Oceanographer Avijit Gangopadhyay
recently returned from India, where he helped establish
a new center for addressing natural hazards. The Center for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL) is located at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India’s premier institution of technical research and higher education. The Center
is designed to focus the integrated talent of multiple
disciplines from within the institute and beyond
on the prediction and damage mitigation
of earthquakes, floods, tsunamis and the like. The planned work will include collaboration with SMAST and other external research institutions.
Projects already underway include development of a travel time atlas for a Tsunami Warning System; a pilot study of the socio-economic impact of
four major disasters, including the Tsunami of 2004;
and the development of high-resolution three-dimensional
ocean circulation, cyclone, storm
surge, and wave forecasting models. |