a comprehensive, quantitative, and statistically significant data base for the aerosol distribution over India. Towards this goal, a total of about 50 stations are required to operate in a network mode. The stations are to be located to provide significant coverage of the widely varying weather conditions over India. A regular schedule of measurements will provide for unbiased estimates, e.g. by avoiding specific weather conditions for the operation of the instruments, and will permit to collect a sufficiently large data set to allow for statistical analysis of the data. The main technical objective therefore is to implement a common observation scheme for all systems, including harmonization of the technical status of the instruments and the data evaluation algorithms. Towards this, NARL has already developed a cost effective and portable Boundary Layer Lidar system and necessary technology transfer has been made to a private company in India for mass production. This agreement should be exploited to establish the necessary lidar network in the country. (b) Black carbon measurements (aerosol sampling network)

One of the prime concerns in addressing climate change is quantifying the impact of anthropogenic emissions of aerosols and trace gases which alter the earth's radiation budget. With increasing man-made activities there is an unprecedented increase in the amount of aerosols and a variety of trace gases in the atmosphere. Atmospheric aerosols and trace gases change the earth's
170

radiation budget both temporarily and spatially by scattering, absorbing and emitting radiation, which in turn influence the energy budget and hence the climate of the earth. As aerosols and trace gases are transported to over long distances, their chemical and radiative effects are not only confined to their source regions but extend to larger regional scales. Estimating the role of aerosols and trace gases quantitatively in altering the earth's radiation budget is the key to understand the earth's climate and its future evolution. Information on aerosol optical depth, single scattering albedo and asymmetry parameter are fundamental to estimate aerosol radiative forcing, while information on vertical distribution of aerosol properties are needed to estimate atmospheric heating due to aerosols. One of the important recent findings is the significant contribution of Black Carbon (BC) aerosols from biomass burning to the radiative forcing. There are two types of biomass burning, one burning biofuel such as wood for normal day to day cooking which is a daily phenomenon in rural regions. The other is burning large junk of agricultural waste in open fields, which is mainly confined to dry months (March to May). Soot particles produced from incomplete combustion is known for their absorption of solar radiation and add to the Greenhouse warming of the atmosphere. The intriguing part of soot produced from biomass burning is that they exhibit higher spectral dependence (?-2) in absorption compared to that produced from fossil fuel burning which has less wavelength dependence (?-1) implying that the biomass burning produced soot has higher absorption at lower wavelengths leading to higher heating effect. In order to quantify the effect of soot on atmospheric energy budget and hence its possible influence on atmospheric circulation it is necessary to establish a network of aerosol sampling stations in the country. Centralized laboratories, two or three can be identified in the country where the samples will be sent in a periodic manner for a detailed chemical analysis. 3. 1.28 GHz Wind Profiler NARL has recently developed a 1.28 GHz portable wind profiler for lower atmospheric research applications. The system has 64 rectangular patch antenna elements arranged in a 8x8 square matrix with a power-aperture product of about 4 x 103 W m2. The radar system has the facility to operate in different modes viz., I) lower range wind profiling ii) higher range wind profiling, iii) low level precipitation mode, iv) High level precipitation mode, and v) three-dimensional atmospheric turbulence profiling mode. Possibility of making technology transfer to private industry is being worked out. MoES can exploit this opportunity to establish a wind profiler network in the country.

171

Annexure-II
1.2 Inputs from Dr. Devara, IITM, Pune
1. Some inputs to Technology Vision of the MoES

I comply with the views expressed by Prof. Mahapatra that whether this technology vision should focus on the instrumentation needed for improving the operational systems or for enhancing the capabilities of the existing research facilities. Another view point is that whether we go purely for developing the advanced instrumentation indigenously (time limit for this approach depends on various factors like workshop facilities, trained man-power etc., alternatively, we can outsource the job if it involves mass production) or we adopt advanced techniques, involving super spectral-spacetime resolution, available elsewhere and improve upon them for meeting high quality science products. In any case, in my view, we should focus on the requirement of various models being used in the country for weather and climate diagnosis / prediction purposes so that the data products would get greater visibility and utilization value. As we know, most of the models currently in use are of global nature, the future data products should help in formulating some initial steps to develop and validate the regional models which are hardly available in the country. Besides the ideas expressed by members in the Bangalore meeting, following are some of my view points on the technological developments for the near future. 2. National Satellite Data Validation Sites

In recent years, many satellites, either indigenously or in collaboration with other countries, have been launched to cater various needs of the country. More proposals including micro-satellites are in the pipeline. Satellite-measured products need validation (ground truth) for better understanding of the reliability of the products, geophysical parameters in particular. In these exercises, always corrections due to atmospheric effects are felt more complicated as opposed to those encountered over oceans for obvious reasons. For this purpose, we may identify a core group (mix of scientists / engineers from different organizations) with three to four super-sites with a number of monitoring sites in the country. Super-sites can have a well geographical distribution (high-altitude, urban, coastal and island) and should be well equipped with major advanced instrumentation, in coherence with nature of payloads of the satellite under validation. 3. Ground-based Active Versus Passive Remote Sensing

Albeit the direct measuring techniques yield good temporal resolution, profiling is very tedious and time consuming. Active remote sensing techniques provide altitude variation of geophysical parameters with high spatio-temporal resolution, while the passive remote sensing techniques commonly give height-integrated (columnar) information. For detailed study of any process, vertical profiles are preferred as compared to the column-integrated information. Such information is very vital for climate change studies. While polarimetric lidars have capability to discriminate ice from water, and provide isotropy/anisotropy nature of aerosol particles and cloud droplets, polarimetric radars provide better rainfall estimation. In order to validate the data retrieval algorithms (inversion methods), comparison with direct measuring techniques from different platforms cannot be ruled out. 4. On-going Technological Developments

Some proposals dealing with state-of-the-art technology like Space Borne Lidar (SBL), Indian Satellite for Aerosols and Gases (I-STAG) payload are in progress in the country. Also, some new networks such as I-LINK (Indian LIdar NetworK) involving polarization micro pulse lidars, and modernization of IMD networks with state-of-the-art equipment should be accelerated. Moreover, some of the active remote sensing equipment such as dual polarization micro pulse lidar (DPMPL),
172

portable polarimetric X-Band, Ka-Band radars; and portable multi-parameter Raman and Doppler wind lidars, and polarization hyper-spectral microwave radiometer, acquired or being acquired by IITM, could be considered as prototype , around which further developments in technological aspects, can be worked out, and eventually a network consisting of such well-advanced experimental facilities may be planned to study atmospheric aerosol-cloud-environment interactions, multi-dimensional mapping of atmospheric water vapor, temperature and winds. Such information would have very vital application to the development of numerical weather prediction, cloud resolving and meso-scale models. 5. Aircraft Facility and Instrumentation

In order to obtain large spatial coverage (both in vertical and horizontal) of any parameter, aircraft is very commonly accepted platform because such coverage is not possible even with a dense network of ground-based remote sensing systems. Since such an aircraft facility is being planned by the MoES, we have to focus also on development of airborne sensors/probes which can make measurements in both clear and turbid (cloud, fog, snow etc.) atmosphere. This information would not only help improving the models but also aid in validating the data retrieval algorithms of certain ground-based remote sensing systems. 6. Ocean Lidar Technology

Most of the ocean research in the country is being carried out by using satellite data and to some extent with direct in-situ measuring devices. Besides this, some interesting techniques like low temperature thermal desalination, shallow bed mining etc. have been developed. Albeit techniques such as spectro-fluoremetry have been in extensive use for the last few years, application of active remote sensing systems like lidar have not yet been fully explored for ocean research. The Raman and Florescence lidars have vital applications in retrieving ocean parameters. For example, by using in-elastic scattering techniques, Raman lidar can be applied for measuring the sea surface temperature, sub-surface layer structures, turbulence and winds. By employing the Laser-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) method, Fluorescence lidars have been used elsewhere for the detection of oil spills (an exercise to mitigate the marine pollution), fish-zone identification and chlorophyll distribution (algae mapping) in seas and oceans. We can also seriously think of developing these techniques in the coming years for detailed understanding of our marine eco systems.

173

Annexure - III
1.3 Inputs from Prof. P.R. Mahapatra, IISc, Bangalore
Perspectives in Atmospheric Monitoring Instruments and Systems 1. Background

The large and climatologically diverse Indian landmass and its environs need constant and accurate monitoring to provide reliable state-of-the-atmosphere parameters which are important by themselves and also as inputs to models for weather forecasting in various temporal and spatial scales. Accurately sensing the atmosphere would also enable the study and characterization of a wide range of natural and manmade processes which interact with the atmosphere. Further, many economic activities such as agriculture, air and sea navigation, wind power generation, etc. can be optimized through knowledge of the climatic and atmospheric parameters. All these activities call for a range of sensing instruments and systems, and the knowledge base for exploitation of their data output. The Indian atmospheric monitoring programme has been fairly well-served by the existing instruments, but modern diagnostic, forecasting, and economic activities call for a much higher level of instrumentation in terms of diversity, quality and coverage. This note contains some suggestions for enhancing the Indian atmospheric monitoring capability over the next several years. 2. Focus Areas and Sensing Systems

The broad field of atmospheric sensing can be divided into several areas and prioritized in the context of Indian climatology and information needs. 2.1 Boundary Layer As the layer of the atmosphere most intimately in contact with the surface, and as the purveyor of much of the energy, moisture, and products of nature and civilization, the boundary layer deserves close monitoring. The following measurement systems are suggested: (1) Remote Automated Weather Systems (RAWS) for routine data collection and logging, covering the entire country including islands. A dense distribution is desirable, but considering the cost, probably 200 stations located near population centres will provide acceptable coverage. The exact number should be evolved through a cost-benefit analysis. Instrumented Tall Towers of heights 30-100 m or higher, for continuous in situ recording of t h e variation of atmospheric parameters in the atmospheric layers closest to the surface and hence of most significance to human activity. About a 100 of these may be located in areas of strong vertical shear and stratification. Boundary Layer Wind Profilers covering the height range of 0.1 to 4 km. These can operate at relatively high frequencies (915-1300 MHz), and hence be small and inexpensive enough to cover the country initially approximately on a 200_200 km grid, on a 100_100 km grid in the medium term (5-10 years), and eventually on a 50_50 km grid. Troposphere and Stratosphere Troposphere is the most important layer of intense monitoring, especially in tropical areas, as most of the cloud and rain activity occurs in this layer. Monitoring instruments are: (1) Doppler Weather Radars with Polarimetry, having overlapping coverage over the entire landmass of the country and islands, and with appropriate oceanic overhang, for accurate, detailed, and rapid-update nowasting of precipitation, wind distribution, and wind variability of various scales. Together with mechanisms for mass dissemination, this can form the most visible and useful form of generating weather situational awareness among

(2)

(3)

2.2

174

the general population as well as provide inputs for quantitative research and fine-scale forecasting. Such a radar network is in IMD's perspective plan, and should form part of the overall national plan for atmospheric monitoring. (2) Airborne Meteorological Data Collection, utilizing the extensive light paths of scheduled commercial aircraft, in space and time, to automatically collect and report meteorological data. These direct, in situ measurements would be highly accurate and potentially include more parameters than possible by remote sensing. Being along flight paths, these data will b e of high value in aviation applications, which is one of the principal uses of atmospheric data and forecasting products. Tropospheric-Stratospheric (ST) Radars, established on a 500_500 km grid can provide continuous data on the state of these two important layers which can form useful inputs for accurate weather modelling.

(3)

2.3 Instrumentation for Aviation Weather Surveillance The aviation sector, both in the commercial and national domains, is a demanding and highvalue user of meteorological data. Although aviation is largely confined to the troposphere, occasionally spilling over to the lower stratosphere, general-purpose weather data on these layers are not wholly adequate for aviation. Because of its dynamic nature and specific susceptibilities, aviation requires highly current (near-zero-lag) observational data and local (high-resolution) forecast products. This calls for specialized instrumentation (e.g. relating to visibility, cloud height, local winds and wind variability) in the terminal areas as well as dispersed over a wider threedimensional space. These are in addition to the general instrumentation suggested above. A scheme for such specialized instrumentation, as well as specialized data products from generalized instrumentation, should be evolved and optimized at a national level involving the meteorological, aviation and regulatory authorities as well as instrument and system developers. 2.4 Ionosphere, Thermosphere, Magnetosphere, and SpaceWeather Although far removed from day-to-day human activity, the processes in these layers of the atmosphere and near-space have profound influence on weather, climate, and a host of other science and utility domains (e.g. communication and navigation). Monitoring and study of these layers is of utmost importance for a complete picture of the global environment. Tropical locations also provide a vantage point for observing the phenomena associated with these layers. Tools for monitoring these layers consist of incoherent scattering radars and navigation satellite (navsat) receivers (e.g. GPS). These should be considered seriously. Because of weak reflectance of the ionosphere, incoherent scatter radars are large, powerful and expensive, but one such radar should be planned. Such a radar will also help in establishing a formal networking with a number of similar global facilities on the basis of data interchange. 2.5 Satellite Observations Satellite-borne instruments provide a cost-effective means of monitoring a broad range of atmospheric parameters on a global and regional basis. This is especially attractive in the Indian context, given the depth and sophistication of our space programme. The perspective plan for remote sensing satellites outlined in the SAC document is quite comprehensive and is on the right track. I support the outlined approach as well as the suggestion by NARL on GPS RO, and do not wish to add much in this area, except to suggest that dedicated sensors for pollution monitoring (particulate and non-particulate) should be included in our spaceborne instrument suite in some time scale. Perhaps a scheme for this can be evolved in an R&D mode over the next 5 years, and operationalized between 5 and 10 years from now.

175

Annexure- IV
1.4 Inputs from Dr. B. Simon (and Dr. P.K. Pal) SAC, ISRO, Ahnedabad Future Indian Satellite mission for Weather and Climate
PLANNED INDIAN SPACE MISSIONS FOR WEATHER AND CLIMATE (2009-2020)
l l l l l l l l

INSAT-3D (2010) Megha-Tropiques Mission (2010)

Oceansat-2 (2009) SARAL (2010) New Space based instruments (Hyper spectral Sounding from Geostationary Satellites) Microwave Sounder (50-60 GHz) for temperature sounding Microwave sounder (183 GHz) for humidity sounding. Microwave radiometers as part of GPM constellation for rainfall. PLANNED INDIAN SPACE MISSIONS FOR WEATHER AND CLIMATE (2009-2011)

1.

1.1 INSAT-3D (2010) The first major upgrade in 25 years will be in the INSAT-3D satellite scheduled for launch in 2010, and which will be an exclusive meteorological satellite carrying advanced meteorological payloads, viz. a 6-channel imager and a 19-channel sounder. The sounder will provide data for the derivation of vertical profiles of temperature and humidity, total ozone content over the data-sparse Indian Ocean at a 10 km spatial resolution. It is a matter of pride for India that after the much-anticipated launch of the next-generation INSAT-3D in 2010, India would be ahead of China, Russia and Europe which will not be having vertical sounding capability on their geostationary satellites. However, it may be recalled that NOAA polar-orbiting satellites have been carrying sounders from way back in the 1970's, and GOES geostationary since the 1980's. The 6-channel imager will be superior to its predecessor VHRR in that f. g. h. the visible channel will have a ground resolution of 1 km instead of the present 2 km there will be two thermal i-r widows with an improved resolution of 4 km n place of the present single thermal window having a resolution of 8 km there will be two new shortwave i-r and mid-wave i-r channels which are not there now The INSAT-3D 6-Channel Imager characteristics are given below: S. No. Channel Type Spectral Band () 0.52-0.75 1.55-1.70 3.8-4.0 6.5-7.0 10.3-11.2 11.5-12.5 Ground Resolution (km) 1 1 4 8 4 4

1 2 3 4 5 6
176

Visible Short Wave Infrared Mid Wave Infrared Water Vapour Thermal Infrared 1 Thermal Infrared 2

An immediate benefit of the split-window thermal i-r channels on INSAT-3D, will be that it will be possible to remove the atmospheric contamination error in the derivation of sea surface temperatures over the Indian Ocean. Also, because of the 100% better resolution of visible as well as i-r imagery, cloud motion winds would be extracted with far greater accuracy than at present and the number of wind vector retrievals is estimated to increase four times. The other parameters are outgoing long-wave radiation, quantitative precipitation estimates, fire, smoke, aerosol, upper tropospheric humidity, normalized difference vegetation index The delineation of snow and cloud cover and their differentiation would also become much easier. The table containing the parameters are given in the appendix. The INSAT-3D sounder instrument will be capable of making soundings at 10 km ground resolution every 3 hours for a full frame scan. This will make it possible to derive vertical profiles of temperature and humidity over 30 x 30 km areas. Besides these vertical profiles, there are many other parameters than can be derived e.g. atmospheric stability indices, total precipitable water, total column ozone, The INSAT-3D 19-Channel Sounder characteristics are given below: S. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Central Wavelength (()) 14,71 14.37 14.06 13.96 13.37 12.66 12.02 11.03 9.71 7.43 7.02 6.51 4,57 4.52 4.45 4.13 3.98 3.74 0.695 Main Absorbing Gas CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 H2O H2O Window O3 H2O H2O H2O N2O N2O CO2 CO2 Window Window Visible

Satellite soundings will provide more frequent coverage than the twice daily radiosonde flights and will cover the extensive oceanic areas around us. They will particular help in application like the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 1.2 Mesoscale studies Monsoon related studies West coast trough and off-shore convection Onset of monsoon Inversions during monsoon over Arabian Sea Thunderstorm studies Ozone monitoring

Megha-Tropiques Mission (2010)

Geo-synchronous satellites offer high repeativity measurements but the sensors from such platforms have poor spatial resolution. Sun-synchronous Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites provide better spatial resolution but their repeativity is not satisfactory. In order to address both the situations, a low inclined orbit satellite appears to be a trade off, and Megha-Tropiques is one such mission. 177

Megha-Tropiques is a joint India-France (ISRO-CNES) mission. A PSLV launcher will launch the satellite from Sriharikota in an orbit with 867 km altitude and 20o inclination in late 2010. The ISTRAC ground station at Bangalore will be used for spacecraft control and also for receiving the science data. The mission life is 3 years The objectives of the Megha-Tropiques mission are: i. To collect a long-term set of measurements with a good sampling and coverage over tropical latitudes to understand better the processes related to tropical convective systems and their life cycle. To improve the determination of atmospheric energy and water budget in the tropical area at various time and space scales. To study tropical climatic events and their predictability: droughts, monsoon variability, floods, tropical cyclones, etc.

ii. iii.

Megha-Tropiques will carry four payloads, MADRAS, SAPHIR , ScaRaB and ROSA which are described below: MADRAS (Microwave Analysis and Detection of Rain and Atmospheric Structures), will be a passive imaging radiometer, and a microwave humidity sounder (SAPHIR) , and a sensor ScaRaB for short wave and Long-wave flux, and a Radio occultation sounder for atmospheric studies (ROSA). Their characteristics are given below. Sensor (swath) MADRAS (1700 km) Channels 89 Ghz 18,23,37 Ghz 157 Ghz Geophysical parameter (Grid) Precipitation Wind Speed Water Vapour Content Cloud Liquid water (10 Km) Humidity profile (5 layers) (10 km) TOA SW Flux LW Flux (40 Km)

SAPHIR (1705 km) ScaRaB (2242 km)

183 GHz

0.55 - 0.65 m 0.20 4.00m 0.20 - 200 m 10.5 - 12.5 m

The Radio Occultation Sounder for Atmospheric Studies (ROSA) on MT is a GPS radio occultation payload . This a GPS receiver which measures the bending angle of the signal from GPS satellites near the earth's horizon from which the vertical profiles of atmospheric parameters like temperature and humidity will be derived. The basic specifications of the ROSA payload are: Parameter Horizontal domain Horizontal resolution Vertical domain Vertical resolution Lower troposphere Upper troposphere and stratosphere < 300 m 1 - 3 km < 300 m n.a. Temperature Global < 300 km Surface to 1 hPa Humidity Global < 300 km Surface to 100 hPa

178

1.3 Oceansat-2 (2009) Oceansat-2, which is planned to be launched in 2009, will carry the following three payloads: (ii) (iii) (iv) Ocean Colour Monitor Wind Scatterometer ROSA (Italian payload)

The Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) is a multi-spectral CCD camera with 8 narrow spectral bands in the visible-near IR range of the electromagnetic spectrum: Band-1 0.402 - 0.422 m Band-2 0.433 - 0.453 m Band-3 0.480 - 0.500 m Band-4 0.500 - 0.520 m Band-5 0.545 - 0.565 m Band-6 0.610 - 0.630 m Band-7 0.725 - 0.755 m Band-8 0.845 - 0.885 m
l l l l l l l l

OCM has a ground resolution of 360 m covering a swath of 1400 km. This wide swath results in a repeativity of 2 days for any given area. The 12-bit radiometric data from OCM will cover a wide dynamic range of land and ocean reflectance as well as good radiometric accuracy for the ocean color measurements. There is a provision to tilt the camera by 20 deg. in the along-track direction to avoid sun glint. The Wind Scatterometer is a Ku-band pencil-beam scatterometer, similar to NASA QuikSCAT operating at 13.515 GHz. A conically scanning antenna will transmit microwave pulses and receive the back-scattered power from the ocean surface from which wind vector information will be derived. This scatterometer will operate with two beams, the inner beam in horizontal polarization and the outer beam in vertical polarization. The major specifications of the scatterometer are given below: Parameter Altitude Frequency Wind speed range Wind speed accuracy Wind direction accuracy Resolution Polarisation Swath Look angle Incidence angle HH 1268 km 40.1 45.8 Inner Beam 720 km 13.515 GHz 4 to 24 m /sec Better than 20 % (rms) 20 (rms) 50 km x 50 km VV 1656 km 46.9 54.3 Outer Beam

1. The SARAL-AltiKa is an ISRO-CNES collaborative mission, and is being planned to be launched in 2010. AltiKa Mission: Belongs to the global altimetry system for the precise and accurate observations of ocean topography, circulation and sea surface monitoring with same accuracy as ENVISAT and complementary to the JASON-2 mission.

179

AltiKa/SARAL central objective : Ocean meso-scale variability: Data assimilation: Coastal altimetry: Sea state Monitoring & Now Casting Sea state forecasting (Bathymetry, coastal upwelling & circulations etc.)

Other Objectives : i. Operational oceanography ii. Continental waters iii. Inland ice sheet monitoring iv. Light rainfall and clouds climatology v. Climate Change: Mean sea level vi. Geodetic reference system determination vii. Geophysical and geological investigations AltiKa Payload : 1. A Ka-band (35.75 GHz, BW 500 MHz) radar altimeter 2. A dual-frequency MW radiometer (23.8 and 37 GHz), for tropospheric range correction 3. DORIS: For achieving adequate orbitography performances 4. LRA: For orbitography and system calibration

2.
2.1

New Space Based instruments

Hyperspectral Sounders

The World Meteorological Organization has advised that by 2015, all geostationary meteorological satellites should be equipped with hyper-spectral resolution infrared sensors for frequent temperature/humidity sounding as well as tracer wind profiling with adequately high resolution (horizontal, vertical and time). 2.2 Hyperspectral Sounder for the retrieval of atmospheric profiles of temperature, water vapor and trace gases from future Indian satellite

Atmospheric profiles of temperature and humidity are vital parameters for the numerical weather prediction at different scales. Limited radiosonde observations over land and virtually absence of such observations over vast oceanic regions put a severe limitation on the data availability for numerical modeling. With the advent of satellite-based instrument it has been possible to obtain atmospheric profiles over land and ocean with high spatial and temporal sampling. NOAA series of satellites from polar orbiting platform and GOES series of satellites from geostationary platforms are providing useful data for extraction of temperature and humidity profiles. India has scheduled to launch INSAT-3D satellite into geostationary orbit for continuous coverage over Indian region. With the advanced technology it has become possible to make observations from high spectral resolution (hyperspectral) infrared sounders onboard satellite platforms. These hyperspectral sounders provide very high resolution in the vertical as they have very narrow weighting function, in contrast to the broad weighting functions of narrow band infrared sounders onboard GOES, NOAA and INSAT-3D. Currently, Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) onboard EOS-Aqua satellite with 2378 channels and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) onboard Metop satellite with 8400 channels are providing these observations. Significant improvements have been shown in the quality of profiles retrieval with these advanced hyperspectral sounders. Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES) is planned to be launched onboard GOES-R for near future. Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS) is scheduled for launch in near future that will start hyperspectral measurements from geostationary platform. Hyperspectral measurements have shown significant improvement in the atmospheric sounding capability, both in
180

terms of accuracy and vertical resolution. India is planning to launch hyperspectral sounder in future to improve the atmospheric profiling capabilities. We propose to carry out detailed sensitivity study and propose optimum configuration for hyperspectral sounder onboard future Indian satellite missions. We also propose to examine and demonstrate the accuracy of retrieved profiles using simulated radiances and existing hyperspectral sounders on international satellite missions. Following steps are required in this direction:
l

Study to determine the optimum number of sounder channel, central wavelength, and spectral resolution required for accurate retrieval of atmospheric profile over Indian region. Development of fast radiative transfer model to simulate radiances in all channels for both clear and cloudy conditions with different cloud properties. Techniques for data compression with minimum loss of information content Techniques for cloud detection and cloud cleared radiance for partially cloudy pixels. Retrieval algorithm for temperature and humidity profiles and for trace gas concentrations (Regression and physical retrieval) Selection of optimum number of channels representing maximum information content o f the entire channel set for physical retrieval and also for radiance assimilation in the numerical models.

l l l

2.3 Microwave Sounders for humidity and Temperature Profile. Vertical profiling of temperature needs the oxygen absorption band lying between 50 to 60 GHz, while for humidity sounding the water vapor absorption band around the 183.31 GHz can be suitably harnessed. Hence two separate units are needed for temperature sounding and humidity sounding. Apart from, the said frequency bands some associated frequency channels are also needed for surface correction purposes for each of the sounding units. For temperature sounding 23 GHz and 31 GHz channels are required for surface correction. The basic sensor specification is given in Table below: S. No. 1 Parameter Frequency (GHz) Specification 23.8, 31.5 (surface correction channels) & 50-60 (Temp. sounding Channels) V/H 4 -310 K -45.0 0 to +45.0 0 52.0 0 12.5 (Temp. Channels) 1550 (approx)
0 0

89( surface correction channels) &183.31 f (Humidity sounding channels) V/H 4 0 -310 0 K -45.0 0 to +45.0 0 52.0 0 50.0 (Humidity Channels) 1550 (approx)

2 3 4 5 6 7

Polarization Dynamic Temp. range Look Angle Coverage Incidence Angle (Max) Scan rate (rpm) Swath (km)

The frequency channels and the required bandwidth for the temperature sounding units (TSU) have been worked out after detailed simulation studies and are depicted in Table below.
l l

Microwave sounder(50-60 GHz)

No of Channels 15 Temperature profile sounding - Max- 30 Km -Polar orbit

181

Temperature Sounding: Table : Specification for TSU channels. Unit Channel No. Frequency (GHz) Bandwidth (MHZ) Sensitivity (K) Altitude of Weighting function peak at Nadir (km) surface surface surface 1 3 7 10 13 16 18 21 26 30 32 30 10X2 1.5 36 39

1 2 3 T S U 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14(a) (b) 15 (a) (b) Humidity Sounding :

23.8 31.5 50.3 52.9 53.4 54.4 54.95 55.5 56.65 57.55 58.8 59.38 58.39 56.97 +0.02=56.99 56.97 -0.02=56.95 56.59 +0.01=59.60 59.59-0.01=59.58

300 300 300 400 300 300 300 300 300 100 300 240 90 20X2

0.27 0.27 0.27 0.24 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.27 0.47 0.27 0.30 0.50 1.06

Similarly the channels for the Humidity sounding Unit [HSU], their band width and sensitivity are given in Table. Below. Microwave sounder (183 GHz)
l

No of Channels 6

Humidity Sounding -Max- 10-12 km- Polar orbit Table : Specification for HSU Channels Unit Channel No. Frequency (GHz) Bandwidth Sensitivity (MHZ) (K) Altitude of Weighting function peak for dry/wet atmosphere(km) surface 8/10 5/7

H S U

16 17 (a) 17 (b) 18 (a) 18 (b)

89.0 183.31-0.96=182.35 183.31+2.8=186.11 183.31-2.8=180.51

3000

0.42 1.33 0.94

183.31+0.96=184.27 300 600

182

19 (a) 19 (b) 20 (a) 20 (b) 21

183.31+5.8=189.1 183.31-5.8=177.51

700

0.87 0.77 0.73

3/5 2/4 1/3

183.31+11.56=194.87 900 183.31-11.56=171.75 183.31-15.7=167.61 1000

Non-geostationary Satellites for Climate Monitoring

2.4 Global Precipitation Mission Precipitation is a primary meteorological parameter and may be perceived as the most significant signal of the climate. Precipitation rate estimation based on infrared imagery from geostationary satellites has been done globally since the 1980's. However, this technique is indirect, since visible and infrared radiance fields provide information only at the cloud top level. More direct precipitation information is available from microwave sensors that penetrate the cloud's interior; since the microwave signal is controlled by emission and scattering (from ice) and by polarisation and depolarisation effects (over the sea). In addition, with an active sensor or radar, measurement of the delay and intensity of the backscattered radiation provides the vertical profile of precipitation and drop size distribution. To date, these techniques have been successful only with low-earth orbiting satellites since diffraction in the applicable range of frequencies (~6-90 GHz) strongly limits the resolution achievable from a geostationary orbit. For example, for 10-km resolution at nadir, the antenna diameter would be 15 m at 90 GHz, or 35 m at 37 GHz and 70 m at 19 GHz. Microwave remote sensing first became operational on DMSP satellites. The very successful TRMM satellite, launched in 1998 as a joint U.S.-Japan project, had a complete system of precipitation radar and passive sensors, and it is now nearing its end of life. As a successor to TRMM, the Global Precipitation Measuring mission (GPM) is now being planned through international cooperation. GPM will have a constellation of 8 satellites equipped with microwave radiometers in orbits coordinated so as to provide global coverage at 3-hour intervals. A "core" satellite equipped by both MW radiometer and two-frequency rain radar will provide inter-calibration within the system. The GPM mission is expected to be in place by 2013 and it will meet the observational requirements of global general circulation models. In response to an invitation from NASA, both ISRO and CNES have agreed to join the GPM mission by making the Megha-Tropiques satellite a component of the GPM constellation. 3.0 Small Satellite Concept With the exception of Metsat (Kalpana-1), all Indian meteorological satellite payloads have always had to share a bus with communication transponders. This multi-user design of the INSAT spacecraft has left little room for innovation. It is now time to use the small satellite concept (SSASS) for launching small non-operational satellites with payloads tailored to serve specific purposes.

