India, US ink pact to study seasonal prediction of Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall

New Delhi, Nov 8 (ANI): India and the United States on Monday signed an agreement on 'Technical Cooperation for Study of Dynamical Seasonal Prediction of Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall' during the visit of US President Barack Obama in New Delhi.

Dr Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India and Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Administrator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States signed the agreement here today, which will be for a term of five years.

It will deliver a useful coupled ocean-atmospheric general circulation model to predict Indian summer monsoon rainfall. The cooperation will enhance current understanding of coupled ocean-atmosphere monsoon system over India and will be useful for future studies and model improvements.

The main objective of the agreement is to develop through dynamical weather prediction models a fuller understanding of the Indian monsoon and associated precipitation characteristics.

The nodal agencies for implementation are Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), US Department.

A "Monsoon Desk" is being set up at National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to focus on and coordinate all activities for India's monsoon-related work including "Monsoon Mission".

This desk will coordinate numerical model simulations and diagnostics between NCEP of NOAA and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and India Meteorological Department of Ministry of Earth Sciences.

During Monsoon 2011 Indian and US scientists will work jointly for its predictions utilizing a global model at resolution of 28 Km in horizontal and 64 levels in the vertical. A probabilistic outlook will be provided for a two-week period using ensemble approach.

The Government of India will provide Rs 2.4 crore over a period of five years for activities associated with establishment and maintenance of "Monsoon Desk" and USA Government will provide 100,000 dollars per annum to cover deficit that may not be fully covered through Government of India funding. (ANI)