Date:08/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/08/stories/2008040860051300.htm

National

Sibal unveils five technology products

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday unveiled a set of five technology products, including a CD-ROM of district-wise daily normal of rainfall, temperature and other meteorological parameters, and an atlas of dolphins, whales and other marine mammals off the Indian coastline, particularly in the country’s exclusive economic zone.

The CD-ROM on climatological normals contains daily normal for several meteorological parameters – the possibility and the quantum of rainfall, maximum, minimum and mean temperatures, relative humidity, total cloud amount and wind speed. The data could be browsed using normal personal computers with Microsoft operating system.

The data could be used by a wide range of users – from policy makers to the lay public. For instance, it could be used as a reference against which conditions like climate change or the intensities of heat or cold waves could be assessed, for predicting weather conditions likely to be experienced in a given location, for planning with regard to agricultural operations, power generation and maintenance of dams.

A senior Ministry official said the Pune-based National Climate Centre of the India Meteorological Department, which has prepared the CD-ROM, was presently working on two more climatological data products.

The atlas of marine mammals, which depicts the pattern of their distribution and species composition, was prepared under a programme coordinated by the Kochi-based Centre for marine Living Resources and Ecology. The programme, which involved 750 days of cruising between 2003 and 2005, had, for the first time, provided conclusive evidence on the existence of six species of whales, nine species of dolphins and one species each of sea cow and porpoise in the Indian EEZ.

It also showed that the areas around Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, the Kochi-Kozhikode belt in Kerala and the seas off Vishakapatnam were very rich in marine mammals. The study has recommended that these areas could be developed as sites for “profitable, but benign” eco-tourism ventures.