183

Annexure - V
1.5 Input from IMD

Doppler radar network The DWR Net Work will consist of long range S-band radar essentially at coastal places for purpose of cyclone detection, X-Band radars only at hilly places and C-Band radar at the inland places to characterized severe weather event like thunder storm and also for quantitative estimations. Network will also consists of few S-band radars at inland places which fall in the track of monsoon depressions, axis of monsoon trough and also at few places which are important from strategical point of view. Atmospheric chemistry Need to set-up Laboratory experiments in the areas like Cloud Physics (e.g., droplet growth processes under different meteorological situations), Atmospheric Chemistry (e.g. estimation of rate constants for establishing emission inventories) etc., which help better planning of system design developments and conduction of experiments in the natural atmosphere. A. Inputs from Satellite-Meteorology Division of India Meteorological Department for inclusion in National Centre for Atmospheric Technology (NCAT) Vision document In addition to the inputs given by SAC, Ahmedabad in the vision document the following may be added: INSAT-3D and Megha-Tropiques satellites are already almost realized and are only awaiting their launch their continuity may be maintained. In future an advanced imager with 16 or more channels similar to Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) of US will provide scientists and meteorologists with additional and improved data faster. The following ABI Scan Mode of 15minute timeline that interleaves three independent image collections can be considered : One full Earth image Three India and adjoining region - 5 minute intervals Thirty storm watches (mesos) - half-minute intervals. In addition, a blackbody observation and space looks are needed for radiometric calibration and star observations for geo-location. If Indian meteorologists are given these data it will be very useful to monitor and predict mesoscale phenomenon e.g. Thunderstorm, squall line, dust storms and heavy railfall events due to cloud bursts etc. ABI has sixteen channels and has resolution of 0.5, 1 and 2 kms. in various channels. Such a system will also be very useful for measuring cyclone intensity and centre accurately which in turn can be fed to NWP models for forecasting accurate Track of cyclone. Such an imager in year 2020 time frame may be considered by NCAT in collaboration with ISRO. The products delivered by such an imager are the following : Aerosol Detection (including smoke and dust) Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) Volcanic Ash: Detection and Height Cloud and Moisture Imagery Cloud Optical Depth Cloud Particle Size Distribution Cloud Top Phase Cloud Top Height Cloud Top Pressure Cloud Top Temperature Hurricane Intensity Rainfall Rate / QPE Legacy Vertical Moisture Profile
184

Legacy Vertical Temperature Profile Derived Stability Indices Total Precipitable Water Clear Sky Masks Radiances Downward Shortwave Radiation: Surface Reflected Shortwave Radiation: TOA Derived Motion Winds Fire/Hot Spot Characterization Land Surface Temperature (Skin) Snow Cover Sea Surface Temperature (Skin)
l

Another satellite similar to Metop-series polar satellites of Europe may be designed in 2025 time frame. It has eleven payloads and their products are very useful in weather forecasting. Its main payloads are listed below: Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A) is a microwave sounder with 15 channels in the 23-90 GHz range. This instrument is used primarily for derivation of temperature soundings along with several surface and hydrological parameters. Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR/3) is an imaging radiometer with six channels (3 visible/near infrared and 3 infrared) in the range of 0.6-12 microns. The Metop spacecraft has the capability to record full resolution 1-km global imagery for one complete orbital pass. A station in India to record full earth coverage may be established. High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS/4) is a temperature sounder with 19 infrared channels in the 3-15 micron range, and one visible channel. The HIRS/4 is an upgrade from the HIRS/3 currently orbiting aboard the NOAA-KLM series of satellites. The HIRS/4 has a smaller field of view at 10-km, compared to 20-km on the HIRS/3 model. Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) is a microwave sounder with five channels at 89, 157, and around 183 GHz supporting production of humidity profiles and other hydrological products. Space Environment Monitor (SEM-2) is a multi-channel charged-particle spectrometer. Solar Backscatter-Ultraviolet Radiometer (SBUV/2) is a spectral radiometer with 12 channels in the 252.0-322.3 nm in discrete mode and 160-400 nm in scan mode, used for generating total ozone and ozone profiles. Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) is pulsed C-band radar at 5.255 GHz, and is used to generate ocean surface wind vector products. Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME-2) is a nadir-viewing spectrometer with four channels in the range of 0.240-0.790 microns. It is used to derive total ozone and ozone profile products. Global navigation satellite system Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding (GRAS) is a radio occultation receiver that uses signals from the global navigation satellite systems for applications including atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles. Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) is a Michelson interferometer covering the 3.6-15.5 micron range. IASI thinned radiances can be used in a manner similar to those generated from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. IASI data computation can provide the generation of atmospheric temperature and moisture soundings to complement the HIRS, MHS, and AMSU-based soundings. Search and Rescue receiver.
185

l l

India will almost be at par with the developed nations in the satellite-meteorology if the above mentioned payloads are available in the spacecrafts and their data is properly utilized in forecasting / NWP. It is also suggested that NCAT may also simultaneously develop methods for assimilation of the data / products derived from these payloads into NWP models. ENVIRONMENTAL METEOROLOGY Accurate monitoring of atmospheric parameters has become very significant in the era of climate change and rapid industrialisation. IMD has long history of monitoring environmental parameters following international standards in tune with Global Atmosphere Watch programme of World Meteorological programme. Environmental monitoring networks for following systems /equipments would be required to measure various species across the country :
l

Greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N2O, SF6) Monitoring systems to estimate radiative forcing and quantify source and sink potentials. On-line- is situ system (NDIR/CRDS Technology) Off-line-grab sampling systems (CRDS/Gas Chromatographs) Flux measurement systems Tall Tower monitoring systems Aircraft measurements Systems Column measurement systems Satellite based monitoring systems /sensors.

l l l l l l l

(v) Trace gas measurement systems- Ozone Chemistry measurements including CO and NO2 to estimate ozone depletion and formation and health impacts. i. ii. iii.
l

Surface Ozone Monitoring equipments Total Ozone Monitoring equipments Column Ozone Monitoring equipments Aerosol monitoring system- to estimate aerosol radiative forcing and aerosol characterisation of insitu and transported aerosols in the country.

g) h) i) j)

Skyradiometer network Aethalometer network Nephalometer network LIDAR

l

Precipitation Chemistry measurements equipments to estimate acid rain threats and pollution loads. Ion chromatographs Vis-spectrophotometers. High volume samplers Air quality gases monitoring systems

i. ii. iii. iv.

186

B.

Inputs from Dr. Muthuchamy, (Co-opted Member), IMD, Bangalore Developments expected to be carried out in surface observatories of IMD

1. Introduction Surface observatories are backbone of India Meteorological Department. These observatories can be classified into the following categories.
l l l l l l l

Normal observatories Aeronautical observatories Hydrometeorological Observatories Agrometeorological Observatories Environmental monitoring research observatories Urban climatological Observatories Forest research Observatories.(proposed)

2. Present condition
2.1. Normal Observatories In normal surface observatories there are two kinds of observatories in the country. First one the Departmental observatories which are manned and maintained by the Department itself. Second one is part time observatories which are manned by state govt officials or staff from education institutions but the instruments are maintained by the IMD. In these observatories data is received twice a day (300UTC and 1200 UTC) and staff recording these observatories are trained locally by Inspectors of the MC or RMC. Often they are not in a position to report correct cloud type apply proper pressure corrections or temperature corrections. Since they are paid by the concerned institution and only honorarium is paid by IMD. In departmental observatories data is collected 8 times a day and transmit to the concerned Met Centres and in turn they are sent to AMSS located in the Regional Met Centres. In few stations of the department are manned by a single person and the data is recorded twice a day. 2.2. Aeronautical Observatories These observatories are located in the aerodromes of the country and manned and maintained by IMD. These observatories mainly cater to the needs of the aviation industry. Depending on the type of air port the Metar and sepci are issued either hourly interval or 30 minutes interval. In some air ports observatories where only few flights in a week Metars are reported few hours before the take off time of flights. In all the aeronautical observatories Current weather Instruments will be available which will provide pressure, wind speed, temperature and wet bulp temperature in digital form. The visibility and cloud height are estimated by the observer based on eye estimate. But in major air ports in addition to CWIS system the visibility and cloud height are measured by instruments and are available in digital form which can be stored in the system itself for certain period. These data will be usefull because retrivel of data during the critical situation help to identify the reason behind any occurrence. In the air ports where no digital display is provided the Metar is to be sent to ATC and other places manually. At present the integrated current weather instrument system installed in some of the major airports is able to provide all the information except cloud and weather at different location of the airport which are capable of generating of metar and speci . The metar and speci are automatically transmitted through AFTN chennal which ultimately reduces the manual interference and reduction in work.
187

2.3. Hydrometeorological Observatories. Hydrometeorological observatories are classified into many types namely Daily Rainfall Reporting Stations (DRMS), Non DRMS observatories which are further classified into observatories under Hydrology Project and other type of observatories. These observatories are mostly maintained by state government and some central govt departments like central water commission. They report 24 hours rainfall ending 0300 UTC. Data in DRMS stations are received daily whereas in other station send the data on monthly basis or weeklybasis. These data are vital in determining and identifying flood area, water starved area and incidence of droughts Etc. 2.4. Agrometeorological Observatories. In agrometeorological observatories rainfall dry bulb, wet bulb, wind speed and wind direction pressure, evaporation, Potential evaporation, radiation etc are collected. Most of these observatories are located in agricultural universities and research institutions of central and state government. The instruments are maintained by DDGM Agrimet pune but under the administrative control of Regional Met Centres. The data collected from these observatories are not available through GTS but used by these respective Universities or institutions and DDGM Agrimet Pune. Apart from the above soil temperature at different depth also measured. The data collected from these institutions are mainly micro meteorological data. 2.5. Environmental monitoring stations. At present these type of observatories are located only in limited places to study the chemical and aerosol properties of atmosphere on research mode. But these observatories are required permanently as the atmospheric chemical composition which finally has impact on weather parameters is going to change continuously due to increased human activities. These observatories mostly located in mega cities only. 2.6. Urban climatological observatories Urban climatological study are being under taken at New Delhi and Mumbai by operating few surface observatories. These observatories are to be introduced in many cities. 2.7. Forest Research observatories. Most of the observatories are located in area near or within or around human habitation mainly because man is able record the observation physically. In general forest covers 1/3rd of the area of the country which are not assessable to common man. Since now a days remote sensing and communication will help to solve this deficiency of data in forest area.

3.

Problems in observatories and data transmission.

3.1. Instruments In normal observatories the instruments are maintained by inspectors of Met centres or Regional met centres most of them are not through knowledge of instruments and the principle behind them even though they undergone departmental training in general meteorology except few who under gone instrumentation training. Even those under gone instrumentation training they do not keep their knowledge intact. Therefore instrumentation centre at Regional level will be helpfull where the training can be given frequently to the inspectors . Many of trainees under going training in instrumentation are unwillingly taking the course because training centre is a long distance from their place of posting . For servicing the instruments spares are not readily available to stations because of communication and transportation problem. Some times the instruments get damaged while on transport. To avoid these problems regional instrument division at RMCs with training facility will be a best option for instrumentation. 3.2. Observations In normal observatories generally four Scientific Asssistants are posted with two or three group D staff . In practical, it is often noticed that data are taken by group D staff and some times
188

two SAs will go to their home most probably not in the same district where the observatory is located for ten days or fifteen days and the duty will be covered by the other two SAs. This will be reversed in the next turn where other two people will go home. Person on duty will not be available at the observatory during full duty period but attends duty only during observation time. In this processes past weather if any may not be recorded like squall, hail storm, lightening , and some times rain in case it is low. This affects the data quality seriously of the station where only two observation are taken daily and during cyclone period when hourly observations are requested. 3.3. Observatory condition. Most of the observatories are not in cities and are located in small towns and villages where no CPWD office is available and thereby the building condition and sanitation conditions are poor. In some places even the toilet facilities are also not available. In certain cases due to old building the water leakage during monsoon is also common. In some cases Met office will function inside the collectors office or some other state government buildings where we can not do any maintenance of the building. In some cases Met offices are functioning in the buildings of Air Port Authority of India in side the air port complex. In these cases the maintenance is not a problem but quarters and it s maintenance is difficult since air port authority of India may not provide quarters to Met office staff. In such cases in small cities where the people come for roaster duty will suffer. In part time observatories the recording of observation is still more complicated. During the leave period of the staff in recording the data is done by untrained person. The data some times may reach forecasting centres late or data it self may wrong because the data is collected by person who not know the principles and importance of data or data code may be sent wrongly. Some times weather parameters and cloud amount which measured by eye observation are transmitted wrongly and data do not received in time. 3.4. Transmission of data The data nowadays are transmitted either through fax or telephone or email to the forecasting offices which are mostly available at state HQs. These data again transmitted two AMSS at RMCs and then to GTS. If the communication failure is taken place at Met Centre reception and transmission to AMSS at RMC of data is a big problem and lead to additional requirement of staff. During phone message some times the data is wrongly heard . Under the prevailing situation met communication may be disturbed by some people during critical situation to keep the people in distress condition and enable to increase loss of life and property. Therefore communication system should be foolproof. The data may be sent through email direct to AMSS and MC rather than sending it to MC first and then transmitting them to AMSS. This will reduce the time of reception of data and work load at MC. 3.5. Aeronautical observatories. In aeronautical observatories the current weather panel in many airport stations are not working properly and even many times it is middled due to so many reasons. The instruments like ceileograph skopograph are also face the same type of problem and ultimately staff wants to give the data manually. There is an impression in IMD that manual data is superior (of course true if it is recorded properly) but they claim instrumental data are not worthwhile. Generally the instruments are located near touchdown point and linked to met office through cable or wireless or both. In the event of failure the manual observation are taken from the tower which some times vary with the runway data. In Air port Met office is invariably work in the Air Port Authority of India Buildings But they are not able to provide the Quarters to the staff and so staff members has to depend on private houses for rent which are in general away from the airport because the airports are generally away from cities. During the sudden leave of any staff member the duty arrangement generally difficult. In those places Staff quarters is to to provided nearest to the airport.

189

3.6. Hydro meteorological Observatories. Since most of these observatories are generally located in the state govt premises and manned by them In these cases there is always a time lag in getting the data. The real time data generally will not give correct information particularly during flood or cyclonic conditions because of late arrival of data. In certain case, critical period data may not be available at all if the area is flooded. Quality of observation also poor mainly due to improper timing of observations. Honorarium is paid to the persons taking observation from these stations. There is always a complaint that honorarium is not sufficient and some times the in charges of the station do not give this amount to the concerned persons. ARGs will solve many of this problems. 3.7. Agro meteorological observatories. Since these stations are located in research station of state and central Govt organization the in-charges are mainly the university professors. The observation time is only twice a day and no proper supervision exists in this case. There are instances that staff will come to the office just before salary day and stay for week and send the returns and then he go back to his native place. The instruments in these stations are very poor in quality because these observatories are under direct control of DDGM Agrimet Pune, for want of spares ,proper maintenance and lack of coordination between DDGM Agrimet Pune and with these observatories. The data quality are very poor in nature which will not give the correct information because of the instruments condition and without proper calibration. This ultimately lead to wrong calculations and conclusions from the research based on this data . 3.8. Environmental monitoring stations Since environment monitoring is very important particularly in major cities which are the source of pollution. These observatories are few in number at present. Its number should be increased to have one in each met centres and other major industrial centres from which more accurate quantity of pollutants present in the atmosphere can identified and the consequent implication in met parameter can be found. It should have Specialised unit for analysis of this data in weekly basis so that continuous monitoring will help to control it. 3.9. Urban climatlogical Observatories. In most of the Indian cities have one or two met observatories only. The urban area is expanding enormously due to the influx people from the rural area for want of job. This leads to expansion of cities which finally lead to uneven met parameters with in the city. In order eliminate it, in all state head quarters minimum of five surface observatories should available in a equally spaced locations to identify the effect of urbanisation. Depending on the size of the city the number of observatories can be increased. For modeling or analysis of weather charts the mean of these observatories will be a representative data for the city rather than taking a single data. These observatories should be invariably AWS type so that the data can be taken easily for computation and other purposes. In addition diurnal variation of met parameters and their inter relations can be found out. 3.10. Forest Research observatories. Only few met information are available on forest and its diurnal, seasonal and annual variation of the forest. Therefore these observatories should be AWS and it can be under the control forest department. Periodic inspection should be carried out for proper maintenance of these observatories which can be located one in each 1000 Sq kilometers area.

4.
4.1

Future observatories in IMD

General

State governments want information on weather at least in block level not only for agriculture purpose but also for water management, extraction of wind and solar power, disaster management etc. But IMD can not have such a dense network of observatories but can have one automatic
190

weather station in each subdivision. Some of the station can be established with the help of state government. Each state can have two or three zonal maintenance centers depending on the area and feasibility off approach with a reference observatory where sensor can calibrated periodically and the instruments can be repaired. All the information about the automatic weather station should assessable from this zonal maintenance centre for continuous monitoring purpose. The defect if any is possible to be restored through remote sensing may be explored. Manual observatories may discouraged as for as possible. At Met centre level software to be developed to plot and analysis charts at any time based on hourly data for any parameter or several parameters. For each station a critical value may be estimated for each met parameters which is having significant impact on local society so that appropriate information can be provided to the society or government for remedial action. Now private companies are interested in having met observatories for their private purposes. These companies may be encouraged to install met observatories and understanding may reached to get the data from these observatories. In addition to the instruments available in the normal AWS observatories the following instruments are also to be included because they are part of weather information, like incoming solar radiation, diffused radiation, outgoing long wave radiation and net radiation. At the reference observatory evaporimeter, soil temperature, aerosol number counter, condensation measurement, isotope of rainwater, ozone measurement, and carbon dioxide and other green house measurement. In aeronautical Observatories it is recommended that as far as possible automatic instruments may provided and should in a secured area. These observatories are also can be linked to Zonal maintenance centres to monitor the condition of the data and instrument other than AMO and MWOs. In hydro meteorological observatories the data can be received through email and the software should be available at forecasting to convert these email massages in a proper form so that with GIS the analysis can done at 11.00 IST every day to guide the forecasting people. For this a general instruction may issued by the central government to supply the real time data to the met office by 1000 IST every day from the state government rain gauge stations and from other places. Some state governments either they do not want to share the rainfall details with IMD or they do not have infrastructure to share the rainfall. In agro meteorological observatories either IMD can have independent agromet observatories or it can be completely handed over to Agricultural institution so that these institutions can supply the data to IMD like hydromet data. Manning IMD personnal in these observatory which are under the control of Agri institutions will not yield any positive result. The maintenance of these observatories can be carried out by zonal maintenance centres after getting a call from the institutions. 4.2. 2 years plan for surface observatories. All the present observatories may be converted into AWS. Zonal maintenance centres are to be established. These observatories can be linked to forecasting centres for getting and analysing hourly data. 24 hours hourly parameter can put in a loop for animation purpose. The required software may be developed for the purpose. 4.3. 5 years plan for surface observatories One AWS should established in each subdivision and these weather information may made available in display form at Railway stations, Bus stand and other public places with a display system meant for the purpose. A software should be developed to indicate location, the time of critical value of met parameter by taking cumulative value of met parameter which is capable of affecting the society in the form of disaster. This will help to inform the state authorities for taking remedial action. In all major airports the met instruments should be replaced by automatic instruments and the metar, warnings, local forecast and area forecast of all airports of the state should be made available at met centre for monitoring and giving directions.
191

In agro meteorological observatories the present instruments should be replaced with new one matching with present day technology. This information should be made available to the farmers on real time basis so that it will help the formers in their operations. At least one such observatory should be established each zonal or field maintenance centres. Environmental Met observatories also should be made available in all zonal maintenance centres. In all state capital urban climatological observatories should be established . 4.5. 10 years plan for surface observatories AWS should be available at each blocks and in all airport met instruments should be replaced by automatic instruments. The metar, aerodrome warning, local forecast can made available on screen of planes automatically when the plane comes within the vicinity of the airport. The block level Met data can made available to the farmers through village display system and to the factories in form of industrial display system. Urban climatological observatories should be estabilished in all major cities, economic centres and industrial centres.

192

Annexure - VI 1.6 Input from DR.VS Rao Chintala Fog Dispersal Technology
Fog as hazard for transport sector need to be addressed since the reduction of visibility to less than 50 mts during foggy period is badly affecting aviation sector and creating an environment for occurring accidents on Rail routes, roads and cancellation of Air flights. These accidents results in injures & loss of life and sever damage to property. The Sun may not be visible to more than 1-2 hours during foggy days in some part of India. Fog is also an hazard for human health and other vegetation. 2. Fog is composed of droplets of water suspended in the air extending from the ground. These droplets scatters light resulting in reduced visibility on the ground. The formation of fog occurs when a moist air mass cooled to the saturation point (dew point). Depending upon the various processes the fog is identified as advection, valley, radiation, hilly, coastal, steam, or freezing o o fogs. When the fog forms above the 0 C it is called warm fog where it is below the 0 C it is known as cold fog. 3. A land campaign, organized by ISRO-GBP with multi-institutional scientific effort was carried out aiming to understand the pollution dynamics of the Ganga basin in northern India during winter season. To test the hypothesis that anthropogenic aerosol loading contributions to the prolonged and enhanced foggy/hazy winters. During the winter season, from December to February, the whole part of the Northern India experiences western disturbances moving eastward from west, which leads to intense fog and haze in the region. The chemical species such as Sulphate(So4 2 -), Nitrate(NO3- ), Chloride(Cl- ), Fluoride(F -), Ammonium(NH4 +), Sodium(Na+), Potassium(K+), Magnesium(Mg 2+), Calcium(Ca 2+) and some other material analysis etc are most abundant and are available species in the fog samples collected in the northern part of India. These particles are generated by both natural and anthropogenic (man-made) sources. In addition to this, the study of physical parameters such as size, color, total dissolve solvent (TDS), pH, conductivity etc of fog samples are also important because highly concentrated fog may occasionally results in potential hazards for human health, reduction in production of vegetation, erosion of buildings materials and climatic changes. Moreover, the study of physical and optical parameters such as size, color, TDS, pH, conductivity, particle mass, particle number size distributions, aerosol optical properties, e.g., aerosol optical depth (AOD), Angstorm exponent, single-scattering albedo (SSA) etc during the foggy. 4. Climatologically Fog Hours based on visibility reduction from below 1000m, below 500m, below 200m to below 50 m (values in bracket is Standard Deviation)-Data: digitized hourly visibility data of 1981-2008 to find the intensity of the vulnerability of the place as per the data available at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). Month Mean Days Mean Hours December January December January <1000M 23(6) 24(5) 228.33(91.76) 233.01(96.34) <500M 11(6) 15(6) 72.57(58.51) 93.66(64.58) <200M 6(5) 10(6) <50M 5(4) 8(5)

32.25(38.88) 22.83(31.47) 49.56(41.98) 34.70(31.24)

193

The following graph gives some information related to FLIGHT DIVERSIONS due to total hourly of Visibility less than 200 mts between the year's 1997-2009:

5. The effects of Ambient Aerosol on visibility and Health during Fog Conditions are of interest. The increasing aerosol pollutants with the population growth in megacities all over the world have adverse impact on human health. In megacities, the main sources of aerosols are the combustion of fossil fuels from automobiles and construction equipments (mobile sources), and also heating furnaces and power plants (stationary sources). Industries such as steel mills and cement kilns can significantly contribute to ambient aerosol levels. The compositions of aerosol vary across the various locations with topography, climate, and emission sources. Aerosol observation across India during foggy season need to be recorded for which the following instruments are to be installed: (i) (ii) (iii) Aethalometer for continuous measurement of mass concentration (MB) of aerosol black carbon. Nephelometer for continuous monitoring of aerosol scattering coefficient. Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) Impactor with a ten channel cascade for measurement of aerosol mass concentration (g m-3) with 50% cut off diameters at >25 m, 12.5, 6.4, 3.2, 1.6, 0.8, 0.4, 0.2, 0.1, and 0.05 m for the stages 1 to 10, respectively.

(iv) High Volume Air Sampler (HVAS) is a single stage to collect aerosol on a 4 inch diameter quartz fiber subtract (v) Tethered aerodynamically shaped balloon for the measuring the atmospheric boundary layer parameters for altitude profiles for pressure (PhPa), temperature (T, oC), relative humidity (RH, %), wind speed (U,ms -1), and wind direction (o).

(vi) Optical particle counter (15 size channels) to classify the particles between .3 to 20 m and to estimate the number of concentrations (Nc). (vii) Microtops II Sun photometer having 5 channels with central wavelengths 380, 440, 500, 675, 870 nm and full width at off maximum (FWHM) of ~ 6-10nm, for estimating the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD). (viii) Automatic fog meters for collection of droplets of foggy-water and to be maintained at -15oC inside a stainless steel cool chamber of 10 x10 x22 cm3 . (ix) Fog air collection at the rate of .2 m3 to be cooled to become ice for analysis.
194

(x)

Gas Ambient Air analyzers for NOx , SOx , O3 , CO.

(xi) Different stage cascade impactor to study the size segregated information of each ionic species. (xii) Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) to measure the nano-size particle number size distributions. (xiii) CCN counter. (xiv) Dual polarization Lidar for altitude profile of aerosols size of Fog particles under various condition of Fog and during their dispersal. 6. Some Techniques being practiced for dispersing the Cold & Warm fogs are (i) Dry Ice Seeding, (ii) Airfield Heating, (iii) Hygroscopic Seeding, (iv) Spraying of Salt Water, (v) Mixing with unsaturated air and (vi) Sliver-Iodide Flares etc. It may be noted that these chemicals have been identified to suit mostly to local environment. It is suggested to identify suitable chemicals to suit the local locations and use accordingly across India for transport sector. 7. Spraying techniques may not be unique for the three sectors (i) Aviation, (ii) Rail routes, and (iii) Highways. It is suggested to design and develop suitable spraying techniques for these sectors.

8. The moving bodies for spraying need to be investigated to suit for the local conditions for these 3 sectors. For example dispersal of fog at Airports can be done with suitable modifications in the Aircraft i.e. low flying Helicopter, small Aircraft since the fog exist 1.5 kms from the ground. Suitable mode of spraying for rail routes and roads need to be designed and develop to suit for the local conditions. Many techniques being practiced at other places are patented and not available for complete information. Seeding (Cloud & Snow) Technology: 9. To address the problems relating to heavy downpour, drought, heavy floods etc one has to think in addition to existing ways being practiced, one can plan to maintain and manage the watervapor optimally in such way to cater the needs of the country as per the prevailing conditions of clouds and their atmospheric parameters at that needy time. It is of the view that heavy concentric clouds can be de-precipitated by spraying heavy seeding materials wherein the cloud becomes simply water-vapor, and move as per the wind direction. This method probably will reduce the heavy rains and avoid flooding of water. 10. It is of the opinion that if the water-vapor (resulted from de-precipitation) passes over the drought or water needy areas such cloud may be precipitated with the cloud seeding material for Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CNN) development as per the Weather parameter being observed by Doppler Weather Radar (DWR). Suitable technology for spraying the chemicals from the top and bottom of the clouds need to be developed. 11. Same techniques for cold cloud seeding need to be designed and developed for seeding of snow for Indian conditions across Himalayan region in India. *********************

195

TECHNOLOGY VISION
For Ministry of Earth Sciences

Vol. 4

Geotechnology Part-I Main Vision Document

By Sub Committee on Geotechnology

Cover page: Airborne frequency domain electromagnetic system (known as Humming Bird) used in Rajasthan by National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad for mineral exploration.

198

CONTENTS
PART I Main Vision Document
Vision Executive Summary Sub-Committee on Geotechnology Vision of MoES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6 7. 8. 9. Introduction: A Short Review of Research Trends in Geosciences Use of new technologies and their effectiveness Challenging Earth Science Themes vis--vis Geotechnology Identified Areas Road map for Developing Geotechnology: Action Plan/Mechanism Management Modalities Recommendations Disclaimer Acknowledgements

Page
201 203 205 205 206 207 207 224 229 233 234 234

199

Vision Statement for Geotechnology

Development of the state of art, efficient and cost effective technologies for improved monitoring of natural hazard, risk mitigation and natural resource exploration marching towards secured living and sustained growth

201

Executive summary
Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) constituted a sub-committee to prepare vision document for the adoption and indigenous development of geotechnologies in context to the Indian earth science programs. The committee in a series of interaction meetings took global overview of important active research areas in geosciences vis--vis the state-of-the-art technology and their relevance in the Indian context. It emerged that transforming face of earth sciences from mere synoptic (e.g. rock types, landforms) to hypothesis testing (e.g. Plate tectonics) to theme/question base research (e.g. can earthquakes be predicted?) has become possible due to parallel developments in the instrumentation, incorporation of new technology, rapid growth in the computational facilities, easy accessibility to information technology as well as mode of data acquisition and communication. The committee realised that technology backed scientific themes being actively pursued can be broadly divided into two categories: First category includes analytical laboratory instrumentation, e.g. Electron Microscope Probes, Raman Spectrometry, Mass Spectrometry for Stable Isotope, Thermal Ionisation and Inductively Coupled Mass Spectrometers, High Temperature/Pressure laboratories etc. Induction of such equipments have greatly improved the precision and resolution of petrological, chemical and geochronological characterisation of material from whole rock to mineral, element and even at atom levels and are being exploited to address eternal fundamental issues of chemical, thermal and magmatic evolution of crust, rate of erosion and exhumations of mountain chain, etc. The technologies in second category include induction of GPS technology for monitoring plate motion, crustal deformation, stain budget etc. The parallel developments of low powered broadband seismic sensors allow collection of seismological data from remote hard terrain regions, so far inaccessible for want of continuous power supply, wireless geophones to collect and transmit active source seismic data have enhanced the scope of deep imaging programs to mountain areas where high topographic undulation prevented laying of communication cables essential to capture and record data by old generation technology. The committee noted that most of the analytical equipments in category (1) are the results of dedicated R & D by highly specialised one or two groups and are mostly of propriety nature. Further, requirement of such equipments would be confined to creation of national facility centres at couple of institutions and, thus, it is not advisable to attempt development of such facilities by indigenous expertise, due to limited requirement, lack of advanced back up laboratory facilities as well as from economic considerations. Instead, committee felt the limited expertise available at hand could be used to manufacture field based equipments which are required in large number to augment observational network at national level to capture data to meet challenge of coping with natural geological hazards, like earthquakes and landslides, or for exploring rich natural resource potential of the country. Both these programs have societal implications and can contribute to the economy growth and, thus, worthy of taking challenge and risk. After careful considerations of wide spectrum of idea notes received from invited experts or put forward by the permanent and co-opted members, the committee identified three geoscience themes wherein development of indigenous geotechnology should be rewarding. Areas identified are:
l l l

Geodynamics and geohazard, Imaging of deep lithosphere and Sustained exploration of natural resources.

Committee observed that there is ample scope for the development of new technology in each of these fields. However, it would not be advisable to venture in every instrumentation and technology required in each field. Specifically, we may explore the development of a few instruments depending upon huge requirements. The focus shall be on the time frame so that fast growing and expanding technology at international level should not outpace our efforts of indigenous development. The mass deployments of indigenously developed equipments would permit dense coverage and hence should lead to better imaging of deeper structures of different dimension and depth, objective assessment of seismic hazard and risk mitigation measures as well as strategic
203

exploitation of natural resource. In the later, a care is exercised in the sense that natural resource exploration of specific items, like hydrocarbon and mineral resources, which are being planned and exploited by other sister institutions are not considered. The present focus is projected only on the R and D evolution of thermal resources, which are not commercially exploited as yet by any other Government agency. The space technology has begun to play increasing role in all spheres of Earth Science programs. Beside the 3 already identified areas, the space technology has special place in tracking climate-tectonic interactions manifested in surface geomorphology and landscape evolution. Recognising vast expanding scope and needs, prioritisation of proposed technology developmental plan has been the major motivation. Major items where we need technology development or modification in the existing technologies are as follows.
l

To develop suitable network for earthquake monitoring, indigenous development of high quality broadband sensor, data acquisition system may be taken up immediately. To take advantage of already developed high quality technology, it might be worthwhile to procure sensor technology on payment or as mutually agreed partnership enterprise. To make and provide provision for real time communication of earthquake data by VSAT and Telemetry to central recording station for auto-detection of large earthquake events as an step to issue early warning alerts on fast approaching damaging seismic waves to put off high risk power plants and metro system using indigenous seismic switches. Considering the huge requirement of accelerographs for strong motion monitoring to study the attenuation characteristics of ground motion, we may consider to take up development of accelerographs in India. Developments of select frequency band geophones capable of transmitting data with wireless system for deep lithospheric imaging using active source seismology. For better understanding of seismogenesis of earthquakes and detailed characterisation of medium rheology, stress partitioning, fracture propagation, high-pressure pore-fluid dynamics and various earth processes, it is recommended to develop technology for taking up super deep (~5 km) bore hole drilling and experiment planning. The existing technology towards making geothermal heat pumps for heating buildings i n cold regions needs to be improved upon by targeting drastic cost reduction in installations so as to make it affordable to large communities. To harness geothermal energy, we must develop drilling and testing technologies in high heat flow areas. It is advised that we may consider development of geotechnical sensors such as strainmeters/tiltmeters to monitor landslide prone regions. Considering our huge dependency on minerals, we may develop airborne/space systems for electromagnetic, magnetic and gravity surveys. Ground penetrating Radar is used effectively in many science disciplines for shallow surface investigations in earth sciences, archaeology, glaciology etc. We may consider developing it and may consider modification to suit our purpose for deeper probing.

