Earth Sciences Scope & Priorities
Statement: Projects focus on interacting earth system processes and their feedback mechanisms critical to the sustainability of our subcontinent through: (1) Exploration and sustainable exploitation of natural resources; (2) Quantifying impacts of anthropogenic forcing on climate change and its environmental/social impacts; (3) Natural hazard risk assessment (earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, landslides, floods); (4) Models of interactions across lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere.
Priority Areas
- Groundwater Reserves & Quality: Quantitative assessment of deep aquifer reserves, contamination tracking (arsenic, fluoride, salinity), and longevity projections for agricultural and drinking water security.
- Himalayan Glaciers & Vulnerability: Glaciological monitoring of glacial retreat, long-term river water budget impacts, and avalanche hazard zonation in sensitive border areas.
- Coastal Zone Protection: Mapping limits of coastal inundation from storm surges and sea-level rise; submarine groundwater discharge and saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers.
- Natural Hazard Assessment: Seismic hazard microzonation in the Himalayan arc and intra-plate regions; earthquake and tsunami preparedness modeling; landslide risk roadmaps.
- River Basin Evolution & Historical Climate: Interdisciplinary studies connecting ancient civilization migrations, climate variability, river system transformations, and sustainable river basin governance.
- Critical Zone (CZ) Evolution: A unifying theoretical framework integrating physical, chemical, and biological processes to understand how critical zone services respond to human and climatic pressures.