Zooplankton Research in Indian Seas:A Review

To promote long-term studies on the distribution and diversity of marine zooplankton in Indian seas,a comprehensive review has been carried out based on the available literature.Zooplankton studies in Indian waters started in the early 1900 s,and a plethora of literature has accumulated dealing with various aspects of zooplankton,especially from the Bay of Bengal,Arabian Sea and their associated estuaries and backwaters.From this review,a comprehensive description is offered on the species composition and distribution of zooplankton in the Indian Seas.Emphasis is given to reflect the existing knowledge on the variations in zooplankton species composition in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.Copepods emerge as the most dominant component in all of these marine waters,as is the case worldwide.Copepods are more diverse in the Bay of Bengal than in Arabian Sea.

Co-Integration Models for Koyna and Warna Reservoirs, India

Koyna region, a seismically active region, has many time series observations such as seismicity, reservoir water levels, and many bore well water levels. One of these series is used to predict others since these parameters are interlinked. If these series were stationary, we used correlation analysis. However, it is seen that maximum of these time series are nonstationary. In this case, co-integration method is used that is extracted from econometrics and forecast is possible. We have applied this methodology to study time series of reservoir water levels of this region and we find them to be co-integrated. Therefore, forecast of water levels for one of the reservoir is done from the other as these will never drift apart too much. The outcomes demonstrate that a joint modelling of both data sets based on underlying physics resolves to be sparingly useful for understanding predictability issues in reservoir induced seismicity.

Evaluation of High-Resolution WRF Model Simulations of Surface Wind over the West Coast of India

This paper presents results from a statistical validation of the hindcasts of surface wind by a high-reso-ution-mesoscale atmospheric numerical model Advanced Research WRF （ARW3.3）, which is set up to force the operational coastal ocean forecast system at Indian Na- tional Centre for Ocean Information Services （INCOIS）. Evaluation is carried out based on comparisons of day-3 forecasts of surface wind with in situ and remote-sensing data. The results show that the model predicts the surface wind fields fairly accurately over the west coast of India, with high skill in predicting the surface wind during the pre-monsoon season. The model predicts the diurnal variability of the surface wind with reasonable accuracy. The model simulates the land-sea breeze cycle in the coastal region realistically, which is very clearly observed during the northeast monsoon and pre-monsoon season and is less prominent during the southwest monsoon season.

Assessing temporal variation of coloured dissolved organic matter in the coastal waters of South Eastern Arabian Sea

Coloured dissolved organic matter(CDOM) plays a major role in marine photochemical and biological processes and its optical properties are known to affect the underwater light penetration. This paper highlights in situ optical estimation and satellite retrieval of CDOM in deciphering its temporal variations in coastal waters of the South Eastern Arabian Sea. The study accentuated the source of CDOM as terrigenous origin during monsoon, of in situ productions during pre-monsoon and during post-monsoon of autochthonous-allocthonous origin. The matchup analysis for in situ and MODIS Aqua retrieved Adg443 exhibited bias which decreased by incorporating the seasonal component. The study also identified degrading bloom of Noctiluca scintillans as the source for exceptionally high CDOM in the area during January and February. The study demands to incorporate seasonal components and phytoplankton abundance while assessing the performance of CDOM algorithms in optically complex coastal waters.

A review of jellyfish aggregations, focusing on India’s coastal waters

A review of jellyfish aggregations focused on India’s coastal waters was conducted,with the aim to enhance understanding of conducive conditions and subsequent ecological impacts.Jellyfish swarming,as well as their beach strandings,have been reported from many areas of the world—including India’s coastal waters.A variety of natural(winds,tidal fronts,surface currents,water temperature,salinity,turbidity,dissolved oxygen)and anthropogenic(water quality deterioration,overfishing,translocation,habitat modification)factors play pivotal roles in triggering jellyfish aggregations.Jellyfish aggregation events in the forms of their swarming in coastal waters and beach strandings have resulted in ephemeral nuisances such as water quality deterioration,food chain alterations,hindrance in seawater uptake by power plants,clogging of nets during fishing operations,and tourism declines.Several well-known Indian tourist beaches(e.g.,Puri,Chennai,Goa,and Mumbai)have experienced beach strandings.Despite recurrence of such events,jellyfishes are relatively less scientifically investigated and monitored in Indian coastal waters.Therefore,it is important to determine the environmental conditions that trigger jellyfish swarming,in order to develop effective monitoring and prediction strategies.This study additionally proposes a conceptual framework towards development of a jellyfish monitoring system for Indian waters using satellite and model data.