India 2018

494 India 2018
about heat waves and associated health hazards, MoES for the first time started
issuing forecasts for heat waves over the country. A few state governments like
Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha have initiated state action
plans based on these forecasts during the hot weather season, which could help
them to warn people in advance about the occurrence of heat waves and thus
saving their lives. MoES has also taken initiative to develop such heat wave
action plans with other state governments.
Ocean Services: Technology and Observations
Potential Fishery Zone (PFZ) Advisories
The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) provides
PFZ advisories to 2.75 lakh fishermen on a daily basis to help them to easily
locate the areas of abundant fish in the ocean.
Ocean State Forecasts
Ocean state forecastes (forecasts of waves, currents, sea surface temperature,
etc.) to fisher folk, shipping industry, oil and natural gas industry, navy, coast
guard and other stakeholders have improved considerably during the last three
years. Oil spill advisories are being provided to facilitate the indication of ecosensitive
zones, potential fishing zones, fishing avoidance zone during the event
of oil spill. The ocean state forecasts were also provided before and during the
launch day of Re-usable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstration (RLV-TD)
of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The ocean forecast services were extended to two other Indian Ocean Rim
Countries, namely Sri Lanka and Seychelles on various parameters viz., winds,
waves, currents and temperature in map form served under the umbrella of
Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) for Afro-
Asian Region.
Tsunami Warning System
The Indian Tsunami Warning System established by the Ministry at the Indian
Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad has been
recognized as the Regional Tsunami Service Provider (RSTP) for the Indian
Ocean region by UNESCO to provide warning to countries of the Indian Ocean.
This includes the service of level-2 tsunami advisories for the Indian Ocean.
The Indian Tsunami Warning System is equipped to issue warnings within ten
minutes of occurrence of earthquakes. The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre
(ITEWC) kept the watch of all tsunamigenic earthquakes in and around the
Indian Ocean and issued appropriate messages in the event of any threats from
potential tsunamis.
Ocean Observing System
In 2016, INCOIS deployed 23 ARGO floats in the Indian Ocean having sensors
to collect the physical parameters, of which 11 were equipped with both physical