Beside these first priority items, development of following supplementary items are suggested
l

No major expertise is available for taking up this challenging task of developing geotechnologies and hence a dedicated spirited team of engineers and scientists have to be recruited and trained. There should be provision for liaison with private or public sector with clear provision to outsource the specified work or hire expertise on market value. The centre assigned this challenging task has to be guided by the spirit of innovation and creativity rather moving on the already carved paths of technology and set norms of administration. The city which can attract
204

technocrats and can offer opportunities for public-private linkage should outweigh other factors in the selection of place for the Centre for Geotechnology. In any case, fully independent working and financial autonomy have to be ensured to the centre. The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Oslo, Norway and Lamont Doherty in the USA could be the role model for this development of geotechnology in India. It is proposed, a small team may visit NRI or Lamont to gain more knowledge about working and scope of these centres of excellence. The token manpower and financial projections for the creations of Centre for Geotechnology are indicated as actual requirements that can be decided when the exact location and status of the centre is approved by the MoES. In conclusion, it may be emphasised that any human and financial investments in developing such a centre may be seen as a long term investments and no immediate returns may be targeted.

Sub-Committee on Geotechnology Vision of MoES

Ministry of Earth Sciences vide their letter no.MoES/15/PMN/2009 PC II dated 16.6.2009 constituted a committee with following scientists to draw vision plan for the development and induction of indigenous technologies to geoscience programs of the country to enhance their scope of on-going and new ventures for sustained living and growth of the society. Chairman Dr.V.P.Dimri Members Dr.B.R.Arora Prof N Bhandari Dr.V. Rajendran Dr. Pawan Kapur Dr. Ashok Kumar Dr.R.S. Dattatrayam Member Secretary Dr.B.K.Bansal Following members were co-opted as special invitee and some experts were invited to provide written inputs: Co-opted Members Dr R.K. Chadha Dr S.K.Mittal Dr Sukant Roy Dr B.K.Sharma Dr M.Ravikumar Dr V.K. Gahalaut

2.

Introduction: A Short Review of Research Trends in Geosciences

Until around 1960s, research topics in earth sciences were built almost entirely on the synoptic study of rocks type, landforms, sedimentary environments, biostratigraphy, palaeoclimate, space distribution of earthquake epicentres and damage scenario in respect of large earthquakes etc to find answers to questions, e.g., how sedimentary basins were created, how fast mountain were formed and eroded, evolution and extinction of life, drifting continents and causes of major natural catastrophes like volcanoes and earthquakes. The advent of theory of plate tectonics in 1960s, including its corollaries of mantle convection, seafloor spreading and continental drift, ushered to view earth from a static system to dynamic one where the dynamic processes operative in earth's deep interior not only explained the pattern of earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountain ranges but also eventually provided possible mechanisms to create the continents and seafloor, to gradually shift Earth's climate over geological time, and to influence the course of biological evolution. The transformation of Earth science in the last two decades is greatly facilitated by breakthrough advances in technology and information technology. Major advances in technology allow us to characterize rock properties at mineral or even at grain level and discern individual atoms, measure the properties of rocks at the immense pressures and temperatures prevailing inside Earth, space technology allows to watch continents drift and mountains grow in real time etc. Armed with new tools, Earth science is turning to probe the fundamental processes involving crustal evolution,
205

mountain building, climate-tectonic interactions and quantitatively analyze the process-response systems to have insight into the inter-linkage of operative deep geodynamics with surface expressions in more incisive manner. In recent years the progress in geosciences has been very steady and fast. We have started learning about earthquake diversity, we have moved from short period instruments to broad band instruments, analog to digital, off line to real time, uni-scale to multi-scale research, slow and offline computation to real time computation, frustration in the failure of earthquake prediction to the steady progress in early warning systems and assessment of damage potential, etc. In past few years, earth scientists have contributed immensely from discovery of natural resources, to learn to live on the violent, yet amicable planet with all natural hazards, to cope with climate change, ozone hole, in development of nuclear test ban treaty, etc.

2.

Use of new technologies and their effectiveness

The rapid growth of earth sciences, both in innovations and applications, at all stages have been benefited by the equally fast parallel developments in the instrumentation, incorporation of new technology, rapid growth in the computational facilities as well as easy accessibility to information technology and mode of data communication. Critical review of the emerging impacts of geotechnologies on various areas of earth sciences reveals that advances can be classified in to two major categories. The first includes analytical laboratory instrumentation, e.g., Electron Microscope Probes, Raman Spectrometry, Mass Spectrometry for Stable Isotope, Thermal Ionisation and Inductively Coupled Mass Spectrometers, High Temperature/Pressure laboratories etc. Induction of such equipments have greatly improved the precision and resolution of petrological, chemical and geochronological characterisation of material from whole rock to mineral, element and even at atom levels and are being exploited to address eternal fundamental issues of chemical, thermal and magmatic evolution of crust, rate of erosion and exhumations of mountain chain, etc. The other category of developments relate to deployment of improved instruments for observation and measurements of intrinsic geophysical fields at different scales from land, oceanic domain and space. The observational evidence on the existence of symmetrically disposed opposite polarity magnetic anomalies with respect to the central axis of oceanic ridges were central to advancing hypothesis of plate tectonics which provided framework to explain earthquake generation mountain building etc. Induction of Broadband seismometers in earthquake monitoring and deep lithosphere imaging programs coupled with application of advance numerical tools of tomography, receiver functions have greatly improved our understanding of structures of active collision belts and seismic zones. Resistivity imaging by magnetotelluric technique by virtue of its sensitivity to fluids and temperature have emerged as power tool for rheological characterisation of continental crust and mapping partial melt zone. While former have been able to explain space-depth distribution of crustal seismicity, the evidence of partial melt in collision belts have been used to postulate channel flow model, which has been successful in explaining puzzle of inverse metamorphism in high Himalaya. The inductions of space based technologies in earth sciences have given global perspective to address challenging hypothesis and questions. The successful illustrations of these are GRACE (gravity) and MAGSAT missions which have given global picture of density and magnetisation as well as provided maps of Curie temperature depth. More recent effective example is GPS technology that allows quantify crustal deformation in almost real time, great asset in identifying critical stressed zones capable of producing great earthquakes. It follows that with adoption of new advancing technologies in different areas of earth sciences, the pace and orientation of research have transformed from mere synoptic (e.g. rock types, landforms) to hypothesis testing (e.g. Plate tectonics) to theme/question base (e.g., can earthquakes be predicted?). Clearly the choice of prioritisation of geotechnology for indigenous development depends upon the outstanding scientific issues, especially significant to Indian geology and their outreach impact on society or economic benefits. The committee noted that most of the analytical equipments in category (1) are the results of dedicated R & D by highly specialised one or two groups and are mostly propriety in nature. Further, requirement of such equipments would be confined to creation of national facility centres at couple of institutions and, thus, it is not advisable to attempt development of such facilities due to limited requirements, lack of professional expertise as well from
206

economic considerations. Instead, committee felt that limited expertise available or that can be mobilised could be used to manufacture field based equipments which are needed in large numbers to augment observational network at national level to capture data to meet outstanding earth science problems.

3. Challenging Earth Science Themes vis--vis Geotechnology

An overview of the changing scenario of earth sciences in the back ground of advances in technology indicates close inter-linkage. Clearly the choice of prioritisation of geotechnology for indigenous development depends upon the current outstanding scientific issues, especially in the context of Indian geology. Though the subject matter of identification of challenging areas of research relevant to India might have been covered by some other subcommittee, for the sake of completeness, the committee invited suggestions from peer experts and also debated range of themes. Some of the challenging issues that were considered are listed below to reflect commonalities in the think process amongst the earth science community:

Quantification of strain budget along the convergent plate margins and detection of
slow earthquakes,

Geodynamic processes at the Indian plate margins Multiple component earthquake precursory studies Geo-hazard risk assessment and mitigation Delineation of subsurface shallow and deep structures for seismic hazards assessment Strong motion studies In India to predict peak ground acceleration in association with
large earthquakes

Science plan and technological requirements in seismology Research program on the geodynamics and structure of the continental margins and
adjoining deep seas

Integrated approach to develop and test evolution models of the Himalaya and role of
fluids in seismogenesis

Beyond plate tectonics: rheology and orogeny of Indian continent Aeromagnetic survey of Indian subcontinent for crustal evolution and resource location Super Deep Borehole for Geoscience studies Imaging of the Indian subcontinent Some Suggestions on Structure, Tectonic and Metallogenic Studies Geothermal studies: Goals for the future Mineral exploration strategies for precious metal Dyke swarms from the Indian shield in space and time: Magmatic Evolution, ILP and
continental reconstruction

South Asian river system: proxy to climate-tectonic interactions Geologic growth history of the Indian shield through growth history space and time Water resource availability and its management

4.

Identified Areas

Careful scrutiny of research themes and detailed discussions, it was concluded that the above research themes/trends can be grouped under three broad areas. a) b) c) Geodynamics and Geohazards Deep imaging of the Indian Lithosphere Sustained development of natural resource exploration The above identified themes also meet the major policy guidelines that instruments which are
207

required in large numbers only need to be considered for immediate planning and to draw road map for the development of indigenous geotechnology. All these programs have societal outreach and can contribute to the economic growth of the country and, thus, worthy of taking challenge and calculated risk. All these research themes are being pursued in India by procuring geotechnology from open markets. Substantial progress has been made in past 30 years. The primary research objectives, salient progress, status of geotechnology created to date, outline of future challenges and requirements are summarised below for each of identified themes.

4.1 Geodynamics and Geohazards

4.1.1 Introduction The subject of geodynamics relates to identifying and quantifying the fundamentals processes necessary for an understanding of the working of the solid earth. It is now widely accepted that slow convective motions in the solid mantle are the primary driving force for the earth dynamics. The convective motions are driven by the heat of Earth's interior; ambient and that generated from the decay of radioactive elements. The interaction of these convective flows with outermost rigid shell of the earth, named lithosphere, is central to the theory of Plate tectonics. A key component of the plate tectonics model is the representation of Earth's outermost rock layers in terms of a small number of rigid spherical caps or plates. These plates in response to the deep dynamics are in relative motion, and their interactions at boundaries are manifested in the form of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, mountain building, defined as the seismic (earthquake-producing) and tectonic (volcanic and mountain-building) belts of the world. Since its advent in 1960s, the plate tectonics has become the unifying hypothesis to search generating mechanisms of these surface expressions in the context of the deep internal dynamics. Describing uniquely the mantle convection flows in the back ground of ever increasing knowledge of mineral physics at high temperature and pressure are current basic research issues receiving global attention. Special focus is on to calculate with confidence how different they were in the past, or predict how they will change in the future to gain full long term perspective of the deep internal dynamics operative on geological timescales. On the other hand, seismicity in subduction zones and three-dimensional seismic tomography models deduced from the inversion of travel times of seismic waves are front line tools for inferring the present-day configuration of mantle convection flow at both large and small scales. Himalaya mountain chain bordering the Indian subcontinent is a classical example of collision between India Plate with Asia Plate. Earthquakes in this belt, like elsewhere on the globe, are one of the most devastating geohazards which affect the sustenance and safety of the human population. The earthquake of October 8, 2005 in the Muzaffarabad region in the western Himalaya is the most recent example that claimed more than 80,000 lives and destroyed several parts of Pakistan and north Indian states. Seismology research in the world is being carried out on various aspects of earthquake phenomenon with the aim to develop predictive capabilities in future. But the efforts of the earth science community have not reached a stage where earthquake prediction in short term is possible as of now. In the absence of such a possibility the focus in India and elsewhere has been to make meaningful earthquake hazard assessment and make efforts to suggest mitigation measures. Contemporary technology advances have made it possible to make early warning system to predict the arrival time of destructive seismic waves from known seismic belts to major urban cities some tens of seconds in advance to that critical facilities can be switched off to avert or minimise major disaster. The following sections describe the major research issues, their objectives, current status in the context of Indian sub-continent and directions of future orientation in the back ground of sophisticated technology developments that are necessary to make accurate estimates of dynamic processes causing earthquakes, their hazards potential and possible prediction

4.1.2 Major Research Areas for Geodynamic and Geohazard Studies and Support Geotechnologies
Earthquake Monitoring Networks/Systems Though our ancestors have reported about the phenomena of earthquakes, the science of
208

seismology progressed rather extremely slow in the beginning. It was the 1819 Rann of Kachchh earthquake which prompted geologists to propose that earthquakes cause changes in the landform. But it was only after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, when we started learning about the mechanism of the earthquake occurrence. But it took another six decades for any substantial progress in understanding the earthquakes and it was only after 1960's, after the plate tectonics hypothesis, and after the installation of world wide seismograph network, when actual research in seismology started. Continuous monitoring of earthquake activity in any seismically active belt by suitable network of seismometers is basic prerequisite to estimate earthquakes location, source parameters, fault rupture mechanism, fault geometry, which collectively unveil the operative geodynamic processes. The applications of modern numerical tools of tomography, receiver function, surface wave analysis help sub-surface medium characterization in terms of seismic wave velocity structures. Presence of low velocity layer at mid-crustal depths mark fluid-induced rheological transitions and thus, explains focusing of hypocenters on sharp brittle-ductile interface. The alignments of earthquake hypocentres in space-depth section establish their inter-linkage to tectonic features, a key to constrain the seismotectonic model, Further, the space-time segmentation revealed by microearthquake data recorded by local network signify complexities of the tectonic setting and crustal structures controlling strain accumulation/release that may be responsible for varied earthquake mechanisms in different parts of the seismic belt. Such data sets are also able to identify active faults of the region and can be used to demarcate space time patterns of enhanced/ quiescence that invariably precede the large earthquakes in the given seismic belt. In India earthquake monitoring systems have been in operation for the last more than 100 years. The onus of operating and maintaining the national seismological networks in the country has been on the India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi. Presently, IMD is operating a network of 52 seismic stations. In addition, NGRI at Hyderabad is operating 20-25 permanent and has 45-50 seismometers, mostly broadband, for campaign mode operation for deep structural studies. Several other institutes like the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, IITs-Roorkee, Kharagpur, Mumbai and Chennai, other departments like State Dam Authorities etc. are also operating nearly 70 seismic observatories for problem specific research. However, most of the data from stations operated by other institutions are generally not available on single platform for coordinated study of seismicity in realistic time frame. Detection threshold of minimum magnitude earthquake with certainty using this sparse network is only M>4. While data sets from such network on great and major earthquakes are fully adequate to quantify the source parameters, mechanisms and direction of movements at the causative faults, the data on more frequently occurring moderate magnitude are essential to quantify the earthquake process, judge reactivation of faults etc. There is urgent need to upgrade the network to bring down the detection threshold to M> 2.5 or even lower. In addition, some local arrays in specific areas believed to be preparing for major earthquakes for deciphering the space-time characteristics, nucleation that are expected to precede major and great earthquakes. The array mode operation would also be useful for aftershocks monitoring following major earthquakes that are required to characterise the source as well as medium properties. IMD already has in store the plan to upgrade the network where number would increase to about 104. However, for purposes of preparing the road map for developing and producing the seismometer with indigenous technology and setting optimum seismological network to record earthquakes with minimum detection threshold of M> 2.5 for the entire Indian subcontinent would be close to 500. The Latur earthquake in 1993 was the watershed for seismological research in the country as it marked the beginning of Digital Broadband Seismology. The availability of high fidelity data permitted introduction of modern numerical computational seismology paving way to deeper understanding of the earthquake source phenomenon and earth's structure. Therefore, it is imperative that all new up-gradation or replacement of the existing instrumentation should be with modern broadband sensors.

209

Crustal Deformation Studies In Himalaya, the relative plate motion between Indian and Asian Plates is accommodated on the detachment separating the down going Indian Plate and overriding Himalayan wedge. The detachment is frictionally locked during the most of the inter-seismic periods, causing ongoing plate motion to deform the detachment and associated complex fault system, storing elastic strain energy in the process. Due to continued collision of plates, accumulating strains are released episodically during earthquakes by slips on detachment in stick and slip manner. The estimate of strain accumulation, resulting crustal deformation/shortening, rate of slip movement, strain budgeting and partitioning on complex fault system are pre-requisite to locate sections of extended Himalaya which are critically stressed to produce large/great earthquakes. Until 1990, Survey of India was the only agency involved in the crustal deformation studies using land based surveying methods. However, after the development of satellite based observations, mainly Global Positioning System (GPS), several institutes started operating networks in the Indian region. Presently, other than national network, we have several permanent and campaign mode GPS stations. These studies have helped in understanding the current plate motion, crustal deformation or strain budget across various plate margin regions and intra-plate regions, deformation through earthquake cycle and rheology of the region. There is still a large scope to expand the network and place GPS receiver at number of strategic regions which either based on space-time distribution of seismicity or based on the estimate of accumulated slips are prepared for next major catastrophic earthquake. The plan of implementing optimum GPS network on national level is already in pipeline under independent program of the MoES. One simple thumb rule could be that GPS stations could be co-located with envisaged upgraded seismological network of Broadband sensors. Looking at the large immediate and periodic requirements of the GPS receiver, indigenous development program would be in place. However, noting that a consortium of satellite, presently 55 launched by U.S, are central to the full operation GPS navigation system, such a venture would require very long term planning and major partnership of several agencies. Further, the nature of sophistications required in the design of antenna to improve high precision and the dependency of the allocation of central frequencies for communication from present players, key parameter to correct travel time of GPS signal for atmospheric and ionospheric effects, would make the entire proposal risky and uncertain. Therefore, committee is of the opinion that development of indigenous GPS technology may be deferred to more appropriate time. At present, private vendors engaged in supplying the current needs may be encouraged to set up manufacturing units in India with co-operation from their principals. Precursory Studies: Road Map to Earthquake Prediction The goal of earthquake prediction is to specify where and when a significant earthquake will occur. Where future great earthquakes will occur is largely understood. However, predicting when they will strike is much more difficult, though progress has been made and promising avenues of research have emerged. The important leads in Earthquake predictions are commonly classified by time frame; the Long-term and Short-term. 1. Long-term forecasts of events of an uncertain magnitude that have a low probability of occurrence over a large window of time. Long-term forecasts based on probabilistic methods are an active area of research. Short-term prediction of events of a specific size that have a high probability of occurrence within a narrow range of space and time, weeks or months in advance. Earthquake precursors hold the optimism although yet no definite paths are defined to predict earthquake the days or months before to tell when an event will occur in any specific location. The dilatancy-diffusion model based on behaviour of rocks under stresses in laboratory conditions has some success in explaining some of the noted precursory signals. These advances have provided new hopes that these precursors should exist and, thus, quest for precursors and their documentation has continued.

2.

210

The salient research leads, current status, limitations and directions of future research in the light of modern technology are briefed below: Long-term Precursory Signals: Since the advent of the theory of Plate tectonics, it has been recognized where most earthquakes occur, i.e. at Plate Boundaries. Elastic-rebound hypothesis suggests that once a large earthquake releases the accumulated stress on a fault, that same fault segment is unlikely to experience a large earthquake until strain has re-accumulated. Implicit in such relation is that a future earthquake is more likely on a part of a fault that has not ruptured recently. State of slip calculation based on the rate of plate movement and paleoseismology-the investigation of individual earthquakes in the geological record-provides critical information on the return period and variability of earthquake occurrence over the long term. Such considerations have led to timedependent long-term earthquake forecasts. The utility of this boundary condition for earthquake prediction is confounded by the fact that plate boundaries typically comprise complex fault systems, and the partitioning of slip among faults is difficult to unravel, even in well-studied systems. Despite the complexity, earthquake phenomena exhibit certain types order, e.g. a power-law description of the relative number of large and small earthquakes as imbedded in Gutenberg-Richter relation. Omori's Law provides a universal description of the rate of aftershock decay. Methods of statistical physics are used to understand how these relationships emerge from the earthquake process and to predict their behaviour. Finally, models of static and dynamic triggering help us understand how earthquakes interact, including how the probability of one earthquake increases or lessens the probability of another. Until a better understanding of physical law's that govern these relations, long-term forecasting of such events will remain empirical. The applications of these relations are further complicated by the special demands imposed by attempting to specify exactly when these events will occur. Short-term Precursory Signals: Short-term earthquake prediction is one of the most cherished goals of geoscientists. On the consideration that strain accumulation during earthquake preparatory cycle and its sudden release during earthquake rupture are likely to produce changes in certain physical/chemical properties of the media, search for precursory signals in many active seismic zones has continued. As a result of intensive monitoring, variety of precursory signals are reported which are broadly classified into following categories:

Seismological Precursors, Geomagnetic and Geoelectric Precursors, Atmospheric/ Ionospheric Precursors, Geodetic Precursors, Geochemical Precursors.
On the hind-sight some of these parameters have shown characteristic changes which one way or the other appeared to be related to earthquake occurrence. However, pessimism prevailed as nature of noted changes was not observed at all earthquakes sites or even for different earthquakes in the same region. The lack of sound physical hypothesis that could explain and validate precursory behaviours further added to the pessimism. The dilatancy-diffusion model based on behaviour of rocks under stresses in laboratory conditions has some success in explaining some of the noted precursory signals. Laboratory based dilatancy-diffusion model predicts that crustal rocks when subjected to various degrees of stresses, simulating different phases of earthquake preparatory cycle, undergo opening of minor cracks, in-flux of fluids, material strengthening prior to the rupture. These changes producing small perturbation in physical properties of rocks and thus should be manifested as enhanced micro-seismicity, seismic wave velocity changes, crustal deformation, small-scale changes in gravity, resistivity, magnetic field intensity, electromagnetic and radon gas emission as well as fluctuations in hydrological parameters. These advances provided new hopes that these precursors should exist and, thus, quest for precursors and their documentation has continued.
211

Recognizing that certain precursory changes hold key to earthquake prediction, Division of Seismology, Department of Science and Technology, now under Ministry of Earth Sciences had constituted a National Task Force to take stock and progress made so far in the area of earthquake precursory studies and in the background of these developments formulated a focused program on precursory studies in few selective areas. Noting that the numbers of parameters are expected to show characteristic space-time variation during the earthquake preparatory cycles, more definite approach calls for simultaneous measurements of inter-disciplinary parameters. A concrete efforts using multi-parametric approach is considered to make a dent in this complex field. MPGO for earthquake precursory research at Ghuttu, Northwest Himalaya: In view of the above realizations, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) has established the first Indian Multi-Parametric Geophysical Observatory (MPGO) at Ghuttu, Central Himalaya. Located in a narrow belt of high seismicity, just south of the Main Central Thrust, the region has been the seat of recent 1991-Uttarkashi and 1999-Chamoli earthquakes, both M>6. The MPGO became fully operational in April 2007 and is equipped with super conducting gravimeter, overhauser magnetometer, tri-axial fluxgate magnetometer, ULF band search coil magnetometer, radon data logger, water level recorders and is backed up by the dense network of Global Position System (GPS) and Broad Band Seismometers (BBS). The installation of strain meters and magnetotelluric units is also planned. The simultaneous recording of inter-disciplinary parameters is processed to search for characteristic space-time variation in micro-seismicity, seismic wave velocity changes, crustal deformation, smallscale changes in gravity, resistivity, magnetic field intensity, electromagnetic and radon gas emission as well as fluctuations in hydrological parameters expected during the earthquake preparatory cycles. Presently the seismological and gravity data is collected in real mode at headquarter Dehradun through VSAT. All other parameters are working in stand alone mode and data are collected at a regular interval. Although the high precision equipments deployed have the requisite sensitivities to record characteristic stress-induced perturbations, the isolation of weak precursory signals is still challenge as each geophysical time series has characteristic time variability related to inter-planetary, terrestrial, hydrological, tectonic sources. The present focus is on characterizing the time variability of various parameters to facilitate the isolation of weak earthquake related precursory changes. Earthquake Hazard Assessment: Earthquakes at their worst are extreme catastrophes. The 1905 Kangra earthquake killed over 10,000 people in a matter of minutes but some rough estimate indicate if similar earthquake were to recur now more than 80,000 lives will be lost. Even if shortterm earthquake prediction was feasible, it would still be impossible to protect most of the built environment from damage. Hence an improved ability to forecast the consequences of catastrophic events and to prepare for them, predicting the level of shaking from seismic waves in an earthquake is a critical aspect of earthquake hazard assessment and risk mitigation. At present more than one interlinked approaches are adopted to prepare the microzonation maps of quantitative assessment of seismic hazards. Some of the key approaches included are: Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis: The probability of strong ground motions is commonly calculated using probabilistic seismic hazard analysis by combining information on earthquake likelihoods from long-term records and data on peak ground acceleration, spectral acceleration, and peak ground velocity to create a map of intensities at the specified exceedence probability. Such maps can be used to develop design criteria for buildings and to set priorities among risk reduction measures. Data accrued from the seismological networks, both local and regional, have been the base for the preparation of Seismic Zoning Map of India and also first order Probabilistic Seismic Hazard of the country. Further, more localized networks have been very useful to identify seismically active faults which form the very basis for assessing potential hazard for an area. Strong motion array and numerical simulation to predict ground motions: During major earthquakes damage is mostly caused by the level of ground accelerations which are amplified depending on the site locations and vary from place to place. To record these strong accelerations, Strong Motion Accelerographs are deployed. Unfortunately very few recordings of strong ground motion close to past large earthquakes exist to make realistic assessment of expected motion with
212

impending earthquakes. Computer simulation of strong ground motion offer possible means to fill this data gap, as long as we can be confident the simulations are accurate. Major sources of uncertainty in these calculations include characterization of the earthquake source, ability to model the effects of wave propagation through Earth's crust, changes to the wavefield due to near-surface nonlinearity, and earthquake-to-earthquake variability in the rupture characteristics. Physics-based prediction of strong ground motions through simulations is an area of intense research. More recently, under a MoES sponsored mission mode initiative on seismology, some 300 accelerographs are being deployed in the seismically active Himalayan belt from west to east. There is large scope to upgrade this network to provide necessary density and full coverage to Andaman Nicobar as well as to expand the network to bring in its ambit several other seismic active zones in the Indian Peninsular shield. Creating high-performance computing facilities for numerical simulations that reach high enough frequencies for structural engineering purposes are fully justified. Geotechnical studies for seismic hazard: Earth's crust is strongly heterogeneous at all scales, so earthquake waves are strongly distorted as they propagate through it. The damage due to the shaking caused by an earthquake, interalia, also depends upon local site conditions. Thus it is important to identify the site characteristics (e.g., its liquefaction potential, amplitude amplification, etc.) by employing engineering geophysics methods. This will help in developing scenarios of damage (shake maps) during earthquakes and also in developing seismic microzonation maps of the region. These studies are being carried out for smaller regions like cities where Microzonation studies are required. In addition to seismological inputs like PGA values, response spectra and other details, site response studies to know the dominant frequency, liquefaction potential, slope instability are being done to prepare Microzonation map for major cities. Also, using different techniques, like MASW, shear wave velocity structure is being obtained for very shallow sub-surface using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). Early Warning of the Earthquakes and Seismic cut-off Switches The idea of earthquake early warning is simple and is based on the principal that (i) electromagnetic waves travel faster than the elastic waves, and (ii) P waves travel faster than the more damaging elastic S waves in an elastic medium. P and S waves are generated simultaneously during the earthquake, but with increasing distance from the place of origin they get segregated. Presently, two types of early warning systems (EWS) are in operation around the world. One is a front-detection EWS: seismometers installed in the earthquake source area give early warnings to more distant urban areas. The other is an on-site EWS, which determines the earthquake parameters from the initial portion of the P wave and predicts the more severe ground shakings of the following S-wave trains. Some crucial facilities, like nuclear power plant, high speed trains, gas pipelines, etc. may be shut down and people may get a few seconds to come out of the buildings. Such warning systems, also referred as Earthquake Alarms Systems (ElarmS) have been implemented in a few countries like, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, Turkey, Romania and have been tested offline in California, Italy, Alaska. Mexico is the classic example where EWS can help tremendously. Though Mexico city is not very prone to earthquakes, a distant earthquake along the western Mexican coast can cause extensive damage due to its soil condition. Thus, a warning of few seconds at Mexico city about the earthquake along the coast can help in reducing the damage. A similar case exists in India. Though major cities in the north, like New Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, etc. are not in the earthquake-prone region, they are located close to the central Seismic gap in the Himalayan region where great earthquake is expected. Hence, a warning a few seconds can reduce the damage and casualty. However, such systems are yet to be implemented in India. Real-time seismology is becoming a reality in India with the regional deployment of highquality instrumentation and their real time communication and connectivity (VSAT, continuous telemetry) to central station. The records of early P-wave triggers from seismic network can be used for auto detection of earthquake location and first estimate of magnitude within a few minutes of the initiation of rupture, then regions likely to be subject to dangerous shaking can be alerted before the
213

seismic waves arrive. These systems exploit the fact that the speed of telecommunications exceeds that of seismic waves. The amount of warning that earthquake early warning systems can provide for large earthquakes can be tens of seconds under favourable circumstances. Recognizing this critical leads seismic switches have been installed in several places in the world where continuing operation of certain machines can pose additional hazard in case of strong ground shaking. In case the ground acceleration exceeds certain prescribed limit, such switches turn off these critical facilities. They have been used in nuclear power plants, fast moving trains, gas pipe line distribution station, etc. In India, we are not using such switches but a test system can be introduced in the National Capital Region to warn off the arrival of destructive shaking waves of large earthquakes from the Himalaya.

4.1.3 Summary Recommendations for Monitoring Set ups for Major Research Areas for Geodynamic and Geohazard Studies
It follows that to understand the geodynamics and quantitative assessment of the geohazards of the Indian subcontinent, particularly Himalaya and Tibet, Indo-Burmese arc, Andaman Nicobar subduction zone, peninsular India etc, reasonably good beginning is made. We have begun to understand the evolution and earthquake occurrence processes in these regions. However, even now the progress is hindered by the lack of instrumentation and data required to study various processes. We need to deploy several networks and collect required data to further understand number of the inter-linked studies enumerated above. A summary observations and recommendations on geotechnology network are as follows:
l

We still lack sufficient numbers of seismic observatories in the country, particularly in the plate margin regions. We need to strengthen the existing network which would help us in understanding the crustal structure, earthquake occurrence processes, earthquake monitoring etc. We need to expand our GPS network for crustal deformation studies. A good beginning is made to search the multi sensor earthquake precursors by establishing MPGO. Since integrated earthquake precursory research is still at infancy, much of the methodological steps to examine the data in real time are being developed and would require field validations, it would be rather pre-mature to evaluate needs of indigenous technology. Any case, MoES has constituted and independent Project Management Board to over see the long term orientations and needs of Earthquake programs in totality. It is rather promising that Ghuttu MPGO has begun to serve as role model and numbers of new MPGO are already established in Bhuj, Gujarat and Shillong, Assam and other couple of them are in pipeline. To study the attenuation characteristics of ground motion due to earthquakes, we need to expand our strong motion network. Considering that the seismic arrays have proved to be extremely useful in understanding the dynamic rupture processes of the earthquake, we may deploy one or two such arrays. We must deploy Earthquake Early Warning systems. It may prove to be most useful in the mega cities located in the Indo-Gangetic plains which may experience severe earthquake damage from earthquakes in the Himalayan region. Elsewhere, such systems have been installed, however, in India we need to take it up in a systematic manner. Most of the Himalayan region including NE India is prone to landslide. Landslide monitoring is still at a much localised scale and landslide in the Himalaya and Western Ghat regions pose severe threat to human life and lifelines. It is advised that we may consider development of strainmeters/tiltmeters to monitor landslide prone regions. These instruments may also be helpful in crustal deformation studies in earthquake prone regions.

l l

214

4.1.4 Geotechnology Requirements

For geodynamical and geohazard studies, basic instruments which are being used world-wide are: Seismometers: The present day technology allows recordings of all the frequencies which are generated due to earthquakes. These sensors are referred to as Broadband Sensors. Modern Broadband Sensors have the following specifications: i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) Typical frequency response will be in the range of 230 sec to 50 Hz. Dynamic range is about 135 dB Damping will be around 0.7 of critical Velocity sensitivity should be 1500 V/m/sec or higher Linearity will be less than 1% of full scale Most importantly, the power requirement will be very low, ie. <2.0 watts at 12 VDC

Ocean bottom seismometer (OBS): Technological requirement for the development of OBS is very high and the demand at present appears to be low, hence it may not be attempted. However, parallel program taken up NIOT to develop buoys could be used to house OBS. Accelerometers: Accelerometers are being used to record the strong motion generated during the earthquakes. Although, acceleration can be obtained mathematically from velocity records of the seismometers, but seismometers are incapable to record strong ground motion as its records get tripped if subjected to high ground motion of epicentral region for moderate and large earthquakes. Also due to presence of noise in records, direct records of acceleration are found to be more reliable than those found by differentiating velocity record. The characteristic features of an accelerometer are the following: i Nominally the frequency response should be flat (3dB) from DC to at least 100Hz. ii) Full scale should be 2g (standard) iii) iv) v) Dynamic range should be 130 dB Damping should be between 0.6 and 0.7 of critical damping The relationship between output signal and input acceleration to be within 1% of full scale for all frequencies from DC to 50 Hz.

