Data Sharing for Climate Research with India Now Official

 
Published: 17 April 2013
Aerosol instruments operate at the IISc Challakere campus, located about 150 kilometers north of IISc headquarters in Bangalore, India.

A new cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) formalizes efforts between the two countries to study aerosols and cloud processes and their influence on the transfer of energy through the atmosphere—called radiative transfer—and the Indian Monsoon.

The official Memorandum of Understanding, signed in March and effective for 10 years, establishes a framework for collaboration between DOE and the Indian atmospheric research community through the ARM Climate Research Facility and related science and education activities and exchanges.

For example, an ARM scientist recently installed a single-particle soot photometer at the IISc aerosol laboratory in Challakere. This instrument can measure the concentration of aerosol particles as small as 10 nanograms per meter cubed. These data, combined with those from IISc instruments, are being used by the collaborators in this joint experiment.

The Challakere campus was established by IISc as part of the region’s burgeoning scientific community. The aerosol lab there includes many other instruments provided through IISc for measuring various atmospheric parameters relevant to radiative transfer and climate change.

“We anticipate this effort to be a catalyst for much larger collaborative research efforts on climate and monsoon between the two countries,” said Professor Satheesh of IISc.

“This collaboration will enhance the understanding of critical science questions,” added Dr. Wanda Ferrell, program director for the ARM Facility.

Scientific collaborations between the United States and India have been recognized since an official Agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation was signed in 2005. This was followed by the first MOU, signed in April 2011, for ARM to conduct the Ganges Valley Aerosol Experiment in Nainital, India.

With the new MOU in place, joint experiments can be conducted in both the United States and India, and visiting scientists will be hosted by both countries. In addition, data from this agreement can be stored in the ARM Data Archive, allowing scientists around the world to access these critical data for climate research.