Annual Report 2009-2010 - Ministry Of Earth Sciences

Nadu coast. The seaweeds are being processed
for extraction and screening of organic
compounds for antifouling properties.
f ) Marine Bioinformatics: Evolutionary
relationship of agarolytic microbes isolated
from the Andaman Islands was analysed using
bioinformatics software and evolution of yolk
protein in crustaceans was studied. Systematic
classification of lobsters was compiled under
the marine taxonomic tree database with
special reference to the Indian lobsters. Studies
on screening andphylogenetic analysis of
chitinolytic vibrios are in progress.
g) Development and Deployment of Artificial
Reef: A Mild Steel (MS) mould for construction
of artificial reef was designed and fabricated.
Test artificial reef structures were constructed
with the MS moulds and the structures were
tested for stability and handling. Further work
towards the deployment of artificial reef in the
Orissa coast is in progress.
h) Light Emitting Diode (LED) Beacon Lamp:
A low cost solar powered beacon light was
developed indigenously for use on artificial reef
area maker buoys, Fish Aggregation Devices
(FADs) and fish cages. The system is being
tested outdoors to evaluate the efficiency and
longevity of the design and material. The entire
system is designed to work with 4V, 5Ah battery
of 35mm x 75mm size. The battery will be
charged through a single 1Watt solar panel. For
lighting, 4 numbers of 5mm, 110mw white to
amber coloured LEDs are used in this system.
The system is designed to work continuously
for more than five days, after full charging, even
in the absence of solar energy.
6.6 Coastal and Environmental
Engineering
This includes projects primarily targeted towards
infrastructure developments and industrial
application. The major achievements are provided
below:
i) As part of the Tsunami Early Warning System,
installation of Long Range HF Radars
commenced along the coastline of India. Eight
HF Radar stations have been installed as of
December 2009 and online data is received at
NIOT and INCOIS.
ii) The project ‘Technical Criteria Atlas’ aims
to provide a ready reference of various
environmental parameters required for
planning, analysis and design of coastal
infrastructures. Bathymetry for Indian Ocean
was prepared from the secondary data sources
such as ETOPO2, CMap, and in-house data.
The secondary database required for model
forcing such as surface wind, atmospheric
pressure, cyclone track details, tide, sea ice,
etc. was prepared. The sensitivity analysis of
grid size and time step were carried out. Test
runs of the model were carried out with varying
formulations to calibrate the model. The model
results were validated with available data.
Ministry of Earth Sciences : Annual Report 2009-10 39