Recorders and Data Acquisition Systems (DAS): The recorders and DAS used in seismological and structural monitoring should have compatibility to the accelerometers and seismometers. The data acquisition systems compatible to the suggested configurations of seismometers have the following characteristics: I) Should have 6 channels with three independent 24-bit digitizers, one for each channel ii) iii) iv) v) vi) Dynamic range must be 130 dB at 100 sps System noise should not be more than 2-3 counts of 24 bit system on an RMS basis in the frequency range corresponding to the passband 230 sec to 50 Hz. Should have linear phase digital FIR filter Should have provision for VSAT data transmission Most importantly power consumption of DAS should not exceed 2 W at 12 VDC in normal active operational mode of data acquisition. Typical

vii) Autolocation capabilities is an important requirement these days. Recorders: The recorders used should have compatibility to the accelerometers. characteristics features are as follows: I) ii) Minimum 3 channel recording 24 bit ADC
215

iii) iv)

Dynamic range 130 dB Frequency response should be DC to 50 Hz or more and the input range should match to the sensor output.

Early Warning system and seismic switches: The main components in the EWS are accelerographs with real time streaming capability, connectivity of field accelerographs to processing centre and the software which can automatically estimate the magnitude of earthquake from early part of P waves, also automatically calculate the magnitude by detecting the arrival of various phases and automatically take decision to announce alert and transmit the alert to various nodes and seismic switches. Even if the development of hardware is not attempted, the development and deployment of EWS can be considered. Strainmeters and Tiltmeters: Water tube based strainmeters were developed in India in 197080 period, however, they were not very sensitive and too big to install. Their development in India may be considered. Global Navigation Satellite System: Development of GNSS does not appear to be feasible as the technology requirement is very high. Moreover, India has no control over the navigational satellite systems used for accurate positioning. Ground Penetrating Radars (GPR): GPR are essentially used for shallow sub-surface structure up to at least 100 meters. Most of the time in earthquake hazard assessment studies, shear wave velocity of the top 30 meters is required which can be easily obtained from GPR surveys. 4.1.5 Adoption of existing technology and indigenous development Presently, all the instruments are being imported which are used in geohazards and geodynamics studies in the country. Attempts were made to develop analog seismic recording system during 1980s, but these instruments, however, could not match the performance of the analog recorders available at that time. In principle, adoption of existing technology to develop seismic instruments is possible, provided a strong group of engineers are involved in this effort. As for seismometers, it is rather a major effort, as it requires very high precision components, which are presently not being developed in the country and hence to be imported, anyway. To catch up with high standard of technology in the design and fabrication, it would be desirable to take up the indigenous development of seismometer through private-public linkage or patent of existing know how should be procured on commercial basis. For DAS, attempts can be made to achieve this task. 4.1.6 Modalities/Roadmap for Implementation Presently, India Meteorological Department, New Delhi is operating a network of 55 permanent seismic stations. This network is planned to be upgraded with Broadband Digital seismographs and number increased to about 150. In addition, NGRI at Hyderabad operated about 70 seismic stations in the country, mostly with Broadband sensors. Several of the institutes like the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, IITs- Roorkee, Kharagpur, Mumbai and Chennai, other departments like INCOIS at Hyderabad, State Dam Authorities etc. are also operating nearly 70 seismic observatories for problem specific research. IIT-Roorkee is in the process of installing 300 Strong Motion Accelographs in seismic zones V, IV and III of North and North East India. The requirement for seismic equipment is presently around 250 seismometers and 500 additional accelerographs which may increase in future. Normally, when these equipments are installed, they operate reasonably well up to at least 10 years. The problem generally occurs in Data Acquisition System (DAS). These equipments are presently manufactured by a few companies in the US, Swiss, Europe and Australia which competes in the market. In addition there are seismic equipments from Russia and China. Development of the seismic equipment, indigenously require a dedicated task force of engineers with few experts from seismology, who can do a feasibility study in terms of technical
216

know how, materials and also the demand for such instruments. If the efforts are only to support Indian scientists in their research in earth sciences, then the requirement may not be much. It is also required that a market survey should be done to know the demand of such instruments, especially in developing countries so that such an effort is sustained. 4.2 Imaging of Deep Lithosphere 4.2.1 Introduction The Indian subcontinent is bestowed with a great diversity in its geological terrains that span in age from Archean to present, thereby offering a unique opportunity to study the manifestations of the deep earth processes that shaped them. Investigation of the deep lithospheric architecture appears to be the most illuminating approach towards unravelling the evolutionary history of diverse tectonic terrains, their geodynamic response to the various tectono-magmatic processes that affected them in course of their geologic history. Hence, study of the deep architecture of the Indian continent in terms of its physical structure and deformation, nature and disposition of the layered subcrustal lithosphere including the LAB, together with the mantle transition zone discontinuities, should provide snap shots of their mode of evolution. Seismology in India has undergone a tremendous transformation over the past decade, owing mainly to the dense deployments of permanent and array type broadband seismographs in a phased manner. This, coupled with the development of powerful computers for processing and simulating direct and scattered seismic wave fields has enabled high resolution imaging of the spatial variations in the structure of various provinces enabling us to narrow down competing processes that shaped their geology. In spite of the rapid strides in imaging the continental interiors, issues like the sharpness of discontinuity structures, mapping small scale heterogeneities (like plume conduits), characterizing anisotropy and attenuation, discriminating the influence of temperature and compositional effects (to understand the causative mechanisms for Large Igneous Provinces), detection of weak discontinuities and their role in continental evolution (horizontal accretion by shallow subduction or magmatic differentiation), mantle layering and dynamics (fundamental to the plate tectonics), distribution of water and volatiles in the earth and their role in plate tectonics and earthquake genesis, the deep Earth's role in carbon fluidization and sequestration, still remain to be resolved. The limitations in our understanding of these fundamental issues stem from the constraints imposed by the large inter-station spacing in broadband seismometer array employed for data acquisition, limitations in extracting full information from the observed seismograms, inability to enhance signals from weak discontinuities, combined analysis of direct, surface and scattered phases, still remain ambiguous. These limitations call for multi-disciplinary approaches, e.g. combination of active and passive seismology to enhance lateral and vertical resolution. Incorporation of magnetotelluric techniques in deep imaging programs by virtue of sensitivity of resistivity to fluid content and temperature permit rheologic characterisation of the medium and mapping heat induced partial melting zones. Success of multi-disciplinary approaches in tracking thermo-tectonic evolution of the complex Delhi-Arravali fold belt by providing high-resolution images is already proved. Himalaya and continental margin would provide testing ground for multi-disciplinary approaches. Multi parameter images of the collision belt will help test the wedge model (rheology controlled stratification) vis-vis channel flow model (partial melt) as well as thin vis--vis thick tectonics. Similar integrated geotransect studies in the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis will help isolate tectonic imprints of collision, extension as well as shear tectonics. More challenging task would be to extend the multi-sensor investigations to the continental margins and deep-seas to locate ocean-continent boundary and to unfold deep structures related to continental splitting, paleo plate-motions, reorganizations and collision of plates as well as plumelithosphere interactions that are documented within the lithosphere. Further the crustal deformation manifested within the sediments and deep crust will enable to assess the dynamic response to the in plane compressive forces that may hold key to why ruptures associated with major and great earthquakes do not reach surface. Globally, the next decade would witness new trends for imaging and characterizing the Earth's
217

interior in a greater detail by way of enhanced multi-sensor data acquisition and computational skills. However, implementation of multiple sensor data would require certain technological innovative in data acquisition. In the Indian scenario, it is imperative to initiate and develop research groups to focus on themes related to
l l l

Extensive seismic imaging of the continental as well oceanic lithosphere Extension of magnetotelluric investigations to oceanic domain Satellite based measurements of several potential fields

4.2.2 Geotechnology requirements Technology for deep drilling is very limited even at worldwide level. We need to develop it after reviewing the worldwide scenario and considering the local geological conditions. Other instruments/technologies are already covered in the earlier section on geohazards. Active seismic surveys in the Himalayan collision belt where crustal thickness is approximately twice of the normal continental crust, would require use of larger quantity of stronger explosive as well as recordings of reflected/refracted waves for longer durations. Later would require use of high capacity DAS. Some amendments would be essential in field practice as use of long spread cablelinked geophone becomes difficult in the Himalayan rugged terrains. This constraint can overcome by more recent availability of wireless geophone-DAS systems. Given strong expertise available in electronics and communications, a program of developing this more modern technology can be encouraged. The development of geophone will also open new gateways for engineering and shallow surface studies for geohazard. The development of marine MT and OBS at present may be out of reach in near future. This can be taken as long term mission and can be linked to the indigenous creations of buoys and broadband seismometer sensor, already projected as priority items for earthquake monitoring program. 4.3 Sustained Exploration of Natural Resources

4.3.1 Introduction Although exploration of natural resources may be common to the mandates of the MoES as well as other national agencies like GSI (Ministry of Mines) for minerals, ONGC for oil and CGWB for water, the committee decided to include some of these elements in the present document. Emphasis has been given on technological development in airborne methods of exploration. Other conventional geophysical and geochemical methods are quite routine in nature and hence they are not discussed here in detail. Further, the subject of geothermal energy is linked to heat flow studies, which has major overlaps with crustal structure, geodynamics and seismic hazard. Thus we address the geotechnology requirements for Geothermal Energy also in this document. 4.3.2. Mineral exploration The wealth of a country is determined by its natural resources. The mineral potential of the country is a major contributor to the wealth in addition to water (both surface and under ground) resources. India is a country rich in mineral resources and the largest Diamond in the world was mined from India. India contains vast resources of ferrous minerals, precious metals and minerals, non-ferrous and strategic minerals, industrial and fertilizer minerals, energy minerals and resources (Coal, Lignite and Geothermal). We are importing large quantities of hydro-carbons (crude oil) and the gold production in India is a small fraction of its requirement. After exhausting the surface and shallow sub-surface resources, it is time now to look in to the mineral deposits at depth. Exploration of mineral deposits at depth involves development of new methodologies, relevant instrumentation and data interpretation. All these three components are changing from time to time depending on the need and advancements in the field of digital electronics and communication theory. Therefore, there is an absolute need for establishing a peer group to look in to these three aspects of exploration.
218

4.3.2.1 Geotechnology requirements Exploration technology is mainly based on the application of certain principles of physics to understand the subsurface configuration. For example, the gravity method, based on measurements in the variations of earth's gravitational field due to ore bodies or oil bearing structures, underwent a significant change in instrumentation. The airborne gravity in which the gravity measurements are made either on a helicopter or from an aircraft was thought impossible three decades ago. Now with the availability of high precision GPS and gyro platforms, it is possible to make gravity measurements at the required precision from areal platforms. Similar things happened with other geophysical tools. Another example is marine electromagnetics. The peer group should have a vision for such kind of advancements and adaptations to the technological requirements for field measurements. This is a must. Otherwise, we will be dependent on imported technology that is changing from year to year, with updates and modifications either for facilitating faster and more accurate measurements or for their own business development. 4.3.2.1.1 Adoption of existing technology and indigenous development Adoptation of exiting technology and indigenous development should go hand in hand. While the industry demands the use of existing/modern technology, indigenous development should be aimed at improvising the existing technology or a complete change the technological set up. For example, in the middle of the 20th century, measurements of the variations in the magnetic field of the earth were made using mechanical magnetometers comprising magnetic needle which need proper leveling and orientation for measurements. When it is known that the proton precess in the presence of a magnetic field with certain specified frequency, the proton precision magnetometer was developed, replacing all the mechanical magnetometers. Therefore, indigenous development is not duplication of some equipment but should lead to a technological advancement. 4.3.2.1.2. Modalities/roadmap for implementation Mineral exploration, as mentioned above, involves methodology, technology and data handling. Therefore, the group, headed by an expert in all the three fields should get initiated to work in the three sub-groups. Each sub group, headed by an expert in that field shall be given the responsibility for developing the methodology/ technology/ data handling. Each group is supported by enough number of talented scientists to achieve the goals or objectives. The groups shall have freedom to discuss and visit other similar groups abroad such that their knowledge and thinking is updated. The activities of the group should be reviewed at regular intervals, by an expert committee constituted for this purpose. The government should encourage the utilization of the technology/ methodology for exploration activities in India. 4.3.3. Geothermal energy The potential of geothermal energy to supply environmentally clean electric power and heat has been exploited for more than a century, primarily in tectonically active regions with Quaternary volcanism and presence of natural steam reservoirs. Being environmentally benign and renewable, it has been a preferred choice for an alternative energy resource. Geothermal energy resources are of two kinds: conventional (hot water/steam based) and non-conventional (that utilise high temperatures present in rock formations in the top few kilometres of the Earth's crust). Almost all geothermal energy production worldwide utilise conventional resources, the technology for which exists at a relatively mature level. While a few sites with potential for non-conventional energy resources have been identified, extensive research is underway and the technology is just evolving through testing at different levels. In India, the moderate-to-low temperature hot spring systems represent potential conventional geothermal energy resources. This is in contrast to geothermal fields under production in other parts of the world, which are located in Quaternary volcanic/magmatic settings only. The sole volcanic occurrence in the country is the currently active Barren Island volcano in the Andaman Islands. The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has listed approximately 350 hot springs in the Indian landmass.
219

Except a very few occurrences in the Higher Himalaya which may have small steam mix (<10%), all the hot springs primarily discharge hot water. A number of geothermal springs have been used for balneological purposes. However, except for a 5 KW binary plant which was set up on an experimental basis at Manikaran and was operational for a short time only, India is yet to produce electric power from a geothermal field. A relatively recent application of geothermal energy is in the area of geothermal (or groundsource) heat pumps. A geothermal heat pump makes use of the relatively stable temperature at a depth of few meters in the ground. During winter, the subsurface temperature is warmer than the room temperature inside a house, whereas during summer the subsurface temperature may be cooler. Geothermal heat pumps, therefore, can be used for space heating in winter and cooling in summer, replacing electrical heating and cooling systems. Heat pump systems use groundwater o o aquifers and soil temperatures in the range 5 C to 30 C. Heat pumps utilizing very low- to- moderate temperature fluids have extended geothermal developments to countries that have not been using geothermal energy extensively such as France, Switzerland, Sweden, and areas of the mid-western and eastern United States of America. However, this technology has not been tested in Indian conditions. The unfavourable cost vs. benefit ratio of small installations is a likely deterrent to introduction of this technology in the country. 4.3.3.1 Resource Mapping Among the most notable achievements during the past five decades has been the assessment of geothermal fields by the Government of India in 1966 and the publication of a comprehensive report in 1968 recommending preliminary prospecting of the Puga and Manikaran geothermal fields in the Himalaya. A major, systematic, multi-disciplinary, multi-Institutional programme (including drilling up to 385 m) covering the Puga-Chumathang field in Ladakh was mounted during 1972-74 by GSI. The subsurface features were delineated in considerable detail. The most significant outcome of the effort was a proposal to set up a 1 MWe binary-cycle power plant on a pilot scale basis, which has not been implemented so far. Attempts to revisit the geothermal exploration in the area include a number of geochemical studies and recent magnetotelluric studies. Another major initiative, directed towards the hot springs of the West Coast belt and the Son-Narmada-Tapti belt was taken up by the GSI with UNDP assistance during 1976-77, including deep drilling up to depth of 500 m. The Tattapani hot springs of Chattisgarh district was identified for trials with regard to power production using a 300 KWe binary-cycle power plant. In recent years, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India has taken up fresh initiatives for reassessment of the geothermal potential of major hot spring groups in the country. The primary requirement for non-conventional geothermal energy resources is the occurrence o of high temperatures (typically upwards of 150 C) at economically viable depths (typically the top 14 km of the Earth's crust). Areas of anomalous high heat flow and highly radiogenic heat sources such as high-heat-producing granites and other silicic igneous intrusives having a depth extent of a few kilometres could be possible targets for exploration. The National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) has been engaged in systematic heat flow determinations through temperature measurements in deep boreholes and characterization of thermal properties in different parts of the country since the early 1960s. Although a reasonable coverage has been achieved for southern India, large regions in other parts of India lack information on heat flow and subsurface temperatures in the upper few kilometres of the crust. These considerations reinforce the need for carrying out systematic heat flow as well as radiogenic heat production investigations on a countrywide scale. Thus, reasons for under-development of geothermal energy resources in India could be due to one or more of the following: non-availability of reliable estimates of energy potential for power production, limitations of existing exploration technologies leading to inadequate reservoir characterization, and lack of appropriate technologies for economic heat mining using moderate- tolow enthalpy geothermal waters.
220

4.3.3.2 Geotechnology Requirements It has been realized, especially during the last two decades, that the great majority of hot water springs in the main Indian landmass (other than Barren Islands in the Andaman and Nicobar), constitute primarily low enthalpy geothermal resources. Therefore to improve the economic viability of exploiting such resources, it is necessary to adopt both newer techniques of exploration and assessment of their geothermal energy potential as well as improved technologies for their economic exploitation and management. Usefulness of appropriate exploitation technologies critically depend on an accurate characterization of resource potential. On the other hand, an objective resource exploration often requires technological inputs in terms of high temperature drilling and testing facilities, in addition to scientific inputs. The technology requirements can be broadly classified as follows: Technologies for Resource Exploration: Resource exploration involves characterization of the subsurface geothermal energy resource including identification and mapping of the physical extent of the geothermal reservoir, characterization of rock formations constituting the reservoir and their thermal and hydrological properties, temperature / enthalpy content, and availability of geothermal fluids for sustained power generation. After a resource has been identified and its broad features delineated through integrated geological, geochemical and geophysical investigations, the only way to confirm whether or not a given site contains an economic geothermal resource would be to drill. The technological inputs involved in estimating the geothermal energy potential and expected working life of a reservoir are:
l

Drilling capabilities to depths of 2 km, where temperatures could be in the range o 100-200 C, Development of downhole testing capabilities (precision temperature logging, determination of thermal, electrical as well as hydrological properties of rocks) in hot and corrosive environments, including fabrication of downhole logging tools using high temperature resistant materials, Pumping tests over extended time durations to test the availability of fluids and estimation of optimum flow rates.

In the case of non-conventional geothermal resources such as "enhanced geothermal systems", the technological requirements are more demanding. They may include:
l

Drilling capabilities of up to 5 km (depending on heat flow and geothermal gradients), Development of hydraulic fracturing tools for creating heat exchangers at depths up to 5 km, Development of high temperature instrumentation, downhole testing (including cables and probes) and monitoring capabilities at depth, in the temperature range o 150-200 C, Capabilities for injection of water into the deep rock formations and extraction of heated waters through production wells.

Technologies for Resource Exploitation: Geothermal resources vary widely from one location to another, depending on the temperature and depth of the resource, the rock chemistry, and the abundance of groundwater. The type of geothermal resource (steam / hot water) determines the method of its utilization. High temperature resources (dry steam / hot fluids) can be gainfully utilized to generate electric power, whereas the moderate-to-low temperature resources (warm- to hot- water) are best suited for direct o uses. However, aided by modern technology, even the moderate temperature resources (~100 C)
221

are being utilized for generation of electric power using the binary cycle systems, but often at additional generation costs. On the basis of available estimates, the conventional geothermal resources in India are o o predominantly moderate-to-low temperature waters in the range 50 -150 C, with an upper bound o for reservoir temperature of about 250 C in a few cases. Therefore, depending on the nature and quality of the resource, electricity can be produced using one of the following technologies:
l

Flash steam plant: Hot waters with temperatures usually in excess of ~150 C from production wells are passed through one or two separators where, released from the pressure of the deep reservoir, part of it flashes to steam. The force of the steam is used to spin the turbine generator. To conserve the water and maintain reservoir pressure, the geothermal water and condensed steam are directed down an injection well back into the periphery of the reservoir, to be reheated and recycled. Binary cycle plant: Low to medium enthalpy reservoirs with temperatures between o o about 85 C and 150 C are not hot enough to flash enough steam but can still be used to produce electricity in a "binary" power plant. The geothermal fluids are passed through a heat exchanger, where their heat is transferred into a low boiling point binary (secondary) liquid such as propane, isobutane, isopentane and ammonia. When heated, the binary liquid flashes into vapour, which powers the turbines. The vapour is then recondensed to a liquid and is used repeatedly. Organic Rankine cycles also use lowboiling-point heat transfer fluids to suit lower enthalpy fields. Hybrid plants: In such plants, flash and binary processes are combined to enhance the power production.

Although binary power plants are generally more expensive to build than steam-driven plants, they have several advantages: 1) The working fluid flashes to a vapour at a lower temperature than does water. 2) The binary system uses the reservoir water more efficiently. Since the hot water travels through an entirely closed system it results in less heat loss and almost no water loss. 3) Binary power plants have virtually no emissions. Therefore, some of the major technological challenges in exploitation of geothermal energy resources in the Indian context can be listed as follows:
l

Deep drilling technologies under high temperature (up to 250 C), high pressure, fractured rock and corrosive environments, Development of production wells, design of casing and well-head structures, Development of pumping technologies for extraction of hot geothermal fluids in case of non-flowing wells, Installation of efficient binary cycle plants for power production. Development of efficient ground-source heat pumps to exploit the relatively stable temperature at depths of few tens of metres for space heating and cooling purposes.

l l

l l

Technologies for Resource Management: During the testing phase of production wells and prior to commencement of electrical power production, it is necessary to establish a reservoir management plan for ultimately enhancing the production life of a reservoir and improving the economics, particularly in the case of low enthalpy systems. The major technological inputs would involve:
l l l l

Monitoring of temperature and production rates, Optimization of heat mining, Establishing re-injection strategies for replenishment of depleting reservoirs, and Assessment of natural hazards such as land subsidence and microseismic activities in the area.

222

4.3.3.3 Adoption of Existing Technology and Indigenous Development Drilling Drilling is an essential component of any geothermal exploration programme. Deep drilling under high temperature, pressure and corrosive environments constitutes by far the single largest technological challenge to geothermal exploration and exploitation. Not surprisingly, drilling costs account for a large part of the exploration and production costs. During the peak in exploration activities in the 1980s, the GSI possessed geothermal drilling and well completion capabilities up to depths of about 500 m. It is necessary to assess their present capabilities given that no geothermal drilling has taken place in the country at least in the past 20 years. However, deeper drilling would still require hiring drillers and drill rigs from the international market, which depends on availability of rig time and often at exorbitant costs. Today, reasonably mature drilling technology to depths of several kilometres is available with the Oil Industry in India. It needs to be assessed whether the technology and their expertise can be adapted to geothermal drilling requirements. Geothermal drilling is often more complex and involve greater risk compared to drilling for hydrocarbons. For example, geothermal wells are drilled in hard rock formations and through fractured and hot-water-filled reservoir rocks, and require larger well diameters to maximize flow rates when compared to oil well drilling which is usually restricted to sedimentary formations. Drilling capabilities up to several hundred metres in hard rock formations also exists with mineral exploration companies in India (e.g., MECL, DAE), which needs to be both upgraded for deeper drilling and adapted to geothermal requirements. A major reason that many low- to- moderate enthalpy geothermal prospects go undeveloped is that they are too deep to be drilled economically. If technological advances are made that significantly reduce drilling costs, resources at previously uneconomical depths may become feasible development prospects. Enhancing the Energy Output of Binary Cycles Hot water based geothermal plants using the binary cycle have low efficiency, typically 2.8 to 5.5%. However, they facilitate energy production from low-enthalpy geothermal resources which would otherwise be difficult to exploit. Because geothermal resources in India are predominantly of this kind, binary cycle and its variants can be effectively used to generate electric power in smaller quantities but at a large number of sites. When appropriate, a number of small binary cycle units can be cascaded for obtaining larger production rates. The binary cycle technology is now widely used in a number of industrial applications in India. To improve the economic viability of geothermal power plants fuelled by low enthalpy fluids, the following areas may require attention:
l l

Increasing the efficiency of existing binary cycles / organic Rankine cycles through technological advancements and use of advanced working fluids, Development of combined heat and power options. The heat extracted from warm-tohot waters emerging from hot spring systems in the country can be utilised not only for power production, but also for direct uses such as development of tourist spas for bathing, swimming and balneology, greenhouse cultivation in cold climates, desalination of sea-water, refrigeration and agricultural product processing, depending upon local conditions.

Geothermal Heat Pumps The technology for geothermal heat pumps is now available in the international market. However, two main issues need to be considered before this technology can be introduced in India:
l

Testing of the technology in a variety of ground conditions in India, both for heating as well as cooling applications, Improvement of the existing technology to make it accessible to individuals and small communities as a low-cost alternative for their space heating and cooling needs. The possibility of integrating this technology with building designs need to be explored.
223

4.3.3.4 Modalities/roadmap for implementation The technological requirements for exploration and exploitation of geothermal energy resources in India along with suggestions for adapting existing technologies / development of new technologies to the requirements of geothermal energy industry are summarized in the preceding sections. Indigenous development of new technology or modification of existing technology would entail: l Integration of technical expertise available in the Hydrocarbon Exploration as well as Mineral Exploration industries in India to develop geothermal drilling, testing and well completion technologies, l Testing indigenous capabilities in geothermal exploration and exploitation technologies, l Integration of scientific and technical expertise in geothermal exploration available in academic institutions such as NGRI, GSI, WIHG and AMD with technological expertise available in engineering departments in the country to accurately identify gaps in technology and develop appropriate technological improvements, l Development of modelling and simulation capabilities both in resource exploration/ assessment as well as in resource exploitation and management, l Identification of manpower training needs and re-training of skilled manpower if necessary, utilizing existing channels of scientific and technological cooperation with developed countries and developing new collaborations with international experts on geothermal energy.

5. Road map for Developing Geotechnology: Action Plan/ Mechanism

From above discussions it follows that upgrading geoscience activities for enhancing our capabilities for improved imaging of structures, resource exploration and/or to unravel and understand deep dynamic processes in order to cope-up with natural geohazards, it requires the indigenous development and commissioning of advance instruments. The development and implementation of indigenous cutting-edge technologies is possible with integration of continued advance research in instrumentation, design and fabrication of state-of-the-art sensors, data acquisition system including digital communication etc. This challenging task cannot be accomplished without innovative approaches to build capacities in terms of manpower and infrastructure. Further, any such developments should be able to compete technically and economically with global standards, this places severe constraints on the time-frame and pace of these developments. In order to achieve excellence in all major areas of geotechnology in a reasonable time frame, it requires organised planning and backup of institutions where indigenous development in instrumentation is one of the primary mandates. Most of the existing institutions engaged in earth science activities function as a part of larger inter-disciplinary consortium, e.g. CSIR that has focused mandate to promote industrial research in all branches of science whereas DST for balanced growth which nurtures both basic and allied research in multi-disciplinary subjects. Earth Science Institutions under such families, guided by their primary mandate, have promoted development and design of instruments only in limited manner. The occasional success stories could be credited to spirits and expertise of individuals. It is imperative that any action plan to develop geotechnologies, which can cater to the current need of instrumentation and can engage in long term expansion projects, should overcome these early impediments in geotechnology implementation plan. 5.1 Centre for Geotechnology (CGT) With the creation of new Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) by Govt of India, it has already been recognised that multi-facet growth of geosciences demand establishment and implementation of parallel effective technology development projects. Constitution of this sub-committee to draw road map for the organised indigenous development of geotechnologies, in the context to the Indian earth science programs, is an offshoot of this long term vision of the MoES. The National Institute of
224

Ocean Technology (NIOT), created by the nucleus constituent of MoES, previously as Department Ocean Development, was a first major initiative in the development of technology related to ocean. Established in 1993, the NIOT has made its own niche and successfully implemented pioneering projects in the area of Deep sea mining, fresh water, coastal and environment engineering, underwater vehicles and variety of marine instrumentation. This successful demonstration of synergy and capacity is worth recapitulating in other areas of earth sciences. It is recommended that a CGT be established to take up challenging task of technology development especially for solid earth studies. Such recommendations also draw aspirations from the success stories of BARC and ISRO who launched in-house training and technology development programs to build capacities in terms of manpower and infrastructure right from the formative years of respective Institutions. The proposed CGT should have the primary mandate of geotechnology developments and be responsible for wide ranging activities like
l

Advance research and design of geo-instrumentation and priority fixation for geotechnology intervention Human Resource Development and Capacity Building in Inter-disciplinary specialisation. Inter-linkage with National Earth Science Institutions to identify up-coming technology needs with changing phase of earth sciences. Networking with International Geotechnology Centres to remain front line partner in knowledge exchange and development. Private-Public linkage for the development and commercialisation of technologies in SE Asia Technical service provider to Earth Science Institutions in training, commissioning, and helping in maintenance of field monitoring networks and analytical laboratories. Highest priority will be given to areas where mass production and deployment of equipments have immediate social benefits.

