over 20 universities/college departments, research institutions and Government organizations attended the convention and presented their research

Transcription

1 50 th Annual Convention of Indian Geophysical Union (IGU) CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad V.P. Dimri, P.Koteswara Rao and P.R.Reddy ( Introduction The 50 th annual convention of IGU on Sustainability of Earth System The Future Challenges was organized jointly by IGU and CSIR-NGRI during January 2014 at CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad. This was preceded by 5 workshops at NIO,Goa; NESAC,Umiam, Meghalaya; WIHG, Dehradun; SRTM University, Nanded and Jadavpur University, Kolkata,as part of Golden Jubilee celebrations of IGU ( ). IGU provides a platform for scientists and young researchers/students to share, interact and propagate the recent research developments in all the branches of Earth System Sciences. In all the 5 workshops, students and young researchers in large number participated and interacted with peers, in understanding various facets of scientific research in earth system sciences. Important factors that are affecting the fragile eco-systems of different segments of the Solid Earth, Coastal belt, Continental margins, Oceans and Atmosphere have been given due weightage by the Earth System Scientists, including Indian, during the last 15 years. However, the enhanced magnitude and frequency of Natural Hazards (in the recent past), has necessitated a more focused scientific endeavours by linking together salient signatures present at local, regional and global levels to bridge the gaps in our understanding of the genesis and propagation of these hazards.realising the sustainability of the Earth System needs scientific, technical and executive initiatives, it is felt essential to have a judicious planning in implementing various scientific decisions. As IGU is wedded to overall well-being of life on earth and environment, it has taken the needed initiative to invite experts to deliver key note papers to chart out a road map through a holistic scientific endeavor. As the International Council for Science (ICSU) is spearheading a three step consultation process in co-operation with the International Social Sciences Council (ISSC), IGU invited Prof. Y.T. Lee, President of ICSU, to inaugurate the 5 day convention. To ensure successful organization of the convention, a technical program brochure and abstract volume were distributed to the participants, prior to the inaugural function, as part of registration procedure. The abstract volume contains 184 abstracts. Some of these presentations were withdrawn. The convention featured 78 oral presentations including key note addresses, award lectures, invited talks, lead talks, in addition to 67 poster presentations. Participants from

2 over 20 universities/college departments, research institutions and Government organizations attended the convention and presented their research findings Inaugural Function The inaugural function was held in the afternoon of 08 th Jan 2014 at S.B. Hall, CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad. The convention was inaugurated by Prof. Y.T. Lee, President-ICSU. Other dignitaries who addressed the gathering during the inauguration were Guests of Honor Dr. Carol Finn, President-AGU & Dr. Alik Ismail Zadeh, Secretary General-IUGG, Prof. Harsh Gupta, President-IUGG, Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Secretary-Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). More than 300 delegates including 80 research scholars and students registered for the convention. The welcome address was delivered by Prof. Mrinal K Sen, Director, CSIR-NGRI & Chairman-LOC. Prof. Sen informed the gathering that separate scientific research plans are being initiated by various research institutes including CSIR-NGRI to face natural hazards. This was followed by Secretary s report by Dr. P. Koteswara Rao, Hon. Secretary-IGU and Presidential remarks by Prof. V.P. Dimri, President-IGU. Prof. Lee, Chief Guest while congratulating IGU for its service to the society in the last 50 years, stressed the importance of scientific societies in ensuring better living conditions in future. In his inaugural address Prof. Lee stressed on timely scientific and technological interventions to build the future earth that would ensure better and sustainable environment for man, flora and fauna to co-habitat the mother earth. Prof. Lee further stated that the entire world as one family can alone address the problems created by the natural hazards. He has drawn the attention of the gathering by pointing out that in the next 10 to 15 years the earth is going to face different types of problems due to natural hazards and population explosion. As such he has reiterated that it is essential to carry out scientific research using the holistic approach to meet these challenges. Guests of Honor Dr. Carol Finn and Dr. Alik Ismail-Zadeh gave a brief account of the importance of Earth Sciences in enhancing a country s progress in the economic, social, educational and health sectors. They have congratulated IGU for contributing significantly in propagating the importance of quality scientific research in earth system sciences. Dr Shailesh Nayak, Secretary-MoES, while extending his warm greetings to all those associated with IGU and the delegates pointed out that the scientists should address the problems associated with higher frequency of extreme events in the recent past. Prof. Harsh Gupta appreciated the efforts made by the IGU in propagating the importance of scientific research in earth system sciences by selecting the topic Sustainability of Earth System Sciences The

