Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “ India’s Environment around the Sea Coast and under the Sea” Complete Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.
India’s Environment around the Sea Coast and under the Sea
Oceans cover nearly three quarters of the planet’s surface. An ocean is not only a repository of enormous riches in the form of a variety of minerals, pharmaceutically significant plants and micro-organism and, of course, a mind-boggling range of edible fish but also a key factor in gaining insight into climatic vagaries and atmospheric fluctuations affecting the earthlings. Significantly, swirling ocean currents influence much of the world’s weather patterns. As it is, the advent of space age, in general and the emergence of satellite-based remote sensing technique in particular, has been a shot in the arm for the otherwise weak investigation into the ocean environment.
The American Land sat and NOAA series of satellites were, in a way, a pioneer in the study of oceans and seas around us. India, which has an active space-based remote sensing programme, is currently using its fully homegrown IRS-1B satellite launched in 1994 and IRS-P2 spacecraft orbited by the polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV) for oceanographic study and research. IRS-1B identical to the first fully operational Indian remote sensing satellite IRS-1A launched in 1988, is equipped with multi-spectral scanners designed for 37.25 metres and 72.5 metres ground resolution and provides a repetitive coverage every 22 days at the equator. On the other hand, IRS-P2 has a LISS (linear imaging self-scanner) camera with a 36-metre resolution in four spectral bands. The second generation Indian remote sensing satellite IRS-1C launched in 2007 from Russia will provide finer and more extensive details of oceanic features because of its enhanced spatial and spectral resolutions.
The Department of Space has prepared the maps of coral reefs—an ecologically significant and biologically productive component of oceanic environment—in the scale of 1:2, 50,000 using the satellite data. This has helped to arrive at a fairly accurate estimation of the extent of coral reefs in the seas and oceans around India. And based on this estimation, a scheme has been formulated for the conservation of coral reefs, which are known to be effective sinks for the carbon dioxide circulating in the earth’s atmosphere. The IRS-1B satellite is capable of providing images up to a depth of 50 metres.
A team of researchers from the Hyderabad-cased National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), by mak.ng use of the satellite data. has correlated the expansion of prawn farming in coastal Andhra Pradesh with the destruction of mangrove forests. Satellite data has shown that nearly two million hectares in India are potentially suitable for prawn farming, an industry that has grown by leaps and bounds over the last one decade. The study has, in particular, brought out in clear cut terms that as the prawn cultivation increases, the mangrove vegetation decreases. In 1973, prawn cultivation was almost nil in the Guntur and Krishna districts of Andhra Pradesh; while mangroves accounted for 4,411 hectares and 5,884 hectares respectively. By 1992, the figures had changed to 4,520 hectares of prawn cultivation and 3459 hectares of Mangrove forests in Guntur and 6005 hectares of prawn cultivation and 5.479 hectares of mangroves in Krishna district. This satellite data based study is of great help to planners to select location for prawn farming that do not interfere with the growth of mangroves.
Conventional methods of oceanographic research based on sample collection and measurement by ships are costly, cumbersome and time-consuming. And because the ocean ecosystem is highly dynamic, repetitive observation made possible by earth observation spacecraft is essential to get an insight into various oceanic processes and phenomena. Maps of sea surface temperature generated by NASA using satellite data provide a crucial clue to the concentration of first schools in the seas and oceans around India.
A novel and multifaceted Marine Remote Sensing Information Service (MARSIS) has been set up with the participation of NRSA, National Institute of Oceanography (N10), Goa, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi, Orissa Remote Sensing Application Centre (ORSAC), Bhubaneswar and Institute for Ocean Management (IOM), Anna University, and Chennai. The major thrust of MARSIS is on facilitating the optimum utilisation of marine resources. According to Prof. S. Ramachandran of 10M, the institute will acquire, generate and process data and ensure their integration into mainstream activities such as coastal zone management. As part of MARSIS 10M has taken up many interesting projects. Among them are coastal zone information system, coastal land use mapping for Tamil Nadu, Pulicat lake sedimentation study, mapping of suspended sediment concentration in coastal waters and potential fishery zone information dissemination. Digital analysis of data from IRS-1B has shown that plumes of suspended sediments were coming near shores, wetlands and river mouths and finally moving towards the Jaffna coast in Sri Lanka.