5.1.1 Advance Research and Time Plan for Geotechnology Intervention In Section 4, a detailed wide spectrum of geoscience themes where indigenous geotechnology developments could be timely and rewarding, is given. The three challenging areas identified for technology innovation and intervention are:

Geodynamics and Geohazards Deep imaging of the Indian Lithosphere Sustained development of natural resource exploration
Since the development of indigenous geotechnology has to be launched almost from root level, i.e. starting from creating basic support facilities, training technocrats in multiple disciplines to undertake advance R & D in geotechnology, design, fabrication, calibration and testing of variety of sensors etc, it would be difficult to take developmental programs in all identified areas simultaneous. Therefore, following prioritisation is suggested for indigenous development in time bound manner. Immediate (2 years) Plan Ministerial approval for the establishment of 'Centre for Technology', Preparation and submission of DPR/EFC for sanction of finance, creation of posts, recruitment for key positions, finalisation of the location for the centre, procurement of land, building construction, and equipping centre with basic working infra-structure. Short Term (3-7 Years) Plan Motivated by the major policy guidelines that instruments which are required in large numbers and have visible societal impact, the focus of short term projects would be on the development of
225

geotechnology to upgrade national field monitoring networks required to cope-up with natural geohazards. The function and technical features of equipments to be developed are detailed in the Section 4. The design and fabrication of the main sensors proposed under this category include Broad Band Seismometer for earthquake monitoring, accelerograph for strong motion recording, seismic switches for earthquake early warning system, strainmeter/tiltmeter for landslides monitoring and early warning, etc. Satellite communication methods will be used for real-time data transmission to terrestrial monitoring stations, enabling effective monitoring of large areas and from far inaccessible regions. Design and fabrication of wireless geophones and heat pumps are also proposed to make modest beginning in deep imaging and exploitation of natural geothermal resource. Mid Term (8-12 years) Plan While the focus of short term projects is on 'Geodynamics and Geohazards', the mid term project shall concentrate developments of geotechnology for 'Deep imaging of Indian lithosphere' on sub-continental level. The central focus would be on the development of space worthy geopotential measuring sensors, e.g. gravity, magnetic, electromagnetic. The implementation of these projects will require liaison with ISRO so that future satellite missions are planned to carry these geophysical payloads for generating high precision high resolution atlas of digital geophysical parameters maps on sub-continental scale. As a prelude to this space program, the low altitude total field aeromagnetic surveys can be conducted. These digital geophysical maps in conjunction with geological and physical rock properties maps could be the basic tools to prepare Moho, Curie point isotherms maps. The aeromagnetic maps would particularly be useful for mineral exploration. The Broad Band Seismometer and wireless geophones developed in short term projects would pave way for extensive passive and active seismic experiments by numbers of earth science organisations would help achieving long term goals of mapping Indian lithosphere on sub-continental scale. The Broad Band Seismic sensors could be suitably integrated with high-pressure buoys to be developed by the NIOT as a part of ocean technology to extend passive seismology studies to oceanic domain. The experience and expertise generated in fabricating the sensors for geohazards could be expanded to develop new range of sensors, particularly for earthquake precursory research. In this class, the fabrication of ground water level recorders, radon anemometer, vector and magnetic field sensors would be useful to provide multi-parametric dimension to earthquake precursory research. With the availability of trained manpower, the Center may also establish service facilities to train manpower of other earth institutions in upkeep, operation and repair of field network and analytical laboratory set ups. Long Term (beyond 12 years) Plan With nearly one decade of existence, The CGT would have developed full scale infrastructure, trained manpower, acquired maturity and proven its worthiness and found orientation for future. A modest beginning made in the field of geothermal resource utilisation can be expanded to other areas of exploration. Mineral and hydrocarbon exploration are at present within the purview of separate and independent ministries. The areas like tectonic-climate interaction to study surface geomorphology and dynamic processes, landscape evolution, etc may also be taken up. Some of the R & D activities in the respective areas are being pursued by GSI and DGH-ONGC. However, such activities are largely confined to developing new methodologies and field practices rather than creating indigenous technology. Depending on the progress and success track, a fresh stock can be taken whether in the back ground of expertise developed by then the CGT may decide whether to venture into new area of developing sensors for natural resource exploration. The centre may also enter into development of technology for research in ground water, coal exploration, etc. In fact the centre should strive to acquire the status of excellence in geotechnology so many new organisations may aspire for partnership. The MoES may draw a mechanism for such partnership enterprises.

226

5.1.2

Human Resource Developments and Capacity Building

It has been noted that currently there is no dedicated institutions in the country whose primary mandate is development of instrumentation and technology for Earth Sciences. Establishment of such an institution is handicapped because of the lack of expertise and trained manpower in the specialised disciplines of earth sciences. The existing engineering education system in the country does not offer any such courses, which would help engineering students to learn even fundamental aspects related to geotechnology. Further, since subject of geosciences is introduced only at graduation level, most of the students opting for engineering disciplines have had no opportunity to be exposed to even the basics of earth sciences. Therefore, to cater the technology base needs of earth sciences, the proposed CGT has to adopt multi fold strategies for capacity building in terms of trained manpower. Some of the short and long term approaches for capacity building may include: In-house Training Program: Introduce in-house 6-12 months training programs for fresh engineers and post-graduates in core disciplines of geotechnologies. To meet wide ranging needs, the curriculum of training should include themes like mechanical design, electric machinery, solid state electronics, data recording, storage and dissemination, satellite communication, numerical simulation and modelling, advance signal processing and computer low and high level languages. External Custom Design Training: Centre in consultation with MoES may work out modalities of introducing M. Tech programs in the field of geotechnologies at IITs and Universities. Some students opting for such courses could be offered fellowship by the Centre. As an extension of this scheme, the Centre may have tie-up with academic institutions to encourage final year B.E/M.Tech students for geotechnology oriented dissertation or projects. The Centre shall also welcome participation of students for oriented summer training programs. Deem Centre for Ph.D: As a part of regular and continuous mode of generating trained manpower, it is proposed that the Centre may have bilateral agreement with reputed Educational Institutions to enrol its employee to register for Ph.D. programs in geotechnology. The Centre may be recognised by such institutions as research centre for their Ph. D. programs so that students of these institutions may work for the Ph. D. at the Centre. Training Abroad: Recognising that indigenous geotechnology development program has to begun from root levels, to keep pace with international developments and to acquire cutting-edge technology in certain specific areas, special provisions may be made for long term training programs at centre of excellence abroad. 5.1.3 Inter-Linkage with National Earth Science Institutions The proposed CGT would be expected to cater the ever growing needs of indigenous instrumentation for all earth science institutions in the country, e.g. IMD, NGRI, WIHG, NDMA, NIRM, GSI and number of universities and IITs. Close inter-linkages with such institutions will be essential to keep track of emerging science trends and to evaluate jointly the need of technology based innovations to meet upcoming challenges. In the action plan to develop the Centre for Geotechnology, the short term focus will be on developing instrumentations for augmenting observational network spread over the country. The support of primary Institutions responsible for operating such networks, like IMD, NGRI, NDMA, WIHG, ISR and couple of universities/IITs would be critical for testing, calibration, commissioning and training their staff for long term operation and sustenance. In developing technology for communication of data in real time through VSAT and other modes from remote locations, the cooperation with ISRO would be rewarding. The cooperation with ISRO would also be essential to develop space sensors for satellite programs to acquire multiple data sets for preparing geophysical maps for the entire sub-continent. Once the technology for Broad Band Seismometer sensors is developed and tested on land, the sensors design can be partially modified to house them in high-pressure capsule for deployment on ocean floor. The rich expertise being developed at NIOT under parallel Ocean technology mission can be advantageously exploited by establishing Marine Seismological observatories. Further inter-linkage with earth science institutions, which are equipped with modern analytical facilities, would be
227

mutually beneficial. The operation, regular up keep and to glean optimum outputs from such laboratories require professional compatibilities in scientific and engineering skills. It should be possible for such host institutions to involve engineers from the CGT right from the procurement and installations times so that joint experiences and expertise can be used for the regular upkeep and uninterrupted operation of such giant facilities after the warranty period. In long term collaboration with some leading organisations engaged in exploration activities for natural resources, like ONGC, GSI, AMD, SASE would be useful in deciding priority sensors required for resource exploration. 5.1.4 Networking with International Geotechnology Centres About two decades back, CSIO, Chandigarh had made the maiden successful attempt to develop Forced Balance accelerograph and analog seismic recorders totally by indigenous efforts. The sensor developed passed compatibility tests and numbers of units were put in operation at seismological observatories of IMD and CSIO. Despite this successful demonstration, the fabrication program did not last long largely because technology used could not match with the rapid growth of technology at international front. Any fresh attempts to develop geotechnology indigenously have to overcome these early impediments by ensuring high standards and keeping pace with global growth of technology. This technology gap can be best bridged by sustained cooperation and collaboration with reputed international technology centres. The cooperation with dedicated institutions like Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) Norway, Lamont Doherty USA, and Russian Academic Science Moscow, Japan Meteorological agency Tokyo, International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) Italy, which have attained excellence and worldwide recognition in geotechnology, would be worthy and rewarding. The CGT under the patronage of the MoES should work out mechanism for international cooperation/collaborations. The cooperation could be in the form of in-plant training for a few months or by way of 'Technology transfer' on payment basis or by mutually agreed terms of joint marketing. Suitable budgetary allocations are made to purchase rights of technology transfer as well as to cover expenses on training abroad for achieving higher goals and expertise in the field of geo-technical instrumentation and monitoring. 5.1.5 Public-Private Linkage and Commercialisation of Developed Geotechnologies Although the need of geoscience technology, both in terms of range of products as well as in quantity are continuously on rise, the total quantum needed for entire country is still not large enough for any private sector to involve directly in production and marketing. Since the focus of the proposed CGT would be on developing new technologies, on long range time frame it would be desirable that once the technology is developed, prototype model tested and its field worthiness proven, the fabrication can either be outsourced or technology transferred to private/public sector for production as well as commercial marketing. The items identified for geohazard studies, e.g., Broad Band Seismometer, accelerograph, seismic switches, if developed to global standards, would have good market in SE Asia. To make such ventures more attractive, it would be worthwhile to encourage some capable public-private enterprise for joint development by providing initial financial support and procedural frame work legal, as stream lined in ISRO, DAE and DRDO. Such enterprise may also serve to procure and supply special component hard to import in routine manner. The involvement of private-public sector could also be exploited for super deep drilling program as development or procurement of such infra-structure would be difficult for one time need. Once such working arrangements are made, new program where drilling would be essential can be encouraged and geodetic strainmeter, borehole seismometer, acoustic emission sounder etc. may also be attempted. 5.1.6 Technical Services in Commissioning and Maintenance of Field and Laboratory Equipments. Initial focus of the CGT would be to develop sensors required in large numbers for deployment by number of organisations all across the country. The commissioning and operation of these networks would need special capabilities in installations, operation, maintenance and periodic calibrations etc. Long term smooth operation would require proper training of operational staff on
228

various aspects of operation and in trouble shooting. Further, numbers of Earth Science Institutions host mega sophisticated analytical facilities, which are commissioned and maintained by professional vendors till the warranty period. Once the warranty period is over, the AMC are quite expensive and in case of major faults, it takes long time to get it repair by the overseas supplier. Since the CGT would have highly qualified technocrats, it would be desirable to establish a cell for technical services, which can provide necessary expertise in servicing and repair of mega analytical facilities as well as provide training to staff in field operation and servicing field based instruments. The mechanism and extent of technical services to be provided have to be agreed much in advance to draw proper plan and need of in-house manpower.

Management Modalities

6.1 Where the Centre for Geotechnology be located? The Centre designed to take up geotechnology developments, it would be more practical if the Centre be co-located at an earth science institute, where at least some lead was initiated in the design and fabrication of geophysical sensors or where the back drop scientific knowledge base is available to define the road map for technology development. The two Institutions which adequately meet these conditions are the CSIO and NGRI. However, it may be added that both in terms of infrastructure and manpower specialisations required for the geotechnical centre are quite distinct. Further, the centre designed to take up the challenging task of developing cut-edge technology has to be guided by the spirit of innovation and creativity rather moving on the already carved paths of age old technology and set norms of functioning. Therefore, the proposed CGT, although may be based in one of existing science institution (e.g., CSIO or NGRI), should have fully independent working and financial autonomy. CSIO has shown keen interest in establishing the centre within its own campus and has offered land. Nevertheless, the criteria for location of the proposed centre will be based on the aspects like working freedom and innovation and availability of expertise. The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Oslo, Norway and Lamont Doherty in the USA could be the role model for this development of geotechnology in India. It is proposed that MoES may take the final decision only after gaining full insight into the functioning modalities of these institutions by organising the visit of small team to NRI, Norway or Lamont Doherty, USA. 6.2 Organisation Structure of the CGT Having accepted that functioning autonomy will be the key to the success and growth of the CGT, it would be just appropriate that decision on detailed organisational set up be left to the leaders who would be identified/selected to steer the centre. However, noting the unique charter of the centre, some basic suggestions on the structure and care to be exercised in the creations of the posts are briefly outlined. For balanced growth and to achieve the primary mandate of the CGT, outlined in Section 5, it would be adequate to structure the centre into 3 divisions: (I) (ii) R & D Division Design and Fabrication Division

(iii) Functional Division During the initial 2 years, the focus shall be on developing the infrastructure, functional building, establishing link with knowledge partners and recruitment and training of technocrats. To start the activities, a small team of about 10 personnel, including Centre and Division Heads should be identified. Beside expert professionals in respective areas, the Heads should have vision, leadership qualities, management skills and professional links to lay solid foundation. The next 5years should be the most critical phase for the Centre as it would enter the production phase. Since no major expertise is available for taking up this challenging task of developing indigenous geotechnologies and hence creation of a dedicated spirited team of engineers and scientists with varied specialisation should be the top priority. Some 40 engineers and scientists from core disciplines of electrical, mechanical, electronics & communication, computer sciences, applied physics, geophysics should form the nucleus of human resource. In long term sanctioned strength of
229

50 technocrats/scientists and 15 support administrative/accounts staff should be optimum for the growth of the CGT. Since it is planned to have tie up with educational institutions to induct special courses for geotechnology discipline, time frame of recruitment should be phased out so that fresh engineers coming out with such specialisation have adequate openings. There should be provision for independent cadre structure of research scholars, research associates, consultants, visiting scientists. There should also be provision for liaison with private or public sector with clear provision to outsource the specified work or hire expertise on market value.
Ministry of Earth Scienecs

Centre Management Board

Geotechnology Centre

Technical evluation and Advisory Board

Scientist-in-Charge

Administration 5 (AO/SPO)

Technology Group 40 Scientists and Engineers

Research and Development

Design and Fabrication

Functional Division

6.3

Finances (for initial five years)

Item Building construction Furniture/Infrastructure Equipments Consumables Manpower (as per details in annexure) Contingency Travel (Local/international Visits) Reference Units for Calibration and Training purposes (instruments & sensors) Vehicles Total proximate Cost (In crore Rs.) 11 2 23 6 45 7 10 8

S. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

3 Rs. 115

Total Budget ~Rs. 115 crore (Land cost is not included, see Annexure for details)
6.4 Policy Making and Monitoring Mechanisms The main mandate of the 'Centre for Technology' would be to cater the ever growing needs of indigenous instrumentation for geoscience programs pursued by earth science institutions in the country. To draw short term and long term areas for the geotechnology intervention, close working arrangements with different geoscience institutions, both inter and intra-ministerial, will be essential. Such inter-linkages will help development planning in line with emerging science trends
230

and to evaluate jointly the technology innovations required to provide optimum solutions in upcoming challenging areas. Certain policy decisions will be required on the scope and extent of technical services to be provided to agencies responsible for operating major national monitoring networks. Mechanism for developing private-public linkage, mode of technology transfer and commercialisation of developed technologies would have to be under the guidelines of the Govt of India. Further there should be a formal system to technically evaluate the design and implementation schemes of every project by subject experts at different stages of a project. This expert group would also ensure the time bound implementation of the projects with finished products to global standards and economic viability. It is proposed that MoES may consider constitution of two committees; High level Centre Management Board to make broad policy decisions related to mandate and its implementation whereas second Technical Evaluation and Advisory Committee should focus on technical suitability, performance evaluation and suggestions for improvement and timely completion of the project. Centre Management Board The Board would be primarily responsible for:

Broad policy decisions related to the mandate and functioning of the Centre for
Geotechnology

To formulate and amend the bye-laws and working rules for the CGT. The bye-laws
will cover service rules for all cadres of staff, recruitment, leave, review and disciplinary action etc. Where ever applicable, Govt of India, approvals will be obtained through ministry.

To constitute the Technical Evaluation and Advisory Committee, Finance-cumBuilding Committees

To suggest and approve modes and scope of partnership with geoscience

knowledge institutions, both inter and intra-ministerial, for joint geotechnology enterprises.

To debate and approve the short term and long term road map for geotechnology
Innovations required to provide optimum solutions in up-coming challenging areas of earth sciences

To discuss and take policy decisions on the scope and extent of technical services
to be provided to agencies responsible for operating major national monitoring networks.

To explore and approve mechanism for developing private-public linkage, To discuss and approve guidelines mode of technology transfer and commercialisation
of developed technologies would have to be under the guidelines of the Govt of India.

To discuss and approve annual action plan, recommended by Technical Evaluation

and Advisory Committee, and budget of the Institute.

The committee should meet at least two times in one financial year. The committee will be constituted by the MoES with due approval from Govt of India. Its tenure generally will be 3 years.
Structure of the Centre Management Board Chairman: Secretary, MoES or an Eminent Geotechnocrat Ex- Officio Members: Secretary or his nominee, if not Chairman J.S. (Finance), MoES or in very special case his nominee Director of two prominent Earth Science Insitutions on rotation basis, e.g NGRI, GSI, NIO etc Director of renowned technology Institute., e.g. NIOT, ISRO, BARC, IITs,
231

Invited Members Member Secretary Non-member Secretary,

Three Scientist/Techocrates of repute, preferably from geosciences Director, CGT Controller of Adminstration

Technical Evaluation and Advisory Committee To draw and recommend short term and long term plan for the geotechnology intervention, To propose and evaluate technology innovations required to provide optimum solutions in up-coming challenging areas of earth science. To provide system and mechanism to evaluate technical suitability, performance evaluation and suggestions for improvement and timely completion of the mega geotechnology missions. Review of the Annual technology plan and assessment of on-going projects. Interact with technocrats of the Institute for new innovations Structure of Technical Evaluation and Advisory Committee To be constituted by the Centre Management Board and its tenure will co-terminus with the Board Chairman Ex-Officio Members Eminent Geotechnocrat invariably a member of the Management Board. Total 4: 1-2 Renowned Technocrates from technology Institutions., e.g. NIOT, CSIO, ISRO, BARC, IITs 1-2 Renowned Geoscientists from Earth Science Institutions e.g. NGRI, GSI, NIO, etc Nominee of the Secretary, MoES 3 Eminent Scientis/Technocrates related to the Earth Sciences Director or his nominee

Invited members Member Secretary

Finance-cum-Building Committee The Finance committee shall have the following duties:
l

To scrutinise the accounts and budget estimates of the Centre and to make recommendations to the Centre Management Board (CMB). To consider and make recommendations to the CMB on proposals for new expenditure o n account of major civil works and purchases which shall be referred to the Finance Committee for opinion before they are considered by the CMB. To scrutinise re-appropriation statements and audit notes and make recommendations thereon to the CMB. To review the finance of the Centre from time to time and have concurrent audit conducted whenever necessary. To give advice and make recommendations to the CMB on any other financial questions affecting the affairs of the Society.

Accounts and Audit The Centre shall maintain proper accounts and other relevant records and prepare annual statement of accounts including the balance sheet in such form as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
232

The accounts of the Centre shall be audited annually in such manner as the Central Government may direct and any expenditure incurred in connection with audit of the accounts of the Centre shall be payable by the Centre. The accounts of the Centre as certified by the Auditors together with the Audit Report thereon shall be forwarded annually to the MoES.

Civil Works
Finance committee with the help engineering experts on the committee will (i) evaluate need of new civil works, alteration, renovations, furnishing etc. (ii) discuss and recommend the design, technical details, tender specifications for all civil works above 10 lakhs (iii) evaluate the technical tender specification, financial requirements and make recommendations of CMB for approval. Chairman: Centre Management Board (CMB) shall appoint one of the members of the Board as Chairman. Members: A representative Joint Secretary (Finance) MOES. Two Members nominated by Board, one with specializations in Accounts & Finance. Two Experts Members from renowned Engineering Departments for advice on civil works. Director, CGT. Controller of Finance CGT. Controller of Administration CGT 6.5 Success Criteria The success of the CGT will be in institutionalising the indigenous developments of the geotechnology. Initial success criteria would be the setting up of the infrastructure facilities, ability to attract young and talented technocrats to take career in developing equipments for natural resource exploration and geohazard assessment-mitigation, contributing to sustained growth of society and making living safe in seismic active zones. Therefore, success of the CGT should be judged in developing equipments substitute to global products and making operation of large scale networks a reality. Sharing of knowledge and meeting geotechnology needs of earth science and allied institutions to launch innovative methodologies suited to Indian geology should be significant marker of the success of the CGT. It may be emphasised that any human and financial investments in developing such a centre may be seen as a long term investments and no immediate returns may be the true measuring yardsticks. 6.6 Manpower Regular Staff Scientists -------------------------Technical Staff ------------------Administrative Staff ---------------Supporting Staff -------------------Temporary Staff--------------------(see Annexure for details) 41 45 11 23 57

7.

Recommendations

The sub-committee constituted by MoES to prepare vision document for the intervention of indigenous geotechnologies in context to the Indian earth science programs observed that field based equipments which are required in large number to augment observational network at national level to capture data to assess and mitigate seismic hazards or for exploring rich natural resource potential of the country deserve serious considerations. Both these programs have societal implications and can contribute to the economy growth and, thus, worthy of taking challenge and risk. To realise these goals, the committee recommends that the MoES may give its approval in principle to set up the proposed 'Centre for Geotechnology' whose primary mandate would be geotechnology developments to cater national needs. The Centre shall promote advance research, design of geo-instrumentation and decide priority and time frame for geotechnology intervention. Once this formal approval is accorded, chain of interrelated issues has to be addressed. The necessary administrative approval be granted and agency for taking follow up actions be indicted.
233

Where the Centre be located? Whether the Centre is based in one of existing institution or outside is not critical as long as the centre enjoys full working and financial autonomy to follow road of innovation and creativity rather than moving on the already carved paths. To finalise the organisation structure and infrastructure to be created on the role model of Internationally acclaimed centres of excellence, a visit of expert team to Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Oslo, Norway and Lamont Doherty in the USA be approved Creation of sufficient numbers of posts for human resource development and capacity building in inter-disciplinary specialisations. Mechanism for inter-linkage with National Earth Science Institutions to identify upcoming technology needs with changing phase of earth sciences. Mechanism of networking with International Geotechnology Centres to remain front line partner in knowledge exchange and development. Mode of supporting Private-Public linkage to encourage partnership in production and commercialisation of developed technologies in SE Asia Nature and extent technical services to be provided to Earth Science Institutions in training, commissioning, maintenance of field monitoring networks and analytical laboratories. Constitution of two high level committees: First, Centre Management Board to make broad policy decisions related to mandate and its implementation whereas second Technical Evaluation and Advisory Committee shall focus on technical suitability, performance evaluation and suggestions for improvements and timely completion of the projects.

8.

Disclaimer

Given the technology management nature of the document, references to the source material, which have directly and indirectly contributed to the contents of the report, are not included. However, the deliberations, thought processes and compilation were benefited by free access to published literature, reviews, open reports, website information and reports of similar exercises in limited circulations. Special mention may be made to the committee report "Grand Research Questions in the Solid-Earth Sciences" prepared by a Group at University of California, Berkeley under the chairmanship of Donald J. Depaolo. The contents of this report have been helpful in tracking the growth of geosciences vis--vis technologies, projected in the initial section of the present documents. The use of this and other open access material is acknowledged with thanks.

9.

Acknowledgements

This document Vision Geotechnology is outcome of the free and intense discussions held amongst the members of the Subcommittee in close interactions with co-opted members. The scope of discussions was enlarged by the enriched inputs solicited from selected experts. The efforts put in by all participating members and invited experts are gratefully acknowledged. Prof B.R. Arora and Dr Vineet Gahalaut are specially thanked for arduous task of compiling, editing, often requiring rewriting of inputs to the present form. Constructive suggestions on intermediate versions of the document by Dr P.S. Goel, Chairman, Technology Vision Committee for MoES, helped midcourse corrections to expand the scope and orientations of geotechnology mission. The committee is indebted to his pro-active advices. Directors and co-ordinating staff of the NGRI, NIOT and CSIO are thanked for providing conducive environment for interaction meets, extending warm hospitability. NIOT has been kind in billing the travel support to members. Dr V. P. Dimri Chairman, Subcommittee, Vision Geotechnology Dr B.K. Bansal Member-Secretary Subcommittee, Vision Geotechnology

234

TECHNOLOGY VISION
For Ministry of Earth Sciences

Vol. 4

Geotechnology Part-II Support Articles

By Sub Committee on Geotechnology

Cover page: Airborne frequency domain electromagnetic system (known as Humming Bird) used in Rajasthan by National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad for mineral exploration.

236

CONTENTS
PART II (SUPPORT ARTICLES) Annexure I Annexure II Annexure III Annexure IV Annexure V Annexure VI Minutes of the first meeting Minutes of the second meeting Minutes of the third meeting Inputs provided by various individuals/institutes CSIO Proposal of Seed Geotechnology Centre Details of the financial requirements 239 241 245 247 277 280

237

Annexure I Minutes of the First Meeting

Members Present Dr Dr Dr Dr Dr Dr Dr V.P. Dimri, Director, NGRI, Hyderabad B.K. Bansal, Scientist, IMD, Delhi B.R. Arora, Director, WIHG, Dehradun Narendra Bhandari, Sr. Scientist, PRL, Ahmedabad Ashok Kumar, IIT, Roorkee V Rajendran, NIOT, Chennai R.S. Dattatrayam, Director, Seismology, IMD, Delhi -Chairman -Member Secretary -Member -Member -Member -Member -Member

Dr Kolvankar, DAE could not attend the meeting. Dr V.P. Dimri welcomed the members and provided a brief background about the meeting. He explained the Scope and Terms of Reference of the Sub-committee on Geo-technologies constituted by the "Committee on Technology Vision" Chaired by Dr P.S. Goel. The Committee discussed extensively about the existing programmes, future programmes in the field of Geosciences and technology so that missions for the next 2 years, 5 years and 10 years can be identified. The Committee identified the activity profile in the field of Geoscience and opined that the above task can be completed by sequentially identifiying, frontier areas and gaps in geosciences, technology required to fulfill the gap and development of instrumentation. Dr Arora discussed limitations about Strainmeter and GPR in glacial region, problems faced on supplying and maintenance of instruments. Dr Rajendran emphasized the need for better network communication in the oceanic and island region. Dr. Ashok Kumar made a presentation on Department of Earthquake Engineering in IIT, Roorkee on strong motion array in India and need to expand it. He also referred to early warning system. Dr Dattatrayam emphasized on densification of real time seismic network. Dr Bhandari provided his inputs on water resources and management. Following frontier areas emerged after discussion : 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) Imaging of Indian Subcontinent Active Geodynamic processes Geothermal Processes (Dr Sukanta Roy, NGRI) Strong motion Deep well in Koyna & Himalaya Real time seismic network & Earthquake precursor studies Geohazard risk assessment and mitigation Space time evolution of Indian shield Water resources availability and its management Mineral Orogeny Geodynamics evolution of Himalayan belt Capacity building for Infrastructure and calibration & testing facilities (Dr Ravi Kumar, NGRI) (Dr Ravi Kumar, NGRI) (Prof. Ashok Kumar, IIT, Roorkee) (Dr R.K. Chadha, NGRI) (Dr R.S. Dattatrayam, IMD) (Dr A.K. Bhatnagar, IMD) (Dr TRK Chetty, NGRI) (Dr P.C. Chandra, CGWB, Patna) (GSI) (Dr B.R. Aroara, WIHG) (NGRI)

The Committee has identified Resource Persons who can provide inputs on the above mentioned areas. With the help/support of the Information/inputs provided by the Resource Persons, extensive discussions on the above areas will be taken up in the next meeting.
239

The Chairman proposed that the next meeting will be held on 20th July, 2009 (Monday) at National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai. Based on the recommendation of the Committee, Chairman co-opted the following experts as special invitees to attend the next meeting to be held on 20th July, 2009 at Chennai: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) Dr A.K. Chaubey, NIO, Goa Prof. R.S. Sharma, Jodhpur University Dr R.K. Chadha Representative, GSI Dr Ravi Kumar, Scientist, NGRI Dr Sukanta Roy, Scientist, NGRI Dr Vineet Gahalaut, Scientist, NGRI

The Committee thanked Dr Rajendran for coordinating the meeting. The Meeting ended with thanks to the Chair. ---

240

Annexure II Minutes of the Second meeting

Venue: NIOT, Chennai Date: 20 July 2009 Following members attended the meeting. Dr Dr Dr Dr Dr Dr Dr Dr Dr Dr Dr V.P.Dimri V Rajendran B.R.Arora B.K.Bansal N Bhandari R.S.Dattatrayam A.K.Mathur R.K. Chadha M. Ravikumar Sukanta Roy V.K.Gahalaut Chairman Coordinator

Dr A.K. Chaubey, Dr R.S. Sharma, Dr V.G. Kolvanker and representative of GSI could not attend the meeting. The meeting started with the welcome address by the NIOT director, Dr S. Kathiroli. He informed about various facilities at NIOT and willingness to share them with other institutes. Dr V.P.Dimri and Dr B.K.Bansal thanked him for helping to organise meeting at NIOT. They confimed the minutes of the meeting on July 6, 2009 at NGRI, Hyderabad. However, Dr Bansal pointed out that we need to develop a few facilities like NGI at Norway and Lamont Doherty at USA. He also suggested that the committee should come up with clear recommendations. Realising the importance of the matter, the committee unanimously decided to include Dr Pawan Kapur, Director, CSIO as a member of the committee. This was followed up by following presentations.
l

Dr B.R. Arora on "Research Program on the Geodynamics and Structure of the Continental Margins and ad-jointed Deep Seas" and "Integrated Approach to develop and test evolution models of the Himalaya". He emphasised on taking up a few transects across Himalaya, and to understand role of fluids. Dr R.S. Dattatrayam on "Science Plan and technological requirements in Geosciences including Earthquake Precursor Studies and Geo-hazard risk assessment and mitigation" Dr V.P. Dimri on "Water resource availability and its management" and "Mineral Exploration Strategies for Precious Metals" Dr R.K. Chadha on "Super Deep Borehole for Geoscience studies" and "Vision on Instrumentation" Dr M. Ravikumar on "Imaging of the Indian subcontinent" and "Geodynamic Processes of the Indian plate margins" Dr. Ashok Kumar on "Strong Motion Studies In India" Dr.V.K.Gahalaut on "Geologic growth history of the Indian shield through space and time". Dr. S. Roy on "Geothermal Studies: Goals for the future".
241

l l

This was followed by detailed discussion on various research topics which may be taken up in future and where we may need technological advancement. 1. We may take up a few transects across Indian land mass wherein all geological, geophysical, seismological, geochemical methods may be employed to delineate the structure and to understand the evolution and dynamic processes. Need to take up research in the Himalaya more vigorously with a view to understand geodynamics, tectonics and earthquake occurrence processes, and to delineate crustal structure. Technology for deployment of OBS in the Indian ocean to study structure and for earthquake monitoring. Need for additional space based observations on geophysical processes. It was realised that space based gravity and airborne electromagnetic methods should be utilised more effectively. It was pointed out that MoES is formulating a programme on Andaman Nicobar region which includes following components. Research on these components may be taken up on priority basis and technology requirement may be identified. (i) Crustal structure studies: delineation of deep structures by seismological (including ocean bottom seismometer), seismic, heat flow and gravity methods, and surface or shallow subsurface structures using GPR, shallow seismic, resistivity, geological methods, etc.

2.

3. 4. 5.

(ii) Earthquake occurrence processes: seismological, geodetic methods, and dating of coral and paleoseismological and paleotsunami deposits (iii) Detailed plate motion: Geodetic methods, dating of coral and paleoseismological and paleotsunami deposits (iv) Geodynamic models: structure and thermal modelling using the above information, investigation on relation between earthquake occurrence in the frontal arc and volcanic eruption in the back arc, paleo-reconstruction for arc evolution. (v) Tsunami modeling: development of various scenarios for the island and coastal India regions. (vi) Structure safety and public awareness: Structural engineering research and improvement in practices, training and public awareness about earthquake, tsunami. 6. MoES is also considering setting up of one (or two) multi-parametric volcanology observatory in the Barren island region. From the worldwide studies, it has been found that eruption of the volcano is generally preceded by seismic activity, ground deformation, and various geochemical precursors. Thus it is proposed to set up a multi-parameter volcanology observatory and to install online equipments to measure, crustal deformation including gravity and strain, seismic activity, volcanic gas monitoring, fluid geochemistry, chemical characters of the emitted gas, geothermal and geomagnetic signals, and other visual effects, etc. Deployment of additional strong motion arrays to understand the attenuation behaviour and site characterisation. This will help in objective assessment of seismic hazard at various sites also. Development of shake map for various cities in different scenarios. Installation of Earthquake Early Warning System at some cities located in the Indo-Gangetic plains adjoining Himalaya. Study on interaction between tectonics, climate, and earth surface processes Deployment of additional seismological and other geophysical networks for better subsurface imaging and earthquake location. This will also help in identification of high seismic hazard regions.