3 Future Challenges. He also pointed out that special session on Future Earth has been included, as global collaboration and involvement of various stake holders is essential for ensuring better future. President of IGU honoured meritorious senior and young scientists with IGU national awards for the year Krishnan Medal Saumen Maiti, P. Senthil Kumar 2. IGU-Hari Narain Lifetime Achievement Award in Geosciences Dr. Shailesh Nayak 3. Prof. K.R. Ramanathan Memorial Lecture Surjalal Sharma 4. Dr. H.N. Siddiquie Memorial Lecture S.W.A. Naqvi 5. Sri L.N. Kailasam Memorial Lecture B.B. Bhattacharya 6. Electrotek Geometrics Endowment Lecture Mihir Deb 7. Anni Talwani Memorial Award - Dr. K.S. Krishna 8. Prof. D. Lal Best paper award - Dr. Onkari Prasad, Dr. O.P. Singh 9. Golden Jubilee Award Dr. P. R. Reddy and Late Mr. N. Venkateswarlu He also felicitated past Presidents (Drs. M. Krishnamurthi, Prof. Harsh Gupta and Dr. D.P. Rao) and Foundation Fellow (Prof. V.V.J. Sarma) and past Hon. Secretaries (Drs. D. Atchuta Rao, P.R. Reddy and B.R. Prasad). During the inaugural function, Golden Jubilee Souvenir, 50 th annual convention Abstract volume, IGU Directory and Technical Program were released by the dignitaries. Dr. Rajiv Nigam, joint secretary IGU proposed vote of thanks. After the inaugural function, an exhibition of industrial products, geophysical instruments and details of research organizations was inaugurated by Dr. Shailesh Nayak. Session I: Sustainability of the Earth System The Future Challenges The first scientific session, covering the main theme was held in the forenoon of 09 th January. The session was chaired by Dr. P. R. Reddy (retired scientist of CSIR-NGRI and Advisor of IGU). He gave brief introductory remarks stressing the importance of the session s theme. There were three key note presentations in this session. In the first presentation Dr. Walter D Mooney, senior seismologist, USGS gave a lucid presentation on Mega Earthquakes and Mega Tsunamis: Future Prospects for Hazard Mitigation. In the second talk Dr. B.M. Reddy, INSA-Hon.

4 Scientist and Advisor of IGU gave a talk on Global warming and Sustainability of our Earth Atmosphere System. In the last talk Prof. K.S. Valdiya, Distinguished scientist, JNCASR, Bengaluru presented details of The Uttarakhand calamity: Lessons learnt on Sustainable Development Programme. This was followed by the second session. Session II : Recent Advances in Geophysics This session was split into sub-sessions IIa and IIb. Session IIa: The IIa session was chaired by Dr. Carol Finn. In this session five presentations were made, including one key note talk. In the first presentation Dr. Sukanta Roy provided a detailed information on Scientific Drilling and Bore-hole investigation in Koyna region, Western India. In the second talk Prof. Ramesh P Singh elucidated in detail the dynamics of dusts though his presentation - Melting of Himalayan Glaciers: Impact of Dust or Black Carbon?. This was followed by a talk - Role of Multi-component (OBS) Data in Gas Hydrate Exploration by Dr N. Satyavani. In the fourth talk Dr. Gahalaut gave a lucid exposition of Indian Plate Motion and Deformation. Prof. Mrinal K Sen in his key note presentation brought into focus the limits of seismic resolution. This sub-session was followed by releasing of two books (authored by Prof. V.P. Dimri and Dr. I.Radhakrishna respectively) by Prof. Roddam Narasimha. After releasing the two books, Prof Narasimha, Distinguished Scientist JNCASR delivered 2013-Prince Mukarram Jah Endowment Lecture. He has pointed out, in his talk - Does Solar Activity Affect Indian Monsoon Rainfall? that it is necessary to consider the solar ENSO Rainfall triad jointly in order to understand the Physics and Mechanics underlying the observed connections between solar activity and Indian monsoon rainfall. After this talk group photo of all the delegates was taken. Session IIb: Recent Advances in Geophysics This session was chaired by Prof. Manik Talwani, Schlumberger Chair Emeritus Research Professor, Rice University, Texas, USA. In this session four presentations were made. In the first talk on Satellite Based Estimates of Spatio-Temporal Variability of Water Storage over India and surrounding regions, Dr. V.M. Tiwari highlighted the application of satellite data in providing synoptic view of water storage changes over Indian region. This was followed by a

