GUWAHATI, March 7 - The International Conference on Climate Science organised by the Interdisciplinary Climate Research Center (ICRC), Cotton College, got under way today. The theme of the two-day conference held at Sudmersen Hall is, �Frontiers of Climate Research to Enhance Cooperation of Climate Information and Services for Sustainable Development Planning in North East India.�
The inaugural session kicked off with the welcome address by the Principal of Cotton College, Dr Nirada Devi. The keynote address was delivered by Prof Prasant Goswami, Director, NISTADS, New Delhi. He spoke on �Regional climate change: Science and Challenges for Adaptation and Mitigation.�
The plenary talks were delivered by Dr Ajit Tyagi, India�s permanent representative for World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and Prof T Hayashi from Kyoto University, Japan on �National Framework for climate services� and �Activities of rainfall measurement in the North-East region of Indian subcontinent� respectively.
The conference comprises five technical sessions with both invited and solicited papers. On the first day of the conference, invited speakers Melvil Pereira, Director, NESRC, Guwahati; Toru Terao, Kagawa University, Japan; Prof Hiambock J Syiemlieh, NEHU, Shillong; Subashisa Dutta, IIT, Guwahati and KV Ramesh, CSIR Fourth Paradigm Institute, Bangalore, spoke on different aspects of climate science.
The second day of the conference will see presentations by invited speakers Fumie Murata, Kochi University, Japan; Yusuke Yamane, Tokoha University, Japan; ML Khan, Dr Harising Gaur Central University, Madhya Pradesh; Anup Saikia, Gauhati University; Kaiash Chand Pandey, GEAG, Gorakhpur and Azusa Fukushima, Kobe Gakuin University, Japan.
The technical sessions on the first day of the conference were chaired by Prof Kulendu Pathak, former VC, Dibrugarh University; Prof Amarjyoti Choudhury, former pro-VC Tezpur University and Toru Terao, Kagawa University, Japan. The technical sessions on the second day of the conference will be chaired by Dr Anil Goswami, former principal, Cotton College; Arup Mishra, Director ASTEC and Yusuke Yamane, Tokoha University, Japan.
The conference is aimed at assimilating present as well as evolving concepts related to regional climate in North-east India and discussing many facets of the South Asia Monsoon, predictability, variability over a variety of space and time scale, water resource management and mitigation. The conference is expected to identify and elaborate on the scientific questions and associated research agendas involving regional climate which are scientifically challenging and of high societal relevance.
The conference is co-hosted by Krishna Kanta Handiqui State Open University, Center for Southeast Asian Studies (SEAS), Kyoto University, Japan and International Consortium for Earth and Development Sciences (ICEDS), Kagawa University, Japan. It is supported by Water Research Project, Kagawa University, Japan and Meteorological System Technology Association of Japan.
