BHUBANESWAR: With climate change and global warming triggering erratic and extreme weather events, shoreline States like Odisha remain extremely vulnerable. To study coastal inundation and how it can be predicted in case of extreme weather occurrences, the IIT Bhubaneswar (BBS) is working with a group of climate scientists working in US to develop a Land-Ocean-Atmospheric Modelling System, said Professor of School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences of IIT-BBS UC Mohanty here on Wednesday.
The modelling will help improve the prediction on coastal inundation which is a major cause of loss of life and property in coastal States, Prof Mohanty told this paper on the sidelines of the four-day TROPMET 2016 organised by Indian Meteorological Society (IMS), SOA University, Government of Odisha and Ministry of Earth Sciences.
A big name in tropical meteorology, specially Asian monsoon dynamics, Prof Mohanty said the modelling system development is crucial in the context of climate change. Erratic weather leads to huge rainfall in a small window of time while during tropical cyclones, the rainfall and storm surge leads to a critical inundation which leaves the shoreline population trapped, he informed.
‘’The future projection is that the number of tropical cyclones may remain same but their category (intensity) will be higher. With global warming leading to sea level rise, inundation in a State like Odisha needs to be worked on,’’ he said.
The earth sciences school is working with three Indians who head weather modelling divisions in top agencies of US for developing the Land-Ocean-Atmosphere Modelling System, Prof Mohanty said.
The IIT-BBS is also partnering with Indo-US Science and Technology Forum for exchange of knowledge and students.
President of IMS Prof Ajit Tyagi said at the end of the four-day symposium, it was recommended to develop a research project on climate change and coastal vulnerability in Odisha. A pilot site along the coast to study impact and assessment of climate change should be identified. A multi-disciplinary research team may be involved to develop and implement adaptation and mitigation measures, said Director IMD, Odisha SC Sahu.