7.

8. 9. 10. 11.

242

12.

Characterization of the thermal structure of the Indian lithosphere through systematic geothermal data acquisition programmes in the uncovered geological provinces including active zones such as the Himalaya, preparation of a heat flow map of India, utilization of bottom hole temperature datasets acquired by the oil industry in hydrocarbon bearing sedimentary basins, and initiate efforts towards marine heat flow data acquisition in the surrounding oceans. In view of growing energy demands and the emphasis on renewable energy, a reassessment of geothermal energy potential of hot spring areas in the country should be carried out by covering some critical gaps in information through acquisition of new data, combined interpretation of geothermal datasets and existing geological, hydrological, geochemical and geophysical datasets to throw more light on the nature of the heat source of the hot springs and their sustainability for power production, undertaking drilling and setting up of pilot-scale binary-cycle power plants. The viability of geothermal heat pumps for heating inside buildings should be explored in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Uttarakhand which experience severe winter conditions for long periods. The existing technology needs to be improved upon by targeting drastic cost reduction in installations so as to make it affordable to large communities. A super deep bore hole should be drilled in some seismically active region (e.g., Himalaya or Koyna) to understand the role of crustal fluids, status of subsurface stresses, deformational mechanism, heat flow etc. More emphasis should be given on earthquake precursory studies. There is a need for taking up seismic microzonation/hazard and risk evaluation type studies for mega cities falling in high risk zones. An institute (or a department in an existing institute) should be set up for taking up technological requirements of the geological and geophysical research in the country. This facility can be set up in line with NGI at Norway and Lamont Doherty at USA. However prior to this, a small team may visit NRI or Lamont to gain more knowledge about it, as such facility does not exist in India.

13.

14.

15.

16. 17. 18.

A detailed discussion took place on the above topics and the requirement of technology in each case was discussed. It was realised that in some cases the technology to take up the research work already exists whereas in some other cases, we need to develop (or modify to suit our purpose) technology. A few areas in which technological advancement in the research field of earth sciences is required, are identified below. 1. Considering the huge requirement of accelerographs for strong motion monitoring to study the attenuation characteristics of ground motion, we may consider to take up development of Accelerographs in India. Most of the Himalayan region including NE India is prone to landslide. It is advised that we may consider development of strainmaters/tiltmeters to monitor landslide prone regions. They may also be helpful in crustal deformation studies in earthquake prone regions. Considering our huge dependency on minerals, we may develop airborne systems for electromagnetic surveys. We may also consider development of space based observations, such as gravity and magnetic measurements. Ground penetrating Radar is used effectively in many science disciplines. We may consider to develop it and may consider modification to suit our purpose for deeper probing. We must develop technology to deploy Earthquake Early Warning systems. To harness geothermal energy, we must develop drilling technology in high heat flow region.
243

2.

3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

8.

For better understanding earthquake occurrence processes, detailed rheological structure, and various earth processes, it is appropriate to develop technology for taking up deep (~5 km) bore hole. The existing technology towards making geothermal heat pumps for heating inside buildings in cold regions, needs to be improved upon by targeting drastic cost reduction in installations so as to make it affordable to large communities. An institute (or a department in an existing institute) should be set up for taking up technological requirements of the geological and geophysical research in the country. This facility can be set up in line with NGI at Norway and Lamont Doherty at USA. However prior to this, a small team may visit NRI or Lamont to gain more knowledge about it, as such facility does not exist in India. Financial requirement of setting up such a facility may be submitted after the visit.

9.

10.

The Committee thanked Dr. Rajendran, NIOT for coordinating the meeting. The Meeting ended with thanks to the Chair.

-x-

244

Annexure III
Minutes of the Third Meeting
Venue : CSIO Chandigarh Date : Jan 15, 2010 The list of participants is annexed. Dr. Pawan Kapur, Director, CSIO, welcomed the participants of the meeting and mentioned that CSIO has created very good infrastructure in the last few years and would be happy to help in the current initiative of MoES i.e. development of technology for geo-sciences. He then presented a short film about the activities of CSIO. Dr. P.S. Goel, Chariman of Technology Vision and Former Secretary, MoES, thanked Dr. Kapur to host the meeting. He mentioned that the sub-committee under the chairmanship of Dr. V. P. Dimri, has done a very good job. He briefly mentioned about the background of the geo-technology requirement in the country and also referred about such developments outside the country namely, Norwagian Geotechnology Institute, which is engaged in the development of various geo-scientific instruments. He also mentioned that engineering backup is most important to realize the scientific goals and perhaps geo-science and geo-technology will be more important in future, in comparison to the other sciences. Dr. V. P. Dimri also extended thanks to Director CSIO and Dr. P. S. Goel and mentioned that the initiative taken by Ministry of Earth Sciences is very important. He mentioned that we are quite geared up for ocean technology in India, while in geo-technology we need to do a lot more. He then briefly gave an overview of the proceedings of the sub-committee set up by MoES in the month of June. Dr. Dimri also mentioned that Dr. Kapur, was co-opted as a member of the Committee and in addition, few more experts were co-opted to help in preparing the document. He briefly summarized the deliberations of the meeting held on 6th July, 20th July and 21st October, held at NGRI, NIOT and WIHG respectively. Dr. Dimri also informed that based upon the inputs and feedback received from Dr. Goel, the document has gone under several iterations. Dr. Dimri then requested Dr. Gahalaut to make the presentation of the document. Dr. Gahalaut made a detailed presentation of the document and mentioned that the subcommittee initially identified the frontier areas of research in geo-science and then deliberated upon the technological requirements to achieve the goal. He presented a short review of the trends in geoscience research and mentioned that in early period the research was merely accidental, while after 1960s, the research is based on available technology. Dr. Gahalaut then presented the themes identified by the sub-committee as well as the technological requirements to realize the goals. After a detailed discussion, the following points emerged: 1. The Committee was in agreement with the proposal of setting up of a Centre for Geotechnology. However, it was recommended that the document should especially include a separate chapter on organizational structure of the institute including the operative mechanism i.e. Governing body council and Research council etc. The centre should be set up as an autonomous body, headed by an eminent expert in the area of geo-science/ technology. A specific cell, comprising of 6-8 scientists, may be created at MoES Headquarters, which can coordinate with the proposed institute as well as the existing institutions which are engaged in the geo-scientific studies in the country/outside. A few specific items namely Ph.D. and training (abroad) may be dropped from the mandate of the proposed centre.
245

2.

3.

4. 5. 6.

The word exploitation, under Item No. 4.3, may be replaced by technology for harnessing resources. The document may be modified and completed in view of the above, preferably, within one month. The next meeting of the Committee may be held at NGRI, sometime in the last week of February, 2010.

The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair. List of Participants: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Dr. P. S. Goel, Chairman (Technology Vision for Earth Sciences) Dr. V.P. Dimri, Director, NGRI & Chariman (Vision Document on Geo-technologies) Dr. Pawan Kapur, Director, CSIO Dr. R. S. Dattatrayam, IMD Dr. M.P. Wakdikar, MoES Dr. Ashok Kumar, IIT Roorkee Dr. V.K. Gahalaut, NGRI Dr. B.K. Bansal, MoES Prof. N. Bhandari, PRL Shri N. S. Mehla, CSIO Shri A. D. Kaul, CSIO Shri B. K. Sharma, CSIO Shri S. K. Mittal, CSIO Shri M. L. Singla, CSIO

246

Annexure IV
Inputs provided by various individuals/institutes
(I) Geodynamic Processes of the Indian plate margins (Dr.M.Ravi Kumar) Introduction: The Indian plate boundaries form a unique tectonic domain on the earth. The highest mountain orogeny in the form of Himalaya and the world's tallest plateau in Tibet are a manifestation of the complex continent-continent collision with several outstanding issues like deformation and accommodation of huge volume of Indian crustal mass and formation of double crust. The Burmese arc adjoining the eastern Himalayan syntaxis is arguably the most debated plate boundary where cessation of subduction has been widely purported. The Andaman arc further south is a site of oblique subduction and also the site of the longest fault rupture of about 1500 km in the recent times, following the devastating 21 December 2004 Sumatra earthquake. The Indian Ocean region to the south of the Indian plate is a nascent subduction zone in the offing with a complex diffuse deformation in place supporting all types of fault mechanisms on a single boundary. The western plate margins are relatively simple and quite with seafloor spreading with respect to the African plate and a slow strike-slip boundary with the Arabian plate in the north-west. 3D structure of the Indian plate boundary zones: In the recent years global and regional seismic tomography studies have dramatically advanced our knowledge of the 3D velocity structure and slab geometries along plate boundaries (refs). Even remnants of the Tethys lithosphere has been mapped in the Himalaya and Burma-Andaman arc regions (refs). This in conjunction with focal mechanism studies have provided new models in the Burmese arc, where cessation of subduction, overturning of lithosphere and slab detachment have been proposed (refs). Recent deployment of several broadband seismic networks in the Indian region has enabled mapping of the lithosphere with unprecedented precision using Receiver function technique based on both P-to-S and S-to-P converted phases (refs), paving way for detailed understanding of the geodynamic scenarios and providing new models for understanding the plate motion. These studies have also opened up issues with regard to the plate thicknesses and their mobility, the relation between roots beneath plates and their velocities. For instance, recent estimates of an unusually thin (~100 km) lithosphere for the Indian plate as compared to the other Gondwana fragments up to 300 km thick, has provided new interpretation for the super mobility of the Indian plate since its break-up about 140 million years ago (ref). Such studies also have implications for understanding the predominance of mechanisms driving the plates, like mantle convection or slab pull at the subduction trench. The broadband data have also provided new constraints on the seismic anisotropy and its complex manifestation which has helped in proposing new theories on mantle flow patterns and their possible role in driving the Indian plate motion. Issues: India-Eurasia collision models: Collision and under-thrusting models, double crust of Tibet, plate motion and GPS velocities, strain rates, eastward extrusion, decoupled upper-lower crust, Models from lithospheric imaging studies Diffuse Deformation in the Indian Ocean: Seismicity, diffuse deformation, plate velocities, marine geophysical surveys, evidence of crustal shortening, all types of focal mechanisms, Euler pole rotation model, GPS data, new models Great earthquakes and their causative mechanism: Mega-thrust earthquakes, mechanism of stress build up, delineating seismogenic coupling and serpentinized zones, role of fluids. Slow earthquakes and their applications: Low frequency earthquakes and their relation to plate motion, broadband / very broadband studies to detect them, episodic tremor and slip, relation to fluids and their pore pressures
247

Road map:
l

Deployment of dense networks of seismic broadband stations in the Himalaya, Northeast India and Andaman-Nicobar Islands Seismic tomography using travel times as well as noise correlation all along plate boundary zones Characterizing the crust-mantle structure using scattered phases Modeling anisotropy in the Indian plate and boundary regions Theoretical modeling and simulation of mantle convections inside the earth and correlation with the understanding of plate dynamics Measurement of crustal deformation through GPS and Tiltmeter observations Numerical modeling of plate motions using rigid as well as non-rigid plate structure

l l l

l l

Analysis of continuous seismograms for detection of Episodic tremors of Very Low Frequency (VLF) earthquakes in subduction zones

248

(II) Science Plan and technological requirements in GeoSciences (Dr R.S. Dattatrayam) Seismology Preamble: Instrumental Seismology in India started more than a century ago, with the first seismological observatory set up at Alipore (Calcutta) by India Meteorological Department (IMD) in 1898. Over the years, the seismological network grew gradually both in number and sophistication. While the national seismological network is maintained by IMD, a number of other agencies are also involved in operating seismological observatories for specific purposes. India Meteorological Department is maintaining the National Seismological Network (NSN) consisting of 55 observatories, of which 30 stations are equipped with state-of-art broadband sensors, high dynamic range (24-bit) digitizers, GPS time synchronization and facility to access the data remotely through satellite communications and telephone mode. India Meteorological Department is also maintaining a V-SAT based 16 station, digital seismic telemetry network around National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi for close monitoring of seismic activity in the region. As part of the Indian Tsunami Early Warning Center set up at Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad by MoES, India Meteorological Department has established a 17-station Real Time Seismic Monitoring Network (RTSMN), which includes 13 existing stations of IMD and 4 new stations located at Campbell Bay, Diglipur, Hyderabad and Dharmshala. The RTSMN system is capable of providing earthquake source parameters in a fully automatic mode within few minutes of recording of data by at least five stations. The earthquake information is automatically disseminated to various user agencies through various modes of communication channels, viz., SMS, FAX, EMAIL, IVRS and also posted on IMD's website. Science Plan and Geotechnological requirements:
l

To enable detection and location of all earthquakes of M:3.0 and above occurring within the Indian landmass, it is necessary to establish an optimum network of about 177 seismic stations evenly spread over the entire country, as per the recommendations of an expert committee. IMD is now in the process of setting up additional 100 stations, which would not only enable quick estimation and dissemination of earthquake source parameters to various disaster management authorities, but also provide very useful data sets on low magnitude events for carrying out research studies on various topics in Seismology. State-of-art technological tools / equipments, viz., broadband sensors, high resolution digitizers, communication systems, auto-location software, visualization and information dissemination systems and where necessary, Ocean Bottom Seismometers would be considered in developing this real time seismic monitoring network. A robust, country-wide indigenously developed communication network would go a long way in connecting various field units, equipped with Seismological, GPS, Strong Motion and other Geophysical sensors, to a centralized 'Geo-Data Centre' with a 'mirror image' at a suitable alternate geographical location for data recovery during disasters. A state-of-art Seismological Data Centre with powerful servers and software modules would be established to match the requirements of handling large volumes of real time data reception, analysis and systematic archival of the past as well as the new seismological data to be generated by the upgraded network and also the field data and the products relating to earthquake hazard and risk related studies being undertaken by IMD. Towards long term preservation of old seismic analog charts in electronic form for use by research community a project proposal on "Archival and digitization of seismic analog charts" has been taken up by IMD. As part of this project, about 100,000 seismic analog charts shall be scanned using high resolution (800 dpi) scanners. Scanned analog traces of important earthquake events shall be subsequently vector
249

digitized using state-of-art software (such as, Teseo2) for generating digital waveform files for use by research community. The outcome of the project will be useful for better understanding of earthquake phenomena and better preparedness and mitigation measures to reduce property and loss of life during future earthquakes.
l

More concerted and coordinated approach in carrying out post-earthquake field studies would help optimal use of resources and presentation of data in the best possible manner through joint efforts of data collection and analysis. Appropriate field instrumentation set up of portable nature with communication facilities, built into a mobile van, is required to be created for this purpose. IMD is in the process of setting u p such a facility, which would also be useful in carrying out site response studies and monitoring of abrupt bursts of seismic activity in campaign mode, etc. Indigenous efforts towards design and development of various seismological and geoscientific equipments should be strengthened. Where necessary, alliances with R&D institutions and industry should also be forged in this regard. Effective linkages between the user agencies, R&D institutions and industry would enable development of required prototype instruments and transfer of technology to industry. Application of fibre-optic technology in seismic instrumentation is one of the cutting edge technologies under examination. Facilities for standardization and calibration of various equipments should also be created in India to ensure generation of quality data sets in standard and uniform formats. While it is necessary to strengthen our initiatives towards disaster mitigation and management aspects, it is equally important to ensure that the results / outcome of these initiatives reach the public and the implementing authorities in most efficient and user friendly manner. Public awareness and outreach programs should be given appropriate thrust through a robust Web / Mobile / Media - based information dissemination systems in a network mode. As part of the proposed new National Center for Seismology (NCS) under the GeoScience discipline of MoES, it is planned to bring together all earthquake related activities under one umbrella. A few new activities proposed to be taken up as part of NCS include, setting up of state-of-art Earthquake Operational Center, Training Center in Seismology and Test & Calibration facilities. All these initiatives would require induction of state-of-art technological tools necessary for meeting the objective of creating a Centre of Excellence in Seismology with specific goals of providing earthquake related information in shortest possible time, provide hazard and risk related products of specific regions to enable design and construction of earthquake resistant structures and carry out research in pure and applied Seismology and earthquake precursor studies. To achieve the above objectives, it is equally important to give appropriate thrust to R&D in the related fields.

Earthquake Precursor Studies Preamble Although scientists world-over have been trying very hard, 'earthquake prediction' still remains to be in it's infancy. However, it is realized that earthquake prediction is a multi-facet exercise involving collection, analyses and interpretation of various kinds of data sets in a comprehensive manner. Thus, an integrated approach of generation, assimilation and analyses of a long-term geo-database on various earthquake precursors in critical seismotectonic environments in the country in a comprehensive manner through a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional approach is essential for any successful earthquake prediction program. Towards meeting this objective, the Ministry of Earth Sciences has taken up a National Program on Earthquake Precursors (NPEP), as part of it's XI plan activity.
250

Science Plan and Geotechnological requirements: Following activities shall be taken up in the next five years, as per the objectives of the NPEP:
l

Generation of long-term, comprehensive multi-parametric geophysical observations in seismically active areas, where probability of occurrence of earthquakes of M>6 is perceived high and/ or some precursory observations (such as swarms followed by quiescence) have been observed. A chain of Multi-Parametric Geophysical Observatories (MPGOs) shall be set up in critical areas to monitor various earthquake precursory phenomenon such as, seismicity patterns, crustal deformation, gravity anomalies, electrical resistivity changes, electromagnetic precursors, geohydrochemical changes including Radon and Helium observations and thermal anomalies, etc. depending upon the site specific needs. Comprehensive analysis and interpretation of these multi-parametric geophysical observations on a real-time basis at a Central Receiving Station located in Delhi, with multi-agency participation. Establish possible relationship between various earthquake precursory phenomenon and the earthquake generation processes. Carryout scientific and R&D related studies towards better understanding of earthquake generation processes and their relationship to earthquake precursors.

As part of this program, MPGOs have already been established at Ghuttu, (Uttaranchal Himalaya), Koyna and Shillong. These MPGOs are equipped with state-of-art technological tools / instruments, viz., high precision magnetometer, super-conductivity gravimeter, magnetotelluric, GPS, radon, ULF emission and ground water monitoring systems for detecting minute stress induced changes in the earthquake source regions. Space based technologies are also being employed for monitoring earthquake induced thermal anomalies on the land surface. The application of low frequency infrasound (acoustic) waves to study a great variety of man-made and natural phenomena in the atmosphere is also being explored. Suitable state-of-art technological tools (land , space - and underwater - based) required for meeting the above objectives of the program shall be inducted. Geohazard risk assessment and mitigation: Preamble The current major thrust in Seismology is towards application of existing knowledge / use of available data to significantly reduce the economic losses and human misery during future earthquakes. Seismic microzonation has emerged as a major tool towards our efforts for preparedness and mitigation of losses due to earthquakes. 'Seismic microzonation' is a process of classifying a region into zones, which have relatively similar exposure to various earthquake-related effects. This exercise, which is similar to the macro-level hazard evaluation, requires more rigorous inputs about the site-specific geological conditions, maximum possible earthquake expected in the area, the attenuation characteristics of the terrain, ground response to earthquake motions and the soil- structure interaction, etc. Seismic hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment of selected spatial windows of importance (or) located in seismically active areas should be taken up on priority basis. The Earthquake Risk Evaluation Centre (EREC) set up in IMD has the mandate to generate and disseminate user-friendly GIS-based and site-specific hazard and risk related information products to enable appropriate planning of pre- and post- disaster management strategies. The Centre has completed microzonation of Delhi region on 1:50,000 scale and played a key role in various studies relating to the seismic microzonation of Jabalpur and Guwahati regions. The Centre is currently engaged in carrying out microzonation of Delhi region at 1:10,000 scale. Science Plan and Geotechnological requirements:
l

We need to continue and accelerate our ongoing efforts, so that seismic microzonation of
251

all the urban centers located in seismic zones-IV and -V is completed in a phased manner in the next five years. GIS-based microzonation studies incorporating geotechnical aspects viz., mapping of soil structure and its relationship to liquefaction potential, seismic vulnerability and risk evaluation and development of an appropriate disaster management preparedness plan for various megacities falling in seismic zones - IV and V should be taken up. This would help in making a realistic estimation of expected damage potential for individual blocks in a region due to future earthquakes and thus help in effectively planning the pre- and post- disaster mitigation strategies.
l l

Completion of seismic microzonation of Delhi region at 1:10,000 scale. Proper interface between Seismology, Earthquake Engineering and Geotechnical fields should be provided for better coordination and optimal use of resources and knowledge base, which in turn would enable us to develop and deliver appropriate knowledge-based products useful to the community at large. Based on the studies carried out so far, EREC is in the process of standardizing the approach for providing an end-to-end solution towards Hazard microzonation and risk assessment of critical areas.

Some of the technological tools / equipment / methodologies currently being employed in Seismic Microzonation related studies include: Deep drilling (rotary drill machines) equipment for geotechnical investigations (SPT measurements and collection of disturbed and undisturbed soil samples for laboratory investigations); Satellite imageries and aerial photographs for preparation of base maps; Site response studies using microtremor and earthquake events; Multi-channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW technique) for Shear wave velocity (Vs30) profile; PGA (Peak Ground Acceleration) maps through Probabilistic and Deterministic approaches; and use of ArcGIS(9.1) and ERDAS IMAGINE(9.3) for generation of various types of thematic maps. Suitable state-of-art technological tools available from time to time shall be employed for meeting the objectives of the program.

252

(IV) Strong Motion Studies in India: A vision for 2, 5 and 10 years (Dr Ashok K. Mathur) Preamble Strong motion data generated through deployment of strong motion arrays provide very useful data for earthquake disaster mitigation and management. The records of strong motion accelerographs, in the event of earthquakes, provide a data set pertinent to addressing a wide variety of earthquake engineering issues. A good data base of such records is key to requirements of a sound earthquake resistant design of systems. Recent advances in communication technology and super computational power has resulted in use of strong motion instruments for early warning systems as well as almost real time estimate of ground motion immediately after an event. Several such systems are working in many countries.. Vision India has about 450 strong motion accelerograph installed sporadically. Over the past few decades the demand of strong motion data has increased due to increased awareness in the area of disaster mitigation and preparedness, specifically, in earthquake engineering. Thus, there is a great need to make the strong motion network more denser. To start with, about 500 additional strong motion instrument installations and their networking will be required. For sustaining the present strong motion network and for diversifying its activity, it is essential that a center of excellence for strong ground motion studies be made. Structural damage and consequent loss of life from earthquakes is often concentrated in areas underlain by soft soils (Mexico City, 1985; Leninakan, Armenia, 1988; San Francisco, California Loma Prieta, 1989; Kobe, Japan, 1995. In the absence of soil data of the site, time histories recorded at the site during an earthquake is incomplete information. It is, therefore, essential that bore hole tests at each installation site should be carried out. Soil characteristics of each location of strong ground motion record will be key requirement for development of products described below. It is anticipated that in addition to provide the basic data for research in earthquake engineering and seismology, this work should deliver the following products in a span of two to five years. l A product in the form of maps or a software, which should be able to give site specific earthquake parameters (pga, shape of response spectra and duration of shaking) for any site in India using deterministic seismic hazard analysis as well as probabilistic seismic hazard analysis.
l

Earthquakes of magnitude 6+ in Himalayas as well as from Kutch are expected to occur frequently. Chances of future occurrence of earthquakes of magnitude 7+ from these regions are also a reality. There are thickly populated cities within 200 to 300 km, which can be drastically effected by these earthquakes. An early warning system which should be capable to give a controlled trigger with a lead time of 40 to 70 seconds is an achievable possibility today. Cluster of strong motion accelerographs should be intelligently placed around active fault regions, streaming real time data to super fast computers which should be capable to process the ground motion data in real time, determine magnitude and location from early P wave arrivals, take decision and broadcast alert. A protocol will be required to use this alert signal for various applications, which may need public participation. City of Delhi has large variation of soil cover varying from deep soft alluvial to hard rock. Due to this reason there will be large variation in earthquake ground motion in various localities of Delhi. It is, therefore, important that near real time ground motion scenario be made available immediately after an earthquake to provide input

253

for disaster management and other crucial requirements. A network of 20 strong motion instruments is already operating in Delhi. However, this is too sparse network. For meaningful results at least 80 more strong motion instrument stations are needed. Out of these three to four stations should have provision for real time data streaming where as all other instruments should be networked through broadband or any other service provider. In short the following is recommended for strong ground motion studies.

Setting up of a center of excellence for strong ground motion studies in India. (in
next 2 years for a period of 10 years initially)

Upgradation of present network of strong motion instruments to more denser network

with addition of about 500 stations. (5 years)

Soil characterization of strong motion station sites using borehole. (5 years) Preparation of a product (set of maps or software), which should be capable to provide
deterministic as well as probabilistic seismic hazard of any site in India. (2 years)

Deployment of early warning system /s to issue alerts in the event of earthquake. (5 years) Implementation of a near real time ground motion scenario (commonly called as
shake map) of Delhi immediately after an earthquake. (2 years)

254

(V)

Imaging of the Indian subcontinent (Dr M. Ravi Kumar)

The Indian subcontinent is bestowed with a great diversity in its geological terrains that span in age from Archaean to present, thereby offering a unique opportunity to study the manifestations of the deep earth processes that shaped them. Investigation of the deep lithospheric architecture appears to be the most illuminating approach towards unravelling the evolutionary history of diverse tectonic terranes, their geodynamic response to the various tectono-magmatic processes that affected them in course of their geologic history. Hence, study of the deep architecture of the Indian continent in terms of its physical structure and deformation, nature and disposition of the layered subcrustal lithosphere including the LAB, together with the mantle transition zone discontinuities, should provide snap shots of their mode of evolution. Seismology in India has undergone a tremendous transformation over the past decade, owing mainly to the dense deployments of permanent and array type broadband seismographs in a phased manner. This, coupled with the development of powerful computers for processing and simulating direct and scattered seismic wavefields has enabled high resolution imaging of the spatial variations in the structure of various provinces enabling us to narrow down competing processes that shaped their geology.

Issues:
In spite of the rapid strides in imaging the continental interiors, issues like the sharpness of discontinuity structures, mapping small scale heterogeneities (like plume conduits), characterizing anisotropy and attenuation, discriminating the influence of temperature and compositional effects (to understand the causative mechanisms for Large Igneous Provinces), detection of weak discontinuities and their role in continental evolution (horizontal accretion by shallow subduction or magmatic differentiation), mantle layering and dynamics (fundamental to the plate tectonics), distribution of water and volatiles in the earth and their role in plate tectonics and earthquake genesis, the deep Earth's role in carbon fluidization and sequestration, still remain to be resolved. The limitations in our understanding of these fundamental issues stem from the constraints imposed by low density of the data sets, limitations in extracting full information from the observed seismograms, inability to enhance signals from weak discontinuities, combined analysis of direct, surface and scattered phases, pose Globally, the next decade would witness new trends for imaging and characterizing the Earth's interior in a greater detail by way of enhanced data acquisition and computational skills. In the Indian scenario, it is imperative to initiate and develop research groups to focus on themes related to
l l l

Increasing the density of broadband seismic stations (50km grid?) Nation wide instrument pools and scientific bidding for their deployments. Data archival at a centralized place and its uninterrupted dissemination to authorized research groups Development of powerful numerical schemes for synthetic seismogram generation in complex media and their use for inversion of observed seismograms for high-resolution 3D imaging. Bridging the gap between active and passive seismology through coincident data gathering; mutual adaptation of the advances in either field. Passive imaging of the Oceans through long term OBS deployments. Combined modeling of data from seismological, experimental and mineral physics. Communication across disciplines like MT, Satellite Gravity, Geodesy, Paleo-agnetism. Overcome the limitations imposed by skewed azimuthal distribution of earthquakes by resorting to imaging the Earth using ambient noise (an emerging field).

l l l l

255

(VI) Some Suggestions on Structure, Tectonic and Metallogenic Studies(S. Sinha-Roy) Introduction In recent years earth science research and technology development in understanding the earth's architecture and its resources are increasingly being driven by multidisciplinary study approach to understand the earth and planetary processes. In India the work by various earth science organizations has increased our knowledge base about the basic geologic layout of the subcontinent and its economic resources, and has spun off knowledge that has directly benefited the economy of the nation. In order to match the international standard of earth science research and to integrate the relevance of such research with societal needs it is now necessary to address several fundamental questions concerning the Indian lithosphere and seek answers, a mechanism that will not only position Indian geoscience activities on the international platform but will also contribute to meeting various expectations of the society. This note identifies two major thrust areas, namely, Structural Geology and Tectonics, and Metallogeny that need emphasis in the envisioned future earth science study programme in order to understand the dynamics of the Indian lithosphere. Rationale of Structure, Tectonics and Metallogeny Studies Lithosphere dynamics and crustal kinematics play an important role in shaping continental and oceanic structures, both ancient and recent. Indian sub-continent is a store-house of geological information related to lithosphere evolution and custal accretion through time and space from early Archaean (<3.3 Ga) in the granite-greenstone belts of southern India, through the Proterozoic foldbelts (2.5-0.75 Ga) to the Cenozoic Himalayan collision orogen. Many studies have tried to understand the cause and consequences of Indian lithosphere evolution and its impress on structure and tectonics of the sub-continent. However, these studies have projected many questions that need to be answered through integrated multidisciplinary study projects deploying modern technologies and methodologies under the ambit of Earth System Sciences (ESS). The Indian lithosphere has many unique features such as the mantle depletion consequent upon the voluminous eruption of the Deccan traps, unusually thin continental crust and lithosphere, large tract of passive continental margin whose transition to oceanic crust is little known, and the Himalaya, the proto-type of collision orogen whose lithosphere dynamics is the topic of current international interest. The geologic evolution over a protracted period of time of the Indian lithosphere has resulted in the formation of a number of metallotects that contain mineral deposits of various genetic types. The exact lineage of these metallotects with crustal evolution and SCLM dynamics and geochemistry is not clear. Apart from the economic aspect of tectonic and metallogenic studies, tectonic and lithosphere research has also great relevance to studies on climate change and natural hazards. Bottom Up Approach to Thematic Research In view of the rationale mentioned above and in tune with the contemporary international thrust areas of study the following broad topical research themes in the field of Structure and Tectonics, and Metallogeny under ESS need special attention in the Indian context.
l l l l

Beyond plate tectonics : continental rheology and orogeny Interaction between tectonics, climate and earth surface processes Himalayan collision tectonics : lithospheric dimension Metallogeny and lithosphere dynamics

These broad and fundamental themes of research on Indian lithosphere with emphasis on structure, tectonics and metallogeny is considered to form the frame for bottom-up approach to earth science research activities in the near future to understand the Indian lithosphere evolution. The fundamental tenets of these themes need to be integrated with other related study aspects such as petrology, geochemistry, geochronology, geophysics etc. in order to generate a comprehensive and cogent picture of the Indian lithosphere evolution through time and its manifestations in space.
256

Each of these fundamental themes can be prograded in bottom-up logic into a number of tangible projects designed to answer the basic questions (see below) generated under each theme. 1. Beyond plate tectonics: rheology and orogeny of Indian continent Plate tectonics emerged as a unifying theory of the solid earth from observations of the ocean floors, and it has been applied to continental orogeny with limited success. The pervasive deformation and internal structures of the continental mountain belts indicate non-rigid and weak behaviour of the continental crust. This weak rheologic nature typifies continental orogeny in all its manifestations including regions of convergence (e.g. Indian Proterozoic foldbelts such as Singhbhum, Cuddapas, Aravalli, Sausar-Sakoli etc.), divergence (Gondwanic rifts, Vindhyan and related sag basins etc.), transform faulting (e.g. crustal scale-wrench faults in Dharwar craton, Narmada-Son tectonic zone), subduction (e.g. Singhbhum shear zone, Aravalli-Delhi suture, Central India suture etc.). In order to understand the significance of these features in terms of Indian lithosphere evolution significant improvement to our understanding of continental tectonics is required for which detailed and comprehensive study of the rheology and tectonics of continental crust and mantle rocks is needed. Unlike the behaviour of oceanic crust continental deformation depends markedly on the strengths of both crustal and upper mantle rocks. Like all continental terrains the Indian continental crust does not have a common mode of origin, and is a collage of heterogeneous compositional/rheologic elements with widely varying tectonic and thermal histories, accreted over a large span of geologic time. In this situation the obvious questions to ask and seek answers for from integrated mission-mode studies are as follows. o o o o o o How is this crustal heterogeneity related to crust and mantle rheologic variability through time and space ? How do mechanical properties change with strain and how do these changing properties influenced localization of deformation in specific tectonic domains? How distributed or localized is deformation in shallow, middle and lower crust and mantle through time in the Indian continental crust? What are the feedbacks between dilatant rock deformation, fluid transport and elevated fluid pressure? How does lithology and fluid chemistry influence continental rheology and how is this related to tectonic setting? What underlying physics and chemistry from atomic to grain-scale mechanisms governed the macroscopic rock rheology in different tectonic settings and what is their dependence on temperature, pressure and chemical activities reflected in various metamorphic belts? What are the feedbacks between deformation and reactions during dynamic metamorphism under variable conditions of tectonic domains of the Indian continental crust ? How do deformation and metamorphism determine rheologic anisotropy and fabric as demonstrated in variably exhumed tectonic belts?

