Hyderabad: INCOIS to mark its 25th Foundation Day on Feb 3

A series of events will be conducted throughout the year to celebrate the entry into the 25th year

Hyderabad: The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), will commemorate its 25th Foundation Day, here on Friday.

With a mission to provide the best possible ocean information and advisory services to society, industry, government agencies, and the scientific community, INCOIS has created a niche space for itself in operational oceanography, both nationally and internationally.

Dr. M. Ravichandran, Secretary, MoES will be the chief guest for and the event will be graced by Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Former Chairman, Space Commission & Secretary, DoS, Dr. S. Chandrasekhar, Secretary – DST, and Dr. SSC Shenoi, Former Director of INCOIS.

A series of events will be conducted throughout the year to celebrate the entry into the 25th year, culminating in the silver jubilee Foundation Day event in 2024.

Apart from key addresses, the National Glider Operations Facility and Oceansat-3 Data Acquisition and Processing Facility will be launched and a new Marine Heat Wave Service and a Multi-Hazard Vulnerability Atlas will also be released.

The new facilities include, new-age autonomous instruments such as gliders are known to be the future of ocean observations and in order to cater the glider piloting and regular maintenance, INCOIS has established this dedicated National Glider Operations Facility. The facility is capable of simultaneous piloting of the glider fleet along with its testing, ballasting, and routine maintenance.

Oceansat-3, launched on November 26, 2022, has a sensor called OCM (Ocean Color Monitor), that provides information on water quality parameters such as chlorophyll, suspended sediment, and dissolved organic matter concentrations. INCOIS has started acquiring this OCM data through an upgraded ground station and will use it for operational services such as potential fishing zone (PFZ) advisories.

The Marine Heat Wave Advisory Service for the Indian Ocean uses satellite-derived sea surface temperature to provide maps of Marine Heat Wave intensity and different severity categories on a daily basis. The service will cater to various stakeholders ranging from ecologists to tourism through an interactive Web GIS platform.