5 talk entitled Receiver Function Images of the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary beneath India by Dr. Prakash Kumar. Dr A.P. Dimri presented a model numerical simulation of a hailstorm event over Delhi, India on 28 Mar In the fourth talk Prof. B.K. Rastogi gave a lucid presentation on Seismic Hazard Assessment at different levels. After completion of session II b, the following award lectures were delivered: Krishnan Medal Lecture, Prof. K.R. Ramanathan Memorial Lecture, Dr. H.N. Siddiquie Memorial Lecture, Sri L.N. Kailasam Memorial Lecture and Electrotek Geometrics Endowment Lecture. Session III: Special Session on Future Earth This special session was chaired by Prof. Nordin Hasan, Director, ICSU. In his introductory remarks, Prof. Hasan elucidated the role of ICSU in enhancing quality of scientific initiatives under Future Earth project. Prof. Harsh Gupta in his welcome remarks briefed about the interactions between ICSU, INSA and IGU to include an exclusive session during the 50 th annual convention of IGU. He reiterated that these interactions culminated in structuring this session and providing a platform for India`s participation in the new ICSU initiative, ``Future Earth. In his key note address Prof.Y.T.Lee stressed about the role of ``Future Earth initiative in ensuring sustainability of Human Society. In his highly informative and lucid presentation, Prof. Lee stressed that it is extremely necessary to reduce population growth and look at ways of preventing destruction of the planet. He urged all the stake holders to initiate various measures to sustain natural resources, including shifting from fossil fuel to use of bio-fuel, use of alternative ways for lighting and making use of public transport. He felt that present scenario where scientists feel their responsibility ends when their papers are published needs to be changed. Scientists should ensure their earned knowledge helps the society and in turn the society should use the scientific knowledge that is generated. In this session there were four lead talks and eight invited talks. In the first lead talk, Prof Harsh Gupta gave a comprehensive presentation on Earthquakes : How to cope with them?. This was followed by an excellent presentation on Where, when and why earthquake hazard turns to become a disaster? by Dr. AliK Ismail-Zadeh. In the third lead talk Dr. L.S. Rathore explained in detail the developments in early warning system for monsoon and cyclones. This was followed by an important presentation by Dr. Anil Kakodkar. He stressed the need to have alternative energy (especially nuclear in addition to solar and wind) production and usage to

6 overcome non-renewable natural resource based energy generated problems. Dr. S.N. Rai in his lead talk detailed about sustainability of ground water resources. As a part of invited talks, Prof. J.R. Kayal detailed about State of Tectonic stress in Andaman-Sumatra subduction zone: Before and After the 2004 Mega Earthquake MW 9.3. This was followed by a presentation on Seismic Risk on Built Environment in India by Dr. C.V.R Murty. In the third presentation Dr. Ravi Prakash Srivastava detailed about role of Earth System Science in understanding of Bio-Sphere dynamics. This was followed by a presentation on Gas Hyderates and Shale Gas- Potential Unconventional Energy Resources of India by Dr. K. Sain. Prof. U.C. Mohanty presented on Simulation of Heavy Rainfall Associated with Monsoon and Tropical Cyclones over Indian region using High Resolution Meso-Scale Models. This was followed by a presentation on Monssons and Cyclones by Prof. Ajit Tyagi.In the subsequent presentation on Water, a Renewable Treasure of the Future Earth: Reducing Uncertainties in its rational management through Scientific Approach, Dr. Shakeel Ahmed detailed about community based management plans for augmentation of thewater resource. This was followed by a presentation on the efforts to enhance understanding of the nature by Prof.Archana Bhattacharya. She stressed on the need to face some of the challenges that the Earth System is likely to face in the next decade. This was followed by IGU Annual General Body Meeting, and a Cultural Programme. Two dinner talks were given by Prof. Manik Talwani and Prof. Shamita Das. Session-IV: AGU-IGU Collaboration This special session held in the forenoon of 11 th January was chaired by Dr. Walter D Mooney. After his introductory remarks, Prof. Surjalal Sharma of University of Maryland, USA gave a brief account of strides made by AGU and usefulness of collaboration between IGU and AGU. Dr. Carol Finn in her key note talk presented details on the important initiatives taken by AGU in strengthening co-operation between scientists from different parts of the world and usefulness of co-operation between AGU and IGU. This was followed by a welcome response by Dr. V.P. Dimri and signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between AGU and IGU, for the benefit of science and society, improvement of activities, exchange of scientific information on key programs, expansion of membership, possible co-organizing of conferences, and participation in seminars/ symposia from time to time. As the Chairman felt a panel discussion would better project the importance of collaboration and clear doubts, if any, a panel discussion was held under the chairmanship of Prof.Harsh Gupta.