Since physical and chemical processes of rock deformation operate at scales ranging from motion of lattice defects to grain-scale deformation in multiphase rocks to displacement on mapscale and shear zones constraints on rheology and its relation with continental structure and tectonics need to be evaluated from careful field and laboratory studies and mechanical modeling. Studies on mesoscopic structures and fabrics may be used to examine simultaneous deformation and reaction conditions where fluid-rock interaction, mineral growth, and dissolution and melting are important such as in deeply eroded Proterozoic foldbelts such as Singhbhum, Eastern Ghats, Central India and Aravalli-Delhi terrains.
257

2. Tectonics, climate and earth surface processes Topography represents the net product of tectonic and surface processes, the latter being heavily dependent on climate. To understand this highly coupled system is a primary challenge in this field. Indian sub-continent offers a diverse assemblage of contrasting geomorphic terrains consisting of the young and complex Himalayan mountain chain, highly dissected older Aravalli and Satpura hill ranges, the Deccan, Malwa, Chhotanagpur and Shillong plateaus, and the GangaBrahmaputra foreland basin. All these terrains hold prospect for studying the interactions between tectonics, climate and surface processes on which our knowledge is rudimentary and needs upgradation in line with contemporary international research initiatives. Apart from contributing to the knowledge on climate- forcing of tectonics and surface processes in monsoon-influenced tropical belt these studies in India, particularly in the Himalaya, will have high impact on current debate on climate-tectonics connectivity and monsoon intensity. Moreover, the dynamic system of the near surface has implications for natural hazards and the environment such as floods, landslides, debris flow and even earthquakes that are a consequence of the processes creating dynamic landscapes in tectonically-active areas. Understanding the rates and variability of mass transport systems will lead to better hazard forecasting. There are also implications for climate change because a better understanding of how the earth's surface has responded to climate change over geologic time will lead to a better understanding of how climate change will affect the environment over human timescales. A considerable progress has been made internationally in the study of coupled tectonicclimate-geomorphology system, particularly in respect of young orogenic belts such as the Himalaya, the Alps and the Andes. In this respect the Himalaya has attracted many international study groups because of high denudation rate that is sensitive to climate and high crustal shortening rate that is sensitive to tectonics. There is a need to study the climate-tectonics-geomorphology interactions in the Himalaya for both scientific derivatives and for societal relevance. Similar studies in neotectonically active zones in the peninsular India such as the Western Ghats, Narmada-Son tectonic belt, Shillong plateau etc will yield significant results on these interactions in relatively stable and older geomorphic terrains. Some of the research questions having contemporary relevance are as follows. o What are the mechanisms and magnitude of feedbacks among tectonic activity, structural style, strain partitioning, erosion and sediment deposition in individual geomorphic terrains? What are the nature and strength of climate feedback in these terrains? How do rates and pattern of erosion influence growth of individual structures, orogen kinematics, metamorphism and exhumation? In the Himalayan context, is the climateforcing relevant to channel flow model? In the exhumed Proterozoic foldbelts, e.g. Aravalli, Singhbhum etc., can the tectonic setting be used to infer the palaeoclimate scenario? How can we extract quantitative information about climate and tectonic processes and histories from geomorphology and the sedimentary records? What is the nature of coupling between erosional and depositional systems and tectonics ? This is relevant in the case of Himalayan foreland basins, and in the piedmont zones of older and denuded mountain ranges. What is the time scale of response for the coupled climate or tectonic perturbations?

o o

o o

3. Himalayan collision orogen The Himalaya is a classic example of continent-continent collision orogen. In the plate tectonics controlled Wilson cycle the Himalaya is in the penultimate stage of crustal interaction and lithosphere accretion which by virtue of its unique setting of colliding Indian and Asian continents poses many questions related to crustal tectonics and lithosphere dynamics and their responses.
258

Apart from holding the key to understand the Cenozoic collision mountain building processes the Himalaya also provides scope to study how orogenic belts migrate and expand in response to deformation driven tectonic polarty and mass accretion, how continent-continent collision orogen (the Himalaya) passes on through continent-ocean interaction orogen (the Manipur-NagalandArakan-Yoma) via syntaxis to ocean-ocean interaction belt (the Anadaman-Nicobar), and why a collision orogen flanks and supports the highest plateau on earth (Tibet). The Himalaya provides a window to the continental crustal section in the various thrust belts that sole at different crustal depths and that emplaced rocks at the surface from variable tectonic cum lithosphere levels, including the Neotethys sub-oceanic mantle frozen in the ophiolite sequence, and the lower crustal components represented by the high-pressure eclogites in the gneissic domes. Structural and tectonic studies of this orogen are thus important to understand how the Indian lithosphere responded to underthrusting and collision dynamics, and what parameters controlled the geometry and disposition of the tectonic units of the Himalaya. Many models have been proposed to explain the tectonic setting, inverted metamorphism and growth mechanism of the orogen, and many ideas such as channel flow of crustal melt driving Himalayan uplift and extrusion, climate-forcing of orogen tectonics and indentation tectonics have been generated in the Himalayan context. These models and ideas are still evolving, and this is the time the Indian geoscientists get involved with indigenous research projects addressing some key questions so that they can contribute significantly on the subject. Some of the questions concerning structure and tectonics of the Himalaya are as follows. o Although the Main Central Thrust (MCT) is central to many models of Himalayan metamorphism and thrust tectonics its position, timing and significance are highly debated. Is the MCT a terrain boundary separating the Higher Himalayan Crystallines, a n exotic terrain accreted to the Indian continental margin? What controls the kinematics of out-of-sequence thrusting and what relation does it have on Himalayan seismicity? What controls does MCT kinematics have on Himalayan inverted metamorphism and what thermomechanical parameters related to collision tectonics guide the P-T-t-D path of Himalayan metamorphism? What is the nature of strain partitioning in the various thrust belts and what is the relative importance of simple and pure shear at various crustal levels exposed in the thrust wedges? Low velocity layer and mid-crustal conductor have been imaged at the northern and deeper parts of the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT), but its extension as a decollement i n the southern Lesser Himalaya has not yet been imaged. Does the major thrusts such as MBT, MFT sole at MHT, if so at what depth? Is the MHT a pre-existing decollement of the Indian crust reactivated in the Himalaya or has it propagated southward simultaneously with formation of the surface-breaking thrusts (MCT, MBT, MFT) emanating from MHT ramps (singularities)? Can the timing, foreland-ward propagation sequence and the spacing of the thrusts be explained by critical taper Coulomb wedge dynamics and what role does rheology of the MHT, especially basal friction coefficient, play in orogen growth mechanism? What is the present stage of the Himalayan taper (critical, sub-or super-critical) and can neotectonic and active structures such as extensional and strike-slip faults and exhumation-denudation rates decide if the Himalaya is collapsing or growing? How critical is the role of the foreland basins in understanding the climate-tectonicsdenudation relations and deciphering the mechanism of crustal flexural wave propagation in collision orogen? Does the idea of channel flow meet the rheologic, petrologic and kinematic constraints of Himalayan orogeny? To what extent the idea is testable and in this
259

o o

respect, where does it stand vis--vis the competing idea of ductile extrusion? Are geophysical imaging, and structural, petrologic and geochemical studies capable of deciding the nature and volume of crustal melt or fluid, and also of deciphering the extent of the basal decollement (MHT) for channel flow model? o What is the relation of Himalayan mid-crustal seismicity and seismic gaps with the geometry and position of the MHT ramp, ramp-flat transition at MCT solesingularity? What controls do the spatial heterogeneity of basal friction and MHT hangingwall rheology have on MHT segmentation into discrete brittle seismogenic and ductile aseismic creeping zones? Do the deep focus earthquakes indicate the existence beneath the Himalaya brittle, rigid and colder lithosphere mantle and its delamination, and if so, what are its implications on channel flow/ductile extrusion models of Himalayan tectonics?

4.

Metallogeny and lithosphere dynamics

Over the last three decades there has been intensive research on ore deposit locations vis-vis tectonic settings, and crust-mantle interactions, especially after the recognition of plate tectonic paradigm as a valid concept for crustal evolution. Most of these studies, especially those pertaining to massive sulphides, porphyry copper and Kuroko-type deposits in the Cenozoic mobile belts, met with significant success. The framework of concepts relating metallogeny to lithosphere evolution in time and space emerged. Over the years this has been extended to the Precambrian settings, though with the inevitable modifications, but it can be said now that comprehensive space-time processresponse models have evolved. However, as new insights are sought and interpretation on lithosphere evolution emerge, the concepts of ore genesis keep on getting finely tuned with refined metallogenic models and identification of yet new problems. In India mineral deposits of various kinds and of different ages occur within contrasting geological and tectonic milieu. This is the result of evolution of the Indian continental crust through a protracted period from at least ca. 3.3 Ga till Cenozoic times (e.g. Archaean greenstone-related gold deposits, Proterozoic base metal deposits of Singhbhum, Rajasthan and Central India). Lithosphere evolution is accompanied with magmatic activity leading to metal source tapping and regional tectonism causing metal migration and concentration in favourable environments. Many studies over the years have been carried out on mineral deposit formation and their controls of localization, but in isolation of crustal evolution and lithosphere dynamics. As a result, there has been inadequate attempt to link these two aspects of geological evolution of the Indian continental crust. These studies have high societal importance because of their strong predictive capability to discover new mineral deposits and to prove profitable extensions of older ones. Modern research has revealed that although the temporal distribution of mineral deposits in space and time reflects an interplay between processes of ore formation, tectonic setting and preservation history, many metallic mineral deposits correlate with major periods of continental crust production. Peaks of abundance of volcanic-hosted massive sulphides (VHMS) occur at 2.7, 1.9 and 0.5-0.3 Ga, orogenic gold at 2.7, 2.1, 1.9 and 0.5-0.3 Ga, iron oxide copper-gold (IOCG) deposits at 2.6, 2.2 and 1.6 Ga, PGE at 2.7 and 2.0 Ga, BIF and associated Mn carbonates at 2.5 and 1.9 Ga, Mississippi Valley type base metal (MVT) deposits at 0.5-0.3 Ga, and sedimentary exhalative base metal (SEDEX) deposits at 1.7-1.6 and 0.5-0.3 Ga. Historically, studies on ore geology started and were carried out usually independently of regional geological investigations and tectonic analysis. In most cases, routine and specialized geological and geophysical studies led to the discovery of ore deposits. Subsequent ore geologic studies characterized the deposit with shape, size and grade, and in some cases, with genetic

260

attributes. As the emphasis on and importance of ore forming processes increased, and research inputs on genetic aspects from modern analytical techniques enhanced, the gap and discontinuity between the understanding of host-rock geology and ore-geology reduced. Yet there still exists lack of coherence, convergence, and most importantly, of a sense of interdependence between the understandings of these two connected geological entities. This situation has accentuated the problems concerning both of them. Moreover, since metallogeny is dependent on the evolution of the host rocks, and on the repeated geochemical and tectonic working of the lithosphere segments of the metal provinces, the overprinting relations make the understanding of ore genesis problematic. Some of the major problems concerning metallogeny and the questions to address are as follows. o o Is there any genetic linkage between a particular mineral commodity occurring in diverse geological and tectonic environment in terms of lithosphere evolution? In hydrothermal systems such as SEDEX type base metal deposits such as those in Rajasthan and Central India what is the relation between magmatic fluids and mineralization linked with lithosphere dynamics? Are the SEDEX mineralising fluids exsolved from the parent magma and does this magma carry any lithosphere signatures? What are fluid migration and focusing systems and how are these related to tectonic controls of ore localization in most of the Indian SEDEX and VHMS deposits? What are the temporal relations between metallogeny and lithosphere evolution in individual cratonic segments of the Indian shield ? Do the chemical variations of a particular type of mineral deposit (e.g. Archaean gold deposits of Dharwar craton, Proterozoic base metal deposits of Rajasthan and Central India) signify spatial geochemical variations of the SCLM ?

o o o o

Many mineral deposits are directly or indirectly associated with magmatism or fluid emplacement, ultimately of mantle derivation. Yet only a small fraction of exposed mantle-derived lithologies host ore deposits. Recent understanding of base and precious metal behaviour in silicate and sulphide melts can be used to study and predict the ways in which ore-forming components will behave in a certain melt compositions formed under specific conditions of mantle melting. Much work has yet to be done, however, before a comprehensive understanding of these processes is achieved. This work will combine experimental studies with petrological and geochemical observations of natural mantle products, to provide a predictive framework for prospective magma types. Conclusions Earth science research has internationally reached a stage when emphasis is being increasingly given to studies probing the processes and trying to quantitatively analyse the processresponse systems in more incisive manner. This approach unfortunately has not yet been adopted in India to the extent desirable, and therefore, it has not yet been possible to make an impact on the international earth science scenario from our research pursuits. Moreover, the linkages of earth science research with societal issues such as natural hazards, climate change, resource discovery and management etc. have not been straightforward and need-driven. The decision of MoES to revisit the earth science research initiatives in the country is therefore a welcome step not only for much needed and delayed action plan to position Indian earth science and the scientists on international platform but also to make earth science research in the country relevant to social and economic issues. The geological and metallogenic settings of the country have many interesting and challenging aspects that attract global attention for contemporary research. These aspects, some of which in the fields of structural geology, tectonics and metallogeny, identified in this note, offer
261

insights into the geological processes that are still to be understood. It is time that the Indian geoscientists take up research on these problems and similar contemporary earth science topics in other fields such as geochemistry, petrology, mineral physics and geophysics etc. on problems of Indian lithosphere including the Himalaya. As emphasized in this note research initiative needs to be oriented on mission mode with multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional inputs, and address relevant questions with a bottom-up approach. This kind of research would require functional and dedicated modern laboratory facilities which need to be dealt with in a special manner in the vision document because without laboratory data of international standard the results of future research that will be envisioned for the Indian earth science community cannot reach international platform.

262

(VIII) Research Program on the Geodynamics and Structure of the Continental Margins and ad-jointed Deep Seas (Dr B.R. Arora)
Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, had initiated a national program on "Deep Continental Studies" to determine the structure of the Indian continent and to understand its evolution. Controlled source seismic reflection, seismic tomography, magneto-telluric, magnetic, gravity and thermal field studies have been used and significant results have been achieved. The results on integration with geology, geochemistry and geochronology have contributed to the understanding of deep crust structure and proposing generic models of crust and evolution of the Indian shield. Geophysical investigations of the continental margins of India and deep-seas could also reveal regional setting of the several crustal features that are carpeted by thick volcanic rocks and sediments. The interpreted crust models are mostly based on 2-D forward model studies of the free-air gravity and magnetic anomalies, which are seldom constrained by seismic information of the basement topography and sediments structure. The ambiguities limit our understanding of origin and structure of the crust and locating the ocean-continent boundary of the Indian continental margin. Besides, a lot of geological history of continental splitting, paleo plate-motions, reorganizations and collision as well as, plume-lithosphere interactions that are documented within the lithosphere need to be unfolded. An understanding of structure, origin and evolution of the crust will also contribute in assessing the mineral resources of the region. Multi-sensor geophysical investigations are proposed in order to understand the deep structure and evolution of the most significant crustal features of the continental margins of India and deep seas as well. The investigations will lead to l decipher the crust architecture, evolution and tectonics along representative profiles across the continental margin, l identify the extent and crustal features of plume-lithosphere interaction along the western continental margin of India and l identify the deep litho-spheric structures and tectonics of the Andaman subduction zone in the NE Indian Ocean and related Back-arc volcanism The results will further lead to asses non-living resource potential of the areas including the conditions favourable for formation of the gas hydrates as well as hydrothermal sulphides and preparation of strategic plans for exploitation of the resources. They will be better inputs to constrain the plate reconstruction models for the opening of the seas around India and decipher the continent and oceanic crust boundary. The investigations of the Barren Island region, an ideal tectonic setting region will enable study of hydrothermal venting and proposing a model to account formation of ancient volcanic massif sulphide deposit. Further the crustal deformation manifested within the sediments and deep crust will enable to assess the potential of seismicity of the Indian subcontinent and dynamic response to the in plane compressive forces. An understanding of the structure and velocities of the crust, demarcating tilted crustal blocks bounded by low-angle extensional/ detachment faults, the brittle/ductile state of the upper /lower and upper mantle, the seaward dipping reflectors and their feather edge underlain by the early rift stage sediment filled grabens and volcanic constructs shall lead to detail the pre/post-rift and drift evolutionary history of Indian lithosphere from southern hemisphere. An integrated program to study the evolution and characterization of continental margins and associated tectonic elements shall be taken up on priority basis. Analyses of satellite magnetic/gravity data could be considered to allow interpretation in regional perspective. In addition to the deep crustal structure study, the geophysical investigations shall help to identify areas to asses the resource potentials of India. The seismic/geophysical programs would generate the capabilities among the various Earth Science groups in India to image sub-lithospheric structures and their discontinuities. The projects that are already taken up to study geochemistry of the geothermal waters and to reconstruct the volcanic succession and eruptive history of the Barren Island Volcano taken up by the IIT, Mumbai and hydrothermal deposits by Delhi University would provide inputs to the proposed investigations. 263

(IX)

Integrated Approach to develop and test evolution models of the Himalaya (Dr B.R. Arora)

One of the challenging problems earth science problem is the development of geodynamic model on the evolution of the Himalaya that can not only explain the archetype of the collision tectonics but can also trace the metamorphic history, constrain processes controlling high rate of erosion and exhumation, extent and nature of crustal shortening, kinematics of the crustal deformation, effects of superposed deformation as well as can provide clues to the space-time distribution of seismicity. Among the range of geodynamic models proposed, the two end models, namely the Thrust-Wedge and the Channel Flow Models have recently received some success in explaining more than one of the above listed processes. Both these models make testable predictions in terms of crustal and lithospheric structures, timing of major faulting, kinematics, nature and degree of metamorphism and thus, need to be substantiated by further field and laboratory data. International collaborative exercise undertaken the INDEPTH program has convincingly documented that approach has to be essentially multi-disciplinary involving inputs from geological/ geophysical/ geochemistry are required to find answers. Geophysical data can provide the constraints on the subsurface geometry of the crustal and sub-lithospheric structures and physical properties and state of the rocks. Evidence of partial melt by way of the presence of anomalous conductive/ low velocity layer at mid-crust will support the Channel flow model where in the extrusion of molten material under the weight of the overlying elevated crust could be the clinching evidence to explain the presence of the leucogranite bodies, south of the Southern Tibet Detachment. This may also help to trace the likely mechanism for the formation of UltrahighPressure mineral COESITE in the Tso-Morari Dome. High resolution imaging of crustal structure will help resolve the tectonic puzzle on the evolution of crystalline domes intruded in the Tethyan sequence. Similarly, knowledge of the subsurface geometry of the MBT, MCT and local thrusts vis-vis the basal detachment will be critical in evaluating seismic hazard of lesser Himalaya by predicting the likely nucleation point of a future great earthquake. Regional mapping and sampling for geochronology, thermochronology, and isotope geochemistry will identify metamorphic/ kinematic history related to the evolution of the Himalaya as well provide constraint on the thermal and temporal constraint on regional uplift and exhumation. The co-ordinated studies will be carried out along the HIMPROBE project in NW Himalaya, where some leads are already made. The interdisciplinary studies will provide inputs to test the wedge model vis--vis channel model as well as thin vis--vis thick tectonics. Similar integrated geotransect is also proposed to be undertaken in the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis that has largely remained unexplored and where the proposed mechanism of perpendicular continent-continent collision applicable along the Himalayan arc may not hold good because of the proposed oblique subduction in the NE Himalaya. The challenge lies in the fact that transect in this region would constrain the role of collision, extension as well as shear tectonics.

264

(X)

Aeromagnetic survey of Indian subcontinent for crustal evolution and resource location (Dr Mita Rajaram)

Technological advancement in magnetometers has resulted in the possibility of measuring the magnetic field with high accuracy; to add to this the improvement in the positioning of the aircrafts using GPS, compensation software / hardware for suppressing airplane noise have led to a sea change in the kind of resolution that can be achieved in the study of aeromagnetic anomalies. This combined with the availability of sophisticated computers, data processing and imaging techniques has made it possible to identify and interpret the miniscule magnetic signatures associated with mineral and fuel resources. The magnetic data is thus of use not only in studies related to the Geodynamic and thermal structure of the crust, but also for exploration of mineral and fuel resources. Although, Globally there has been a revival in the use of magnetic methods for prospecting, in India, we still do not have a magnetic anomaly map of the whole country, even at the reconnaissance scale (1:2,50,000). The prosperity of a country depends almost entirely on its natural resources and the magnetic method helps see below the surface cover and provides a fairly reliable base for the assessment of undiscovered minerals and fuel resources. A magnetic anomaly map should be considered to be a modern precursor to geological mapping (particularly where they are used to extrapolate observations from outcrop to covered regions) and consequently exploration strategies. The aeromagnetic anomaly map of Australia has become one of the foundations of the continent's geological information infrastructure. Magnetic signatures of the lithosphere have imprinted on them the tectonic history of the plate. These signatures depend on the susceptibility of the rocks and the magnetization acquired during the past. The way we see these signatures, depend upon the altitude / platform of observation and the data spacing. Thus a combination of ground / marine, aero and satellite magnetic data together with available gravity data could enable us to map the different lithospheric depths and thereby help us to look back in time and reconstruct the plate history. Rajaram et al, (J. Geol. Soc. India, 68, 2006, 569 - 576) have put together all available ground, airborne and marine magnetic data over India and it's offshore. From this map, it is observed that around 9.8 lakhs sq. km. of area has no magnetic coverage and there is an urgent need for having a magnetic survey of these areas undertaken. Further, the aeromagnetic data at the reconnaissance scale (from the Geological Survey of India), are collected at around 1.2 km altitude and 4km line interval, while the other datasets included in this composite magnetic anomaly map are at even lower resolution. Therefore, it is essential, that the entire country including the offshore be surveyed at a constant resolution. Although a gravity map of the whole country has been available for over three decades, a complete aeromagnetic coverage of the country is yet to be undertaken. The analysis of the offshore magnetic data could provide a wealth of information; in the Western offshore, we need to use innovative techniques as standard seismic methods prove ineffective in sub-basalt imaging. The magnetic data could be used not only to map the basement but the filtered maps, derivative maps, etc could help map the shallow surfaces and thereby help look below the basalts. Such a map would help to unravel the sub-surface geology, tectonic structure and decipher zones of viable mineral and hydrocarbon resources especially in regions overlain by thick sediment / trap cover. We propose that the entire aeromagnetic survey of the Indian subcontinent and its offshore region be conducted at a flight altitude of 200m with flight line spacing of 1 km and tie line spacing of 10 km. The survey could be conducted in a phased manner with Phase I covering regions where no magnetic data have been collected (including the offshore). Phase II could include regions where the data resolution is poor and Phase III could augment the existing aeromagnetic datasets. With ESA's multiple satellite mission SWARM due in 2011, an aeromagnetic coverage of the Indian subcontinent and its offshore region could be used for interpretation in terms of mineral / hydrocarbon resources, thermal and geodynamic evolution of the region and thereby help reconstruct the plate movements in the past 200 million years by comparing them with data from the other Gondwanaland countries.

265

(XI) Geothermal Studies: Goals for the future (Dr Sukant Roy)
Crustal thermal structure of the Indian shield. The major challenges are: (a) characterization of the thermal regime in previously uncovered regions of central and northern India through acquisition of new heat flow data and radiogenic heat production of the major rock formations, and (b) refinement of existing crustal thermal models through better characterization of the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity for rocks constituting the middle and lower crust. The vast potential of utilizing the bottom-hole temperature datasets acquired by the oil industry in different petroliferous sedimentary basins of India should be exploited. Geothermal Energy. In view of growing energy demands and the emphasis on renewable energy, a re-assessment of geothermal energy potential of Puga Valley hot springs in Ladakh and Tattapani hot springs in Chattisgarh should be carried out by covering some critical gaps in information through acquisition of new data, combined interpretation of geothermal datasets and existing geological, hydrological, geochemical and geophysical datasets to throw more light on the nature of the heat source of the hot springs and their sustainability for power production, undertaking drilling and setting up of pilotscale binary-cycle power plants. A second category of geothermal resource, i.e., hot dry rock, has not yet been explored in India. Areas of anomalous heat flow, and localized zones of highly radiogenic heat sources such as TertiaryQuaternary age, high-heat-producing granites and other silicic igneous intrusives having a depth extent of a few kilometers, could be possible targets of future exploration efforts in the country. These considerations reinforce the need for carrying out systematic heat flow as well as radiogenic heat production investigations on a country-wide scale. Geothermal Heat Pumps The extensive use of geothermal heat pumps for heating and cooling of buildings in parts of North America and Europe is a recent development. Heat pump systems use groundwater aquifers o and soil temperatures typically in the range 5-30 C. The viability of geothermal heat pumps for heating inside buildings should be explored in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Uttarakhand which experience severe winter conditions for long periods. Thermal structure in the adjoining oceans. Marine heat flow data in the region surrounding the Indian peninsular landmass is meagre. Major efforts should be directed towards acquisition of oceanic heat flow data, possibly by including it as a component in the more common seismic and other geophysical surveys. The data would be useful in studying the mechanisms of heat transfer through the ocean floor, evolution of the Indian Ocean in the context of its breakup from Gondwanaland, elevation of the mid oceanic ridges, and constraining the lithospheric thermal structure and intraplate deformation in the ocean, besides contributing to a more accurate assessment of the dynamics in the active Andaman-Sumatra subduction zone and the presence of gas hydrate bearing sediments in the Indian territory. Thermal structure of active tectonic zones. Lack of heat flow parameters, particularly on the Indian side of Himalaya, places a severe restriction in constraining the lithospheric thermal structure for the region. Therefore, efforts need to be directed towards acquisition of reliable heat flow data and their interpretation, and integrating the information obtained from other ongoing geological and geophysical studies.

266

(XII) Super Deep Borehole for Geoscience studies (R. K. Chadha)

Scientific Vision Our direct insights into the earth's crust had been limited to less than 4 km through some of the diamond mines in South Africa and Gold mines at Kolar in India, till the deepest drill holes were made in Kola (12.1 km) and KTB, Germany (9.101 km). Most of our knowledge of the continental crustal structure is essentially based on conceptual models which are primarily based on interpretation of geological record, interpretation of geophysical images obtained from various deep-sounding methods and application of laboratory data from experimental petrology and geochemistry to real rocks. But if we have to validate our conceptual models, we require ground truths which can only be obtained by direct observation through drilling. Such an approach will help us in calibrating the crustal geology and geophysics and provide insights into the crustal stress field and the rheological behavior of the crust. Some of the very important and basic issues can be studied by drilling a deep borehole. These are:
l l l l l l l

Complete stress tensor profile can be obtained Present day brittle-ductile transition can be estimated Better understanding crustal fluids at midcrustal levels Knowledge of post-orogenic brittle deformation can be gained Deformational pattern in the upper crust can be depicted using seismics Better seismic images Electrical behavior of the crust can be determined

In India, such an attempt can be made in two possible environments, viz., Stable shield region (Koyna region) or in the collision boundary in the Himalaya. There are a few issues which are typical for these regions in addition to the above seven issues. The Koyna region typifies Reservoir Triggered Phenomenon and Himalaya the Decollement surface. Practicality This is a highly ambitious vision in the area of earth sciences in India which require synergy amongst various scientific organizations and Universities in the country, in addition to the very high cost associated with such a venture. The experience of such deep boreholes experiments, worldwide has shown that duration of such projects have been 12-15 years which comprises of a preparatory phase, site selection, pilot phase and then drilling, followed by scientific experiments. Few of the experiments are also conducted alongside drilling. It is highly advisable to have a Brainstorming among the Indian scientific community for having such an experiment in the country, followed by feasibility study before taking up such an expensive venture.

267

(XIII) Geologic growth historyof the Indian Shield through space and time (Dr T.R.K. Chetty)
In order to place clearer constraints on the advent of plate tectonic processes, growth of sialic crust and the ultimate rise of supercontinentality, it is essential to understand the thermo-tectonic evolution of the Earth's lithosphere-asthenosphere system. It is well known that the interaction between lithosphere and asthenosphere and mantle circulation are considered as cause and effect relationship. The assembly and break-up of supercontinents are fundamental processes that affect the Earth's geological evolution, which has direct bearing on mountain building, seafloor spreading, mineralization, earthquake processes and environmental impacts. The Indian Peninsular shield spans much of Earth's 4.5 billion history and is bestowed with most fascinating archives in its geological history which has implications on the phases of making and breaking of supercontinents, mantle dynamics, evolution of life and environment. The study of Indian shield would throw light on the major changes marking the Achaean / Proterozoic transition, dispersal and amalgamation of cratonic blocks with reference to super-continent cycles, early biological evolution and the nature of the sub-continental lithosphere mantle. The phanerozoic coal bearing Gondwana formations of India are reflections of rift-drift history of the Gondwana super-continent. The other young geological record available in the Indian Peninsula in the form of Mesozoic, Cenozoic sedimentary basins, large flood basalts sequences, and Neogene- quaternary sedimentation represent the proxy indications of distinctive large scale geological processes. Their study would provide insights into the processes of lithosphere / asthenosphere interaction, Archean crustal revolutionary history, continental break-up and assembly, nature of K/T boundary and its influence on mass extinctions, Paleo-climatic fluctuations. In order to obtain integrated whole-earth models for the Indian shield region, integrated and multidisciplinary approach is warranted. A combination of geologic, petrologic, geochemical, geochronologic, structural and geophysical information in a planetary frame work (crustal architecture) would minimize the daunting un-certainties involved in geological interpretations. Keeping all the above considerations, the following steps are suggested:
l

The crustal architectural maps of the Indian shield must be prepared involving multi-scale satellite data sets such as Remote Sensing, SRTM, and high resolution cartographic data in conjunction with the real ground scale geological and geophysical observations and measurements Study of major Orogens, magmatism, metamorphism, and deformational history in space and time by making use of the state-of-the-art experiments in petrology, geochemistry and geochronology Identification of selected geo-corridors / geological domains to understand the crustal evolutionary history with integrated multi-disciplinary studies of geosciences. Crustal cross-sections with 3D tectonic model with major tectonic elements and kinematic patterns Synthesis of the crustal architecture, mineralization, geomorphology, and earthquake processes in time and space and to arrive at whole-earth crustal evolution models.

