Dev Raj Sikka, former director of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, who first proposed a link between the El Nino phenomenon and the Indian monsoon, died of a cardiac arrest early on Saturday. He was 85.
The El Nino Southern Oscillation phenomenon, a see-sawing of temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, is now among the most significant factors that meteorologists scan to forecast the performance of the Indian monsoon. Six out of 10 El Nino-years have been associated with below-normal rainfall over India.
“Dr. Sikka was the first to report this connection in 1982 but that was the time when meteorologists would give more importance to Western scientists,” said Dr. Madhavan Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Dr. Sikka, who began his career at the India Meteorological Department, was also credited with being among the pioneers of developing weather models and computer-modelling techniques to forecast the monsoon.
Born in Jhang, Maghiana in Pre-partition India (now in Panjab, Pakistan), Dr. Sikka “established strong linkages with scientists and institutions engaged in research and academic activities in meteorology and allied subjects, both from India and abroad,” said a statement from the IMD.
He was Chairman of the Monsoon Mission of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, a programme to improve monsoon-related forecasts.
“Anybody could come to him anytime and be educated on monsoon…he used to give wonderful lectures,” Jatin Singh, CEO, Skymet Weather Services, told The Hindu.
