IITM, ARIES join hands to establish BCON climate monitoring station in Himalayan region
New Delhi, June 19
In a significant step towards strengthening India's climate observation infrastructure, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, and the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences, Nainital, have signed an agreement to establish a long-term climate monitoring station under the Bharat Climate Observation Network at Devasthal in Uttarakhand's Himalayan region.
The MoU was signed online on June 18 by IITM Director Dr. A. Suryachandra Rao and ARIES Director Dr. Manish Kumar Naja.
The collaboration seeks to advance research on climate change through sustained observations of key climate variables, including meteorological parameters, greenhouse gases, short-lived climate forcers, and soil moisture.
Located in the Himalayan region, ARIES' Devasthal campus offers a unique high-altitude environment for atmospheric observations.
Its relatively pristine surroundings make it an ideal site for measuring baseline atmospheric conditions, tracking greenhouse gas concentrations, studying the transport of climate-relevant pollutants, and improving understanding of climate processes over the Himalayas.
The proposed station will become part of BCON, a national observational programme conceptualised and implemented by IITM under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
The network aims to generate long-term, high-quality climate datasets across diverse geographical regions of the country.
According to the institutions, data generated through BCON will support the detection of long-term climate trends, strengthen climate change research, and enhance India's capacity for climate assessments and evidence-based policymaking.
The observations will also provide critical validation data for Earth System Models, including the IITM Earth System Model, helping improve simulations of climate processes and future climate projections over India.
Scientists from IITM's Centre for Climate Change Research (CCCR), including Dr. Suvarna Fadnavis and Dr. Yogesh Tiwari, as well as ARIES researchers Dr. Umesh Kumar Dumka and Dr. Priyanka Srivastava, were present during the online signing ceremony.
The establishment of the Devasthal station is expected to bolster India's climate monitoring capabilities in the ecologically sensitive Himalayan region while contributing valuable scientific data to national and global climate research efforts.
— IANS
Reader Comments
As someone from Uttarakhand, I'm really happy to see this. The Devasthal area is pristine and perfect for such work. But I hope the local communities are involved - they could benefit from climate literacy programs too. Just collecting data isn't enough, we need to translate it into actionable policies for farmers and villagers.
Great initiative! India's climate monitoring network has been lagging behind for too long. The Himalayas are particularly understudied despite being crucial for understanding Asian monsoon systems and glacier dynamics. This BCON network seems well-thought-out - combining greenhouse gases, soil moisture, and meteorological parameters will give a holistic picture. Let's hope MoES ensures sustained funding for long-term operations.
"Evidence-based policymaking" - that's the key phrase here. For too long, our environmental policies have been based on assumptions rather than solid data. If this station can provide reliable long-term data on pollutants and greenhouse gases, it will be a game-changer for how we tackle air pollution in North India too. 👏
This is wonderful but I have one concern - will this data be accessible to independent researchers and climate activists? Or will it be locked away in bureaucratic files? Transparency is crucial if we want real climate action. Also, more stations like this across the entire Himalayan belt would be ideal, not just one in Uttarakhand.
Impressive collaboration between IITM and ARIES. The high-altitude location is perfect for studying long-range transport of pollutants from the Indo-Gangetic plain. This will complement data from other BCON stations nicely. Hopefully, this becomes a model for similar stations in other ecologically sensitive zones like the Western Ghats.