Activities
Coastal Processes & Hazards
Natural hazards and extreme events in the coastal zone are becoming more frequent and energetic, and in future scenarios this tendency will remain or even increase due to climate changes. Coastal erosion and flooding affect coastlines around the world including India and as per ADB report every year about 400 hectares of coastal land, 75000 hectares of crop areas, 34000 residential houses and industrial establishments are affected by coastal erosion and flooding. Sea level rise, changes in storms and wave climate as a consequence of global climate change are expected to increase the size and magnitude of flooded and eroding coastal areas, thus having profound impacts on coastal communities and ecosystems. In order to protect the coastline for future generation, a comprehensive understanding and holistic estimation of these coastal changes, impact assessment of extreme events on coastline is primary requirement for evolving sustainable coastal development strategies. The unplanned infrastructure combined with poor implementation of planning, relief and rehabilitation measures increases the human, physical and economic losses sustained during and after a disaster. With the second highest population, increasing urbanisation and added high risk due extreme events, the Indian coast is highly vulnerable and hence coastal vulnerability is a key criterion to be studied for protection of habitat and infrastructure and to advise the Government in formulation of mitigation measures. The centre has been working on two major objectives
- Understanding of Coastal Processes through Monitoring, Modelling and prediction and development of Shoreline Management Plans along the Indian coast
- Assessment of Coastal Vulnerability due to Climate Change, Sea Level Rise and Natural Hazards
In order to achieve the above, the following activities were taken up
- Monitoring of Shoreline Change along the Indian coast including islands during normal and extreme events.
- Understanding of nearshore processes through observations/modeling and estimation of sediment transport along the Indian coast in phased manner for better management of shoreline.
- Development of web based Coastal Change System to disseminate information related to coastal development, impact assessment of extreme events and climate change (SLR) on the shoreline and its management aspects.
- Development of an operational Coastal Flood Warning System for flood prone coastal cities of the country and Impact based forecasting expert system for tropical cyclones and multi- coastal hazards in disaster prone areas of the country.
- Development of a Regional Risk Assessment and Decision Support tools for reliable assessment of Climate Change and Management of coastal areas by through development of adaptation and climate resilient systems.
- Mapping of vulnerable areas along coast using crowd sourcing and work in close coordination with the State Governments on developing scientific and technology based tools to aid their disaster risk reduction operations.