Annual Report 2009-2010 - Ministry Of Earth Sciences

8
Climate Change Science
8.1 Introduction
A coordinated research programme on Global
and Regional Climate Change (GRCC) during the
XI Plan has been launched to build a National
Climate Change Monitoring and Research
Network. A Programme Office is established at
MoES Headquarters to operate GRCC Programme
to integrate all envisaged activities in support of
supplementing unified scientific response to the
global warming launched by the Government of
India under the National Action Plan on Climate
Change (NAPCC).
As a part of GRCC, a dedicated Centre for Climate
Change Research (CCCR) to undertake studies on
science aspects of Climate Change at the Indian
Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune has
been established. CCCR is focusing on all scientific
issues, including modelling the susceptibility of
various agricultural crops, yield and diseases,
water, nitrogen, ozone, GHG flux measurements
and CO 2
cycle sequestration, etc.
Recognising the importance of the critical and
challenging science issues of climate change, and
need to launch urgent focused efforts to deal climate
change issue in a holistic and comprehensive
manner, a National Workshop was held during
18-19 May 2009 to discuss these issues threadbare
and to build integrated national efforts.
Representatives of various institutions that have
participated in the National Workshop have
appreciated the efforts of MoES in launching a
dedicated programme on GRCC during the current
five-year plan along with the establishment of
a new CCCR in the IITM, Pune Campus with all
necessary infrastructures.
Update on the CCCR Establishment
• CCCR incubation centre was established in
October 2009 in the campus of the Indian
Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
• A new HPC facility with 7.2 Terra Flops (TF)
peak- performance is commissioned and made
fully functional.
• A nucleus of 14 identified IITM scientists (1-
Scientist-‘E’; 5-Scientist-‘D’s; 4-Scientist-‘C’s
and 4-Scientist-‘B’s), apart from designated In-
Charge, have already been grouped to work on
envisaged CCCR activities. In addition, six new
scientists (2-Scientist-‘E’s and 4-Scientist-‘C’s)
are recruited. In summary, present CCCR staff
comprises 20 Scientists (six new recruitments
and a nucleus of 14 scientists from IITM). A
visiting scientist position has recently been
offered for strengthening the activities further.
• A focused and well-defined roadmap for
contributing to the Assessment Report-5 (AR5)
of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC). Ensembles of regional model
simulations are planned for downscaling
the monsoon variability projections over the
South Asian region. This will be the first time
that projections based on model simulations
conducted from India would be participating
in the IPCC assessment.
• Ability to capture summer monsoon
characteristics over South Asia within
17-ensemble member 20 th Century simulations
of Quantifying Uncertainty in the Model
Projections (QUMP) involving United
Kingdom’s Hadley Centre Coupled Ocean-
Atmospheric Climate Model version 3 (Had
CM3) is examined to select potential ensemble
member fields, among the 17, which have
most closely reproduced the observed summer
monsoon climate variables.
50 Ministry of Earth Sciences : Annual Report 2009-10