Studying monsoon, IISc and Uty of East Anglia ..

One of the seven glider underwater robots used in the study ..

Understanding the vagaries of monsoon through the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISc) - Uty of East Anglia, London project.

The seven glider underwater robots released on 24 June for a one month study of 400 km stretch of Bay of Bengal to study the temp, salinity and ocean current flow at the places where the warm salty bay waters mix with the cold Ganges waters, should throw some light on the nature and intensity of monsoon on India's east coast.

IISc, founded by Jamshetji Tata and King Wodeyar IV of Mysore
in 1909

It is said that 4 out of every 10 years' monsoons are abnormal and  unpredictable. Scientific evidence has it that for every one degree rise in global temp, almost 7% extra moisture is precipitated as torrential rain during these monsoons, which makes studying the impact of global warming on Indian monsoons all the more needed and important as the impact is going to be alarming..

Every few hours these seven gliders robots automatically rise to the surface and communicate with satellites, dumping the data. This data is analysed and we hope the study will give us a deeper insight into the process of the moisture laden winds blowing from the equator up during June every year across the southern tip of the Indian sub-continent in a north westerly direction ( to South Indians , this is the south west monsoon with moisture laden winds from Indian Ocean and Arabian sea) and in retreat, blowing South West across Indian subcontinent, ( for Indians it is the North East monsoon with moisture laden winds from the Bay of Bengal). This monsoon is so unique in the world. 

The robots will finish their data collection ride by July 24 and then during the rest period of a year or so, we can expect great insights into the unique monsoon phenomenon in India. An understanding of this unique phenomenon, will give us a better idea of how monsoons have enriched the socio-cultural and economic life of the sub continent over the past millennia, making it one of richest and most blessed areas of the world, as the people call, God's own land !!

(info courtesy The Economist).

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