India,
with its off-lying island territories has a vast
coastline of over 7516 Kms. It has a variety of
habitation features such as vast stretches of
Backwaters, Estuaries, Lagoons, Bays, Mangroves,
Coral reefs, Sea grass-beds etc. Coastal
population is increasing significantly along the
Coastal Zone area due to rapid development of
harbours, urban sites, industries, waste
disposal systems and aquaculture sites as
respective Coastal Zone Regulation plans
progress.
In
both, Defence and Civil Organisations, the need
to understand the ocean in terms of its small
and large scale circulation and tides and
temperature fluctuations is growing. The
emphasis is on Global Warming studies, shore
line changes, sea level rise and their effect on
coastal habitation. The local coastal modeling
for coastal preservation, population control and
the use of ocean forecast models is an integral
part of meteorological studies to improve
forecast effectiveness.
Oceanographic
modelling and trials of coastal regions require
large quantities of ocean data from a variety of
sources. These may include sensors like XBT, CTD,
ADCP, Multi-Beam/ Side Scan Sonars, and Remote
Sensing Satellites, including those for
Meteorological, Tidal, Pollution and Acoustic
data. In addition, the data may be position
based, area based or grid based and may vary
over with time in different seasons.
Coastal
habitats, especially Islands, Mangroves, Salt
marshes and sea grasses are rapidly being
cleared for aquaculture ponds. Measures of
coastal habitat loss are difficult to obtain, as
past data is scanty. In tropical countries the
loss of mangrove coverage will be over 50% of
pre-agricultural area.
Naval
Hydrographic Department can assist in useful
data collection from the Coastal and Ocean area
to enable scientific bodies and Coastal Zone
Regulation Authorities to carry out studies to
facilitate effective Coastal Zone Management.
The services can be provided by the
well-equipped and growing fleet of Indian Naval
Surveying Ships, which widely operate along the
Indian Coastal belt and in the EEZ/Continental
Shelf area. Services of such ships can be
provided to coastal countries in the Indian
Ocean littoral on mutually acceptable terms and
conditions.
Queries
and requests for Coastal Zone Management
studies/ surveys may be addressed to The Chief
Hydrographer to the Government of India in the
enclosed Customer Request Form.
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