268

(XIV) Water resource availability and its resource management (Dr P.C. Chandra)
India is endowed with sufficient groundwater resource. Conservative estimates indicate the static groundwater resource as 100 times the replenishible resource. That is, a huge volume is at disposal for exploitation during drought and erratic rainfall. However there is wide spatio-temporal variation in distribution of resources resulting in surfacing of stress symptom in many areas. Therefore, the major challenge of groundwater utilization, now a days, is demand side management. Future groundwater development has to face two major challenges of meeting a) the rapidly increasing urban water demand and b) providing assured irrigation for food security. For this the emphasis should be on a) artificial recharge of groundwater and rain water harvesting, b) development of groundwater in water logged and shallow water level areas and c) controlled development of the static resource. Since groundwater development is also strongly influenced by societal characters and interventions, the vital issue is societal involvement upto the lowest level. Hydrogeological, geophysical, hydrochemical and remote sensing based techniques are available for targeting ground water and its quality and approximation of its volumes. However, a realistic assessment is essential. Strong database on water use, distribution, aquifer parameters, quality and ground water regime are to be achieved. Groundwater resource development and management demands following interventions
l

For hard rock areas the hydrogeological interpretation of existing aeromagnetic data to identify regional deep fracture zone groundwater repositories, confirmed by integrated ground hydrogeological-geophysical investigations. Refinement of replenishible resource assessment methodology along with strengthening of required data base Assessment of sub-basin wise static groundwater resource by evolving suitable methodology and understanding deep aquifer configuration Effect of global warming on coastal ground water dynamics and variation in submarine groundwater disposal Sustainability of alternate aquifers in geogenically contaminated areas Integrated approach involving artificial recharge and demand side management of groundwater for its optimal use in ever expanding urban areas Sustainability of groundwater resource in high groundwater dependent urban area Plan formulation for optimized recharge in desert area during flash floods Implementing conjunctive use of surface and groundwater in command areas Assessment of basin-scale change in groundwater storage through satellite based microgravity data Impact of proposed river-interlinking on groundwater regime inter-basin groundwater flow assessment

l l

l l l l

269

(XV) Mineral Exploration Strategies for Precious Metals: (Dr Nirmal Charan)
l

Despite the availability of good deposit/mineralized zone scale information for the precious metal ore deposits, it is important to look at the ores in a more regional context by understanding the regional structures and their kinematic history, fully supported by critical geophysical data. Evaluation of both metamorphic and magmatic fluids which may have been active in ore formation under varied geodynamic settings, coupled with the development of a robust deposit scale geochronological data base. Granulite facies metamorphic terranes should also be explored for the incidence of precious metals in addition to the search in granite-greenstone terranes and the layered mafic-ultramafic complexes. Create better geochronological and other state-of-the-art analytical facilities for advanced geochemical studies supported by private and public sector financial aid. Encouragement and support from local governments is essential for fostering interest in exploration by private mining and exploration companies and fast and timely action with total transparency in granting mining leases by the local state governments for attracting international mining companies to take up precious metal exploration in India. Government agencies should not compete with the mining companies in the private sector especially in areas where newly discovered resources are under lease. Mining industries in the private and public sectors should come together exchanging information which will facilitate timely discovery and development of new mineral deposits in the country. Advanced field- and laboratory-oriented courses to be included in the university curriculum to reverse the general lack of interest in economic geology. Specialized short courses and workshops should be held on different aspects of mineral exploration, ore deposit modeling etc., each year for the students and young researchers emerging out of the different universities and research institutes. Establishment of regional centers in every state, aimed at a total focus on a study o f the varied and fascinating aspects of precious metal geology and its metallogeny, leading to a better appreciation as well as the development of fine tuned strategies for a full and better understanding of the characteristics unique to each suspected and/or hidden precious metal deposit, which will lead to the conversion of a well studied ore deposit into an economically viable proposition, through sustained and intensive co-operation between private and public sector mining companies and the relevant research institutes/organizations. Acclaimed international experts from academia and world class mining companies dealing with precious metal exploration and mining should be periodically invited on a regular basis to such established centers, which will foster continued interaction, leading to advancement in knowledge of the indigenous researchers and professionals working in the field of precious metal mineral exploration.

270

(XVI) Vision on Instrumentation (Dr HV Satyanarayana)

The following points need to be considered Design and Development activity There is a strong felt need to develop indigenous technology for the design and development of geophysical instruments. Most of the instruments used for both Observational and Exploration purposes are imported instruments. Though there were some attempts for the indigenous development of geophysical equipment, it did not really suit the requirement of the scientific community. Hence the design, development activity must be strengthened. Testing and Calibration Laboratories Several Organizations deployed different types of Geotechnical instruments all over the country for various scientific studies. As majority of the equipment is imported equipment, operation and maintenance of the equipment is becoming a tough task. This is due to the lack of testing and calibration facilities to test the equipment at regular intervals. Though there were some standard testing and calibration laboratories like ETDC, they suffer from the lack of reference standards for the application of geotechnical instruments. Hence there is a strong felt need to establish more test and calibration laboratories with latest test and measurement equipment. These laboratories should include devices that can calibrate the instruments in absolute mode also, in addition to the electrical methods of calibration (Ex: Shake Table). Creation of the test labs like Sandia, ASL, USGS standards to be thought of. Infrastructure development and Use of state of art communication technology Though several scientific studies are being carried out by various Organizations, under various machine mode projects funded by the Departments, the results are not reaching the public in time. Hence there is a strong need to develop the infrastructure facilities such as improving the communication facilities and thereby use of modern communication techniques for the information dissemination. Use of state of the art Communication systems for information decimation may include SMS alerts TV broadcasting etc. (probably launching of exclusive satellite for the earth science studies may be a good idea ) Deployment of Early warning systems for the possible forecasting at seismically active areas is very important. Attempts to strengthen the design and development activity regarding implementation of such systems should be encouraged. Deployment of seismic switches in heavy engineering plants for the automatic enunciation and shut down mechanism will help in reducing the hazards causing out of the earthquakes to be implemented. The development activity should include in developing the technology for the possible interfaces and implementations. Deployment of high sensitive transducers which includes very broadband seismometers, deep borehole seismometers will strengthen the R & D activities in seismically active regions. Deployment of Ocean Bottom Seismometers, Strain meters and inclinometers etc., may be thought of like in developed countries. Modernization and strengthening of seismic and metrological observatories to multidisciplinary observatories will facilitate more interdisciplinary studies. Integration and Standardization of the seismic networks There is a strong felt need to standardize the seismic networks operated by different organization for a better Quality control and accurate determinations of earthquake parameters. Dealing with individual seismic networks and linking all of them to a common platform using hybrid combinations is an important task to be implemented. This will facilitate the automatic data transfer from one network to the other easily.

271

Data archiving Data archiving and Data bank is a tough task to deal with. This is one of the most important tasks to be addressed, though it looks so simple. The volume of data acquired continuously by the different networks is increasing day by day causing the data storage and archiving a challenging task. There is a strong need to maintain the data banks efficiently. Accessing the scientific data maintained by the National Data centers to be implemented efficiently. Fetching of data from the data banks should be atomized and through online.

272

(XVII) South Asian River System: Multidisciplinary approach (Dr VC Tewari & Others)
South Asia has experienced major changes in tectonics and climate during the Cenozoic. Uplift of the Tibetan Plateau is the most single event that largely shaped the drainage network of south Asia and induced Asian Monsoon and other global climatic events. Most of the large south and southeastern rivers like Indus in the west , Ganga in the central and Brahmapitra in the east in India and Yangtze river , Yellow river, Mekong and Red rivers originate from Himalayan - Tibet region. The large drainage basins of these rivers in south and east Asia are densely populated and socioeconomic conditions significantly depend on utilization of these rivers. Therfore , a better understanding of the evolution of these rivers especially Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra both in geological past and recent is very significant in social sustainaibility and earth dynamics. The fluvial system play important roles in tectonics and filling of sedimentary basins, geomorphology and global geochemical cycles. The evolution of rivers involve regional and global tectonics and climate , therefore study of large river systems will help in understanding mechanism of climate - tectoncs relationship. It can also be useful in explaining similar fluvial systems in other orogenic belts of the world as well. The proposed mega project will also explain the nature and mechanism of the linkage between tectonic and monsoon evolution. Besides, The sedimentary yields of the Himalayan rivers are the largest in the world, owing to very high erosion rate and monsoon precipitation. Therfore the objectives of this multidisciplinary mega project will be to understand the mechanism of tectonicclimate linkage since Cenozoic global cooling. Following objectives have been proposed for this project
l l l

Comprehensive study of South Asian - Himalayan tectonics , uplift of Tibetan Plateau Erosion rate , Monsoon precipitation and evolution of river systems Sedimentary archives on onshore and offshore to understand the evolutionary history of big river systems from Indus to Brahmaputra Correlation between continental and marine tectonic and climate records and uplift of Tibetan Plateau, - Monsoonal evolution during Cenozoic. Sediment budget of major rivers , erosion, , chemical wheathering and sedimentation Integrated Societal aspects of human settlements and evolution, Archaeoseismology, Geoarchaeological, Anthropological and Archaeobotanical studies To provide a long term integrated assessment on impact of climate and development of tropical south Asian river basins and their future management.

l l

273

(XVIII) Dyke swarms from the Indian Shield in space and time: an important tool for solving many current geological problems (Rajesh Srivastava)
Dykes occur in a wide variety of geological and tectonic settings and their detailed study through space and time is imperative for understanding several geological events. Dykes are believed to be an integral part of continental rifting and when they occur as spatially extensive swarms of adequate size can be of immense utility in continental reconstructions. This also helps to identify Large Igneous Province. The multi-faceted importance of the study of dykes can be summarized as under:
l l

They represent integral parts of continental rifting processes. They occur as spatially extensive swarms of sufficient size to correlate between continental fragments. This leads to identify LIPs, particularly of Precambrian time. They parallel the maximum horizontal stress at the time of intrusion. They are most likely to survive erosion than the associated volcanics. They preserve a remnant magnetization whose primary nature can be readily tested. They can be geochemically fingerprinted such that swarms of different age can be distinguished and their chemistry reflects the composition of subcontinental lithosphere rather the effects of crustal contamination. They can be easily traced from aeromagnetic and satellite remote sensing maps and hence their trends and mode of emplacement in accessible terranes can be deciphered. They act as chronological markers in the separation of different ages of metamorphic terrain. They are regarded as marking the final stages of stabilization of Archaean cratonic nuclei. They provide an important means of tracking major periods of continental rifting and super continent fragmentation. They serve as major conduits for magma transfer from mantle to the upper crust, and constitute a common expression of crustal extension. They can be used as deformation indicators in complexly deformed regions and as estimation of erosion levels. They occur from Archaean to Recent and mark recurring episodes of continental extension. They are also known to host many economic deposits of PGE & Au, base metals, diamonds, Ni-Cr-Co, etc.

l l l l

and many more. Dykes and dyke swarms in the Indian shield Dykes and dyke swarms are conspicuous in all the cratons of the Indian shield. However, they are less prominent in the Purana (Proterozoic) basins. Although study of Indian dykes was initiated more than a century back but, considering its prime importance in Indian Geology, still this area of research needs proper attention. The research on dyke rocks has intensified by several orders in the past decade on the global as well as Indian context particularly due to the realization that they constitute excellent markers of Large Igneous provinces (LIP) due to the presence of ubiquitous 'datable' minerals. However, most of the dykes and also igneous intrusive events in the Indian shield have poor age control with robust and precise age determinations by employing U-Pb dating techniques on mineral separates (e.g. perovskite, baddeleyite, zircon etc) being available only in recent times.

274

The Importance of Integrating Paleomagnetic Studies of Proterozoic Dykes with U-Pb Geochronology and Geochemistry The integrated study of Proterozoic dyke swarms represents a powerful means to study such diverse topics as continental configurations, the earth's magnetic field intensity and mantle partial melting as a function of time throughout most of Earth's recorded history back to 3.0 Ga. An added attraction is that dykes are relatively simple geological bodies with a very restricted compositional range, for which the cooling history and emplacement mechanisms are relatively well-known. Why the need for integrated analysis? It is important that precise ages are recovered from the same dykes that have been paleomagnetically sampled. This is because "key" pole positions (those based on a well-determined primary magnetisation and a U-Pb age of high precision and accuracy from the same rock unit) can be obtained which then can be used to define apparent polar wander paths. Also consistent relations can be found between age and the magnetic polarity of dykes. If, using cross-cutting relations and/or U-Pb ages, it can be shown that a single reversal characterises a particular dyke swarm, then immediately a large population of dykes can be divided into two groups of known relative age based on magnetic polarity. Geochemical plots for the two populations can then detect any secular variations in magma composition, an essential requirement for understanding the origin of the magmas and the genesis of the dyke swarms. In principle each dyke could be dated but this would be prohibitively expensive. A much quicker and cheaper procedure is just to measure the paleomagnetic polarity and to establish the reversal history measuring the ages of a number of critically chosen dykes. Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) and Paleocontinental Reconstructions Large Igneous Provinces are magmatic provinces with areal extents >1 Mkm2, igneous volumes > 0.1 Mkm3 and maximum lifespans of ~50 Myrs that have intraplate tectonic settings or geochemical affinities, and are characterised by igneous pulse(s) of short duration (~1-5 Myrs), during which a large proportion (> 75%) of the total igneous volume has been emplaced. Recognition of LIPs (and interpreted erosional/tectonic fragments of LIPs) is important in solving many problems of modern geology such as - (i) understanding the timing and controls on climatic change, (ii) regional uplift, (iii) regional basin formation, (iv) Ni-Cu-PGE ore deposits, and (v) fluctuations in the reversal frequency of the Earth's magnetic field. There are various criteria which can be employed in using LIPs to constrain continental reconstructions but dykes are very strong tool in this respect. This is because l

Geometry of dyke swarms: Reconstruct crustal blocks to restore the primary geometry of giant dyke swarms (belonging to LIPs): either restoring a primary radiating pattern or linear pattern. Location of plume centre: LIPs can be used to locate mantle plume centres (e.g. at the focus of agiant radiating dyke swarm). If plume centres of the same age can be identified on the margins of more than one crustal block, then the proper reconstruction of those blocks would result in the plume centre locations overlapping. Comparison of 'barcode' of LIP ages between crustal blocks: The LIP record for a crustal block can be summarised as a barcode and the LIP barcodes of different blocks can be compared to determine which blocks have matching barcodes and were therefore probably nearest neighbours during the interval of matching (see Fig. 2).

275

Figure 1: Orient/align blocks using giant dyke swarms to restore primary radiating or linear dyke swarm pattern.

Figure 2: Matching LIP barcodes to determined which crustal blocks were nearest neighbors.

276

Annexure V
CSIO Proposal for Seed Geotechnology Centre
About two decades ago, CSIO, Chandigarh, as a part of DST initiative, had made courageous attempt to design and fabricate analog seismic data recorders and Force Balance Accelerometer. The recorders developed passed compatibility tests and numbers of units were put in operation at seismological observatories of IMD observatories, IIT, Kanpur, CWPRS, Pune and CSIO. The initiatives taken up by CSIO are highlighted in Annexure Despite this successful demonstration, the fabrication program did not last long largely because technology used could not keep pace with the rapid growth of technology at international front. The trained manpower engaged in earlier venture is still available and over the period the CSIO has also improved the technology infrastructure. In this background, pending the decision of MoES regarding the place and modalities of setting the advance centre, CSIO has come forward to nucleate a cell within present premises with token support from the MoES. The cell shall take up the fabrication of recorders by up-gradation of existing technology. The cell will also be equipped with new technology to take up the development of sensors required in large numbers for natural geohazard monitoring. Cutting Edge Technology and Value Addition in Country's Developed Technologies Analog Seismic Recorder Recently, most of the Analog Seismic Recorders are available with recording by heat sensitive pen (stylus) on thermal papers or by ink pen on ordinary paper. These recordings are very costly as compared to recording on smoked paper. Therefore in our country users still prefer the Analog Seismic Recorders with Smoked paper recording. The other technical requirement of seismic instruments is small size, rugged, low power and economic. CSIO Chandigarh has already developed the Analog Seismic Recorder with smoked paper recording. This instrument is already in use at number of Institutes/departments like - IMD, New Delhi, NGRI Hyderabad, IIT Kanpur, Kurukshetra University, CPWRS Pune etc. Number of users are still requesting for the supply of this instrument. Value Addition in Analog Seismic Recorder developed by CSIO: Lot of value addition can be done to match the state of the art technology and to meet the National requirement. First technical requirement of field operated instruments is small size, rugged, low power and economical. Keeping all the points in mind some value addition can be made.
l l l

GPS Timing System. Telemetry operation Analog and Digital Data Recording

Digital Seismic Recorders Current technology advancement has given unprecedented boost to the development of seismograph resulting into several phases of upgradation starting from modern analog Seismograph (in use through out the world particularly for on the spot recording and analysis to take quick decisions) to the one based on digital technology. Those based on digital technology in turn have gone into different phases of development incorporating discrete digital components, microprocessors, microcontroller, and finally Lap Top Personal Computers and other related peripheral micro-chips. These systems progress from 12 bit resolution system to 24 bit resolution system to cover the very high dynamic range up to 140 dB. The 24 bit Seismic Data recorder has provided enhanced capability to users, which are becoming exceedingly in demand with every passing day. At present lot of seismological observatories are operating in India by various research institutes by using 24 bit seismic data recording system with Broad band seismometer. To cover all the seismically active regions in our
277

country, a lot of state-of-the-art Digital Seismographs are required. As a result of R&D efforts made by CSIO towards achieving technological excellence in these instruments, a state of the art 24 bit Seismic Data Acquisition System with data transfer facility has been designed and developed as a technological upgradation in country. These R&D efforts made by CSIO have enabled it to remain technologically abreast at international level in this area of instrument technology. The development of this Digital Recorder is a very successful effort towards achieving technological excellence. With the help of such a centre, CSIO can take up the perfect technology development for 24-bit Seismic Data Recording system with latest techniques & technology. Initially, BB/VBB seismometers is to be procured and interfaced with indigenously developed Seismic Recorder and technology to be transferred for commercialization and use for nation. Value Addition in Digital Seismic Data Recording System Developed by CSIO: Following value addition can be made in CSIO developed 24-bit seismic Data Recording System.
l l l

Low power as minimum as possible VSAT data communication facility Data compatibility with all standard internationally available seismic signal analysis software. Direct seismic data waveform display Auto fault diagnosis software facility Compatible with BB and VBB seismometers Users friendly software

l l l l

Structural Seismic Monitoring Instrumentation Civil structures are large-scale systems which are required to withstand the load caused by human beings and nature. All the civil engineering structures involve huge capital investment and have to serve a very long service life. They deteriorate with time as a result of aging of materials, excessive use, overloading, and inadequate maintenance. Therefore, continuously monitor of structure using sensors network for main physical parameters, such as loadings, stresses, strains, accelerations, cracks etc. is very much required to give the idea of deterioration of structure. Therefore country requires a technological solution for monitoring at least some vital parameters such as acceleration, displacement, temperature, stress/strain, tilt/inclination, etc at the initial stage. The structure health monitoring system consists of sensors, signal conditioner, communication hardware, data acquisition and processing components to measure and assess the integrity of a structure. Center can develop this technology for providing a technical solution to the builder, Dam and Bridge authority of India. Technology can be commercialized through industry to meet the large requirements of the country. Instrumentation Network for Landslides Monitoring and Early Warning The occurrence of landslides is quite common on natural slopes and geo-dynamically active region showing high degree of rock instability. In India, the mountain regions of Himalayas and Nilgiri are facing serious problem of landslides, which cause disruption of roads and rail traffic besides loss of precious human lives. In principal, landslides are triggered by heavy & prolonged rainfall, cutting & deep excavation on slopes for construction activities and earthquake. The landslide phenomenon supplemented by the seismic activity, could be very serious. Intensive and coordinated scientific and technical efforts are required for the indigenous development, installation and commissioning of advanced instruments and networks. Geo-technical and geo-physical parameters which alter either slowly or all of a sudden before the trigger of landslides have to be monitored. Based on this instrumental monitoring and data analysis, early warnings may be issued on the occurrence of impending disaster. There is severe need for the configuration of modern landslide monitoring networks in India by
278

incorporating state-of-the-art standard sensors and associated modern electronics. It should be made operational to collect and analyze data in real time mode to issue the early warning information for public use. A few instruments have been developed by CSIO and have been installed as landslide monitoring system in association with CBRI Roorkee at Mansa Devi landslide site near Haridwar. In this system, rain gauge, inclinometer, tilt meter, pressure cell and crack meter sensors are installed. This work may be upgraded with the value addition for the following. Development of hardware & software to interface more number of sensors. Establishment of VSAT link to acquire the recording data at central recording station. Data analysis and algorithm development to issue an early warning for selected site Intelligent sensors development (for geotechnical application like Inclinometer, Tiltmeter etc) for landslide monitoring. Error free technology development of landslide monitoring and prediction so that the same can be installed at the entire selected site with site specific modifications.

The developed technology will play a vital role in landslide disaster mitigation activities undertaken by various agencies such as BRO, Ministry of Home affairs, Ministry of defence and GSI etc. Working Model for High Level Research and Future Technology Development The Research, design and development of state-of-the-art instrumentation in geo-technical field will be taken up for the benefit of industry, public sector and society. For this purpose strong synergy between the R&D team, users, academic institutions and industry is to be made. The dynamic young manpower will be attracted to join the center as Scientists, Project Assistants & Research Associates and Ph. D. scholars by creating excellent facilities and working environment. The close collaboration with research centers in other countries working in the same field is to be made. Interactions will be made with some leading academic scientific institutions such as GSI, NDMA, DRDO, IITs, IISC, SASE, various renowned Universities, ONGCs, etc. and various industries in the country. Efforts will be made for International collaborations with institutes like Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) Norway, Lamont Doherty USA, and Russian academic science Moscow, Japan Meteorological agency Tokyo, International Strategy for disaster Reduction (ISDR) Italy, and other leading Universities and research institutions all over the world. Visits and exchange programs with various international institutes and universities will be made for achieving higher goals and expertise in the field of geo-technical instrumentation and monitoring. All the technical details will be finalized in consultation with user and experts in the field. The industry partner and user will be involved since the beginning so that the developed technology can be commercialized for the benefit of nation and to reduce the import. National requirement is to be finalized and study is to be made for combating the natural disaster. Quality manpower will be developed by providing in depth knowledge of Geotechnical instrumentation and practical exposure to the students, users and other people working this field. Finally center will work at international standards for research and consulting in the geosciences.

279

Annexure VI
Details of the financial requirements
Budget (for initial five years) Sr. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Item Building construction Furniture/Infrastructure Equipments Consumables Manpower (as per details given below) Contingency Travel (Local/international Visits) Reference Units for Calibration and Training purposes (instruments & sensors) Vehicles Total ~ Rs. 115 crore Approximate Cost (In Rupees) 10,97,27,545 2,63,42,000 23,22,73,000 6,00,00,000 45,37,79,872 7,00,00,000 10,00,00,000

7,50,00,000 2,07,50,000 Rs.114,78,72,417

Total Budget

The proposed centre will be built in double stories. The main R & D work will be done at first floor. The remaining facilities such as- Meeting / conference room, Developed technology demonstration room, Visitors room, calibration room and reception/waiting room etc. will be at ground floor.
Building requirement and tentative construction cost of the proposed centre is as below:

S. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 12 13 14 15 16 17

Required Accommodation Reception and waiting room Office of the In-charge PA cum clerical room Meeting/conference room Demonstration Prototype centre Visiting Scientist/consultant Room Staff room (Scientific staff) Staff room (technical staff) Project System Administrator's room+PA room Project Administration officer's Room+PA room Project Logistics officer Room Administrative staff room Drivers Room Store room Store room Electronic lab.(having 4 cabins + Lab.) Sensor development lab. (Having 4 cabins + Lab.)

Covered area (In Sq Ft) 1500 1200 600 2500 3000 3000 4x800=3200 11x1800=19800 1800 1400 1200 800 2400 800 1500 1000 2400 2400

280

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

Mechanical assembly room. (Having 4 cabins + Lab.) Software development/computation room System Integration room. (Having 4 cabins + Lab.) Calibration room. (Having 4 cabins + Lab.) & shake table room Simulation lab. (Having 4 cabins + Lab.) Working and seating lab for Research associates Wash room (on each floor) at least two Seismic data monitoring and analysis lab. (Having 4 cabins + Lab.) Library/documentation hall Basement for evaluation and installations of various seismic sensors. Garage adjacent to the main building (having parking facility for at least 8 different sized vehicles) Porch 30% space for gallery stairs etc. Total in Square feets

2400 2X1200=2400 2400 2400+1600=4000 2400 1200 1200 2400 2x2400=4800 6000 3000 500 24960 108160

10.764 Ft =1m Total in Square Meters 10048.31 On basis of PAR-2007 construction cost is Rs. 9100/m Total Budget=Rs. 9,14,39,621 20% extra for vibration free foundation and sound free partition Rs. 10,97,27,545 for tentative covered area of 10048 m. Tentative Costing of Furniture & essential lab items: S.No. Material Quantity Approximate cost per unit (in rupees) 40,000 15,000 3,000 12,000 4,500 9,000 18,000 15,000 8,000 15,000 50,000 9,000 75,000 1,00,000 40,000 15,000 Total cost in Rupees 23,20,000 11,25,000 45,000 36,000 13,05,000 7,65,000 9,00,000 8,25,000 4,00,000 10,50,000 1,50,000 45,000 75,000 2,00,000 48,00,000 12,30,000
281

1,82,87,924

Grand Total 10,97,27,545

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Sitting Exc. Table Sitting table small Computer table Revolving chairs Easy visitors chair Sitting Exc. Chairs Working tables Book Shelves (Big) Book Shelves (Small) Filing cabinets Sofas Centre table Conference table Projector Desktop Computer Printer

58 75 15 5 290 85 50 55 50 70 3 5 1 2 120 82

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Color printer Photostat Machine Scanner UPS Plotter Air conditioner Line voltage regulator Marker board (Big) Marker Board (Small) Customized table Fax Machine Working Chair Wooden fixtures Godrej Almira Library Book Shelves Study tables Study Chairs

4 8 17 115 1 100 12 52 40 11 3 42 20 90 50 10 40

35,000 30,000 10,000 25,000 1,25,000 30,000 50,000 7,000 4,000 25,000 28,000 9,000 15,000 15,000 15,000 8,000 4,500 Total

1,40,000 2,40,000 1,70,000 28,75,000 1,25,000 30,00,000 6,00,000 3,64,000 1,60,000 2,75,000 84,000 3,78,000 3,00,000 13,50,000 7,50,000 80,000 1,80,000 2,63,42,000 Total cost 4,40,000 2,88,000 1,60,000 6,00,000 15,00,000 4,50,000 4,00,000 1,65,000 13,50,000 1,20,000 50,000 8,00,000 2,50,000 7,50,000 14,00,000 6,50,000 50,000 2,40,000 1,60,000 3,00,000 7,50,000

Tentative Costing of required Equipment S.No. Item Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 22 23 Power supply (multi output) Hand Held MM CRO Storage (analog) CRO Storage Digital MSO (Mixed Signal Oscilloscope) Arbitrary Function Generator Pulse pattern Gen. Frequency counter 8 Digit DMM LCR-Q Meter Digital Gauss meter DC/AC voltage & Current source Coil Winding Machine Digital Logic Analyzer Multifunction calibrator SMD work station IC tester with ?P & ?C testing facility Soldring station Desoldering station Fume extractor Compact field computers Computerised room temperature, pressure & humidity sensor and indicator Computerised room temperature, pressure & humidity controlling unit Quantity 22 16 4 6 3 3 2 3 3 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 6 2 2sets 3 Approximate cost per unit 20,000 18,000 40,000 1,00,000 5,00,000 1,50,000 2,00,000 55,000 4,50,000 60,000 50,000 4,00,000 2,50,000 7,50,000 14,00,000 6,50,000 50,000 40,000 80,000 1,50,000 2,50,000

2 1

1,50,000 1,00,00,000

3,00,000 1,00,00,000

24

282

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

32

33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42

Turn table Data acquisition system Shake table (Hydraulic) Lap top Computers Femto second laser system (for sensor development) Engineering seismograph Equipments for installation in the mobile Field Laboratory Reflection seismograph Engineering seismograph Geophones Seismometer Customized field computer VSAT Communication sys. GPS System Hand Held GPS system Oscilloscope Multi-meter Generator set Power Supplies Batteries Solar Power Pack Tool kit a). Thermal Remote sensing system for earthquake pre-curser studies including Antenna, Radio, Earth station equipment, data storage. b). Data analysis software etc. Portable drilling rig Laser scanning system Land rover 110 county station wagon GPR system Electronic beam welder Accelerated life tester for sensor systems. Load cell calibrator with loading frame Pressure cell calibrator Slope stability analysis software Data analysis and computational centre Equipped with extensive experimental and computational facilities made up of wide range of traditional and state of art equipments with high degree of computational performance. Including dedicated Super computer and data visualization facilities and 3D virtual reality of geo technical problems

1 1 1 85

1,25,000 3,00,000 2,00,00,000 55,000 15,00,00,000 50,00,000

1,25,000 3,00,000 2,00,00,000 46,75,000 5,00,00,000 1,00,00,000

1 1 100 3 4 1 1 1 2,50,00,000 1 1 1 4 8 2 1 1System 1,00,00,000

2,50,00,000

1,00,00,000

1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1

1,50,00,000 50,00,000 25,00,000 20,00,000 50,00,000 15,00,000 10,00,000 10,00,000 10,00,000 5,00,00,000

1,50,00,000 1,00,00,000 25,00,000 40,00,000 50,00,000 15,00,000 10,00,000 10,00,000 10,00,000 5,00,00,000

Total

23,22,73,000
283

Required Vehicles Sr.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Vehicle Weight Drop Truck For reflection seismology Customized van for Mobile Field Laboratory Mini Bus TATA 407/small Truck SUV (Sumo/Qualis etc.) Car (Indigo/innova etc.) Quantity Approximate Cost 50,00,000 50,00,000 25,00,000 12,00,000 7,50,000 6,50,000 Total Manpower Regular Staff Scientists ----------------------41 Electronics Physics Mechanical Software Seismologist/Geologist) Librarian Technical Staff --------------- 45 Asstt. Librarian Electronics Mechanical Software Lab Attendant Electrician/maintenance staff Administrative Staff --------- 11 Project system Administrator Project Admin. Officer Project Logistics Officer Clerical Staff Supporting Staff ------------- 23 Peon Drivers Security 4th class (Group D) Staff Temporary Staff ------------- 57 (As per brake up given below) Project Asstt, (BE or equivalent) Project Asstt.(diploma or equivalent) Research associates (JRF/SRF) Consultants
284

Total Cost (INR) 1,00,00,000 50,00,000 25,00,000 12,00,000 7,50,000 13,00,000 2,07,50,000

2 1 1 1 1 2

14 06 04 12 04 01 01 20 07 08 07 02 01 01 01 08 08 03 08 04

24 20 10 03

First month salaries Regular Staff Scientist Technical staff Administrative staff Supporting Staff 40x80,000 45x40,000 11x30000 23x 12000 = 32,80,000 = 18,00,000 = 3,30,000 = 2,76,000

Temporary Staff Project Asstt, (BE or equivalent) 24x12,000 = 1,68,000 Project Asstt.(diploma or equivalent) 20x8,000 = 1,60,000 Research associates (JRF/SRF) 10x12,000 = 1,20,000 Consultants 03x20,000 = 60,000 Total Per Month Salaries = 61,94,000 S.No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 4th Year 5th Year 61,94,000x12 Previous year's salary +10% Previous year's salary +10% Previous year's salary +10% Previous year's salary +10% Total Salaries for first five years Amount in INR 7,43,28,000 8,17,60,800 8,99,36,880 9,89,30,568 10,88,23,624 45,37,79,872

285