7 Prof. Harsh Gupta welcomed the panel for discussion on AGU-IGU Way forward. He welcomed the idea of co-operation between AGU & IGU. After listening to Dr Carol Finn talk about the AGU, its objectives, interaction, publications, meetings, and conducting seminars, Prof. Gupta expressed that the gap between AGU & IGU is very large and one should take into account the way the AGU organises various activities. To start with the quality of IGU Journal needs to be enhanced learning from AGU s achievements in bringing out 12 high impact factor journals. He further felt that once the IGU Journal improves and gets higher impact factor, automatically IGU will flourish. Then, he opened the debate on the AGU-IGU interaction. Prof. V.P. Dimri informed that most of the participants during the annual conventions and workshops expressed that IGU and AGU co-operation would enhance IGU s visibility and help IGU to carry out its scientific pursuits making use of the experiences gained by AGU. He clarified that as most of the activities of both the organisations are similar and as AGU has agreed to the collaboration in principle, this interactive session has been organised and the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed. After a prolonged discussion on various aspects related to publication, joint meetings, IGU Journal, Students participation and scientific programs/meetings between the two organisations some specific recommendations have been made: 1. AGU is an industry oriented organisation with a well established administrative structure and regional offices all over the world. IGU has very limited resources and mainly run by a group of volunteers using assistance from government/non-government/private/ industry. And as such the collaboration should be aimed at meeting targets that can be reachable. 2. It is agreed that enhancing quality of IGU publication, joint meeting of AGU and IGU in India, involving the SAARC countries for exchange of scientific/technical knowledge, student participation, joint membership of AGU and IGU with a concession in the subscription should be given importance, as main components of the collaboration. Dr. Carol Finn informed that some of the points raised in the session will be placed before the Board of Directors of AGU for their approval. Once some of the recommendations are agreed by the Board of Directors (such as joint membership, organising joint meeting in India, involvement of SAARC countries, joint organisation of seminars etc), she would get back to IGU for further necessary action. The session was concluded with over all appreciation of the delegates for the MoU between AGU and IGU.

8 Session V: Panel discussion on Higher Education in Earth Sciences The discussion moderated by Prof. P. Rajendra Prasad of Andhra University had Dr. Carol Finn, Prof. V.P. Dimri, Prof. Surjalal Sharma, Prof. V. Krishnamurty and Prof. S.S. Teotia as panellists. The status of higher education in Geosciences both in India and USA has been discussed on comparable grounds with special emphasis on Indian scenario. Panellists expressed concern regarding steep decline in the enrolment of meritorious students for geosciences programs at Masters and Doctoral levels. Though in recent times sufficiently large funding avenues have been in place, Capacity building encompassing state of the art experimental and analytical facilities, field equipment, competent teachers and students with commitment to pursue earth science as career have not been sufficiently witnessed for multiple reasons. Further there has been a huge disparity between academic institutions funded by Central and State Governments, research organizations, professional agencies etc., in respect of availably of basic facilities to carryout teaching and research activities. It was decided by the Panel that the focus should be: Attract good students, competent and committed teachers; augment basic infrastructural facilities that can comply with the minimum research and teaching needs; and enhance student employability to ensure sustainable development of Higher Education in Earth Sciences. Session VI: Ph. D. Student s presentations This session was chaired by Prof. Mrinal K Sen. Senior Ph.D. students and those who submitted their theses in the recent past presented in detail the research studies carried out by them. In total 15 students from various universities/research institutes (Kurukshetra Univ, IIT-Kharagpur; ISM-Dhanbad; ISR-Gandhinagar; IMD-New Delhi; GSPCL-Gandhinagar; Goa Univ-Goa and CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad) participated in the session. The Chairman selected two for outstanding presentation and IGU gave cash prizes. The two recipients are : 1. Ms. B. Remya, IIGM, Navi Mumbai (Low Frequency Aemperature Anisotropy Instabilities in Planetary Magnetosheaths); 2.Mr. Saurabh Dutta Gupta, GERMI, Gandhinagar (Well Log Analysis and Rock Physics Modelling in Reservoir Characterization, Cambay basin, India). Session VII: Solid Earth Geosciences: Natural Hazards This session was jointly chaired by Prof Shamita Das of Oxford Univ., U.K and Prof. J.R. Kayal, Kolkata. Fourteen oral presentations were made during this session. Some of the topics are:

9 Relation between low Pressue sytems and extreme monsoon rainfall; Challenges towards energy security and sustainability and its impact on earth system; Evolving tectonics along the arcuate Himalayan belt; Accoustic emission study of precursory Micro-cracking and brittle failure of the basement rocks of Deccan volcanic provice; Looking for new earthquake data from 900AD and alternate seismic activity in Indian regions and Study of long-term and post-seismic deformation in Kachchh rift zone using numerical block and faults structure modelling. Session VIII: Marine Geosciences; Atmosphere-Space & Planetary Sciences and Environemntal Geosciences This session was chaired by Dr. B.M. Reddy. In total 14 presentations were made. Some of the presentations covering Marine Geosciences are: Shallow and deeper crustal structure in southern part of Cauvery Basin, Eastern continental margin of India (ECMI) from analysis of Gravity and Magnetic data; Grain size statistical parameters of coastal sediments between Nagavali River mouth and Kuppili gadda, A.P., east coast of India and Crustal structure of the Gulf of Kachchh, Northwest India. Some of the presentations covering Atmosphere-Space & Planetary Sciences are: Geomagnetic Field variations analysed by Fuzzy Mathematics; Geomagnetic Jerks in Indian region and Global positioning systems as tools in Earth Atmospheric system studies. Some of the presentations covering Environmental Geosciences are: Climate change stabilization by the end of twenty first century A brief review; Assessment of Groundwater quality using Geoelectrical and Geochemical methods- A case study from Kanyakumari district, Tamilnadu, India and Detecting Oil contamination by Integrated Geophysical Methods. Session IX: Theoretical, Experimental and Exploration Geophysics This session was chaired by Prof. BVS Murthy. In total, 11 presentations were made. Some of the topics covered are: Electrical imaging of shallow and deep crustal structure in Sikkim- Darjeeling Himalaya using Magneto-telluric studies; Physical model studies on efficacy of Electrode arrays in electrical resistivity prospecting; Integrated Geophysical Survey for the delineation of sub-surface structure associated with Uranium Mineralization, south Purulia shear zone, India; Use of Tipper magnitude and horizontal adjustment length in detecting surficial anomalous conducting zones and Gravity gradient tensor components of the Bouguer gravity anomalies over India and their significance.

10 Session X: Poster Presentations of all sessions This session was monitored by Dr. O.P. Pandey and Prof. S.S. Teotia. In total 67 poster presentations were made. Some of the topics covered are: Imaging the source of September 18, 2011 Earthquake in Sikkim Himalaya; Morphotectonic analysis of Jatinga river basin, Assam NE India; Attenuation of seismic waves from the earthquake waveforms recorded at single site; Using induction vectors to Sniff the conductive terrane boundaries-case study from Dharwar craton; Ground Magnetic studies in the NE part of Tamilnadu: possible tectonic implications; Upper crustal structure beneath the Talala earthquake region of Saurashtra, Gujarat using local earthquake tomography; Application of GIS techniques in quantifying the Tsunami arrival times at different locations on the east coast of India from the Andaman source region; Volcanism on the Moon: New evidence from the Far-side;Groundwater management at Mandollagudem TECHVIL cluster, Nalgonda district, AP- through scientific cultivation; Accoustic and elastic finite-difference full-wave modelling and imaging of Geological structures favourable for Hydrocarbon exploration; Spectral methods for depth estimation from gravity data: A comparison; Stochastic simulation of strong ground motions of 1986 Dharamsala earthquake and An estimation of CO2 EOR potential from a sector model in a Mature Oil Field, Cambay Basin, India. Concluding Session: This session was compered by Dr. Ajay Mangalik. He gave a detailed account of the proceeding during the inaugural function. This was followed by a brief presentation by all the Chairmen of different technical sessions. On completion of these presentations, ONGC-IGU cash awards were given to Best poster presentations (three research scholars and three students). The session was concluded with remarks by Dr. V.P. Dimri, President-IGU. He pointed out that selected papers presented during the convention, after peer review, will be published in the IGU Journal. As such he invited the delegates to communicate full papers to the Editor, Journal of Indian Geophysical Union ( igu123@gmail.com). He thanked all the delegates, Chairman and members of LOC, EC of IGU for their excellent support and help in organising the five day 50 th annual convention of IGU.

11 Delegates participated during 50th annual Convention of IGU, held at CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad