SULOCHANA GADGIL
Pune
Sulochana Gadgil is one of the world’s leading monsoon meteorologists, known for significant contributions to the understanding of Indian monsoon and its variability, and farming strategies for the variable climate. Trained at Harvard and MIT, and then working for 35 years at the Indian Institute of Science she has conducted research at the cutting edge of science, as also of social relevance for India. With her rich and manifold contributions, she has been elected to fellowship of IASc, INSA and I MET Soc. She is a recipient of Norman Borlaug Award and Life Time Excellence Award of Ministry of Earth Sciences. Sulochana Gadgil was elected Fellow in 1985.
SESSION 2C – Special Lecture
S S Krishnamurthy
Physics of the monsoon and its variability
While the surface winds over a large part of the tropical regions (the trade winds) blow in the same direction throughout the year, over some parts known as monsoonal regions, they blow in opposite directions in different seasons. This large seasonal variation of winds is considered to be the distinguishing attribute of the monsoon, but it is the monsoon rainfall, with large impact on agriculture and economy, that governs the pulse of life in our country. Understanding the physics of the monsoon and its variability, which is a prerequisite for the development of models capable of skillful predictions, has evolved since the seminal paper by the astronomer Halley (1686) who suggested that the monsoon was a planetary scale land-sea breeze. This theory is still found in textbooks and used even in scientific papers, despite scientific evidence being presented against it. The speaker shall talk about the present understanding of the physics of the monsoon, arising from combining the major advances in the knowledge of tropical cloud systems with the availability of satellite imagery adding to the already rich knowledge of the observed monsoon variability, with new theoretical insights into the physics of tropical cloud systems since the 1960s