The four-day International Symposium on Tropical Meteorology (Intromet 2021) on ‘Changing climate: consequences and challenges’, will begin here on Tuesday, under the aegis of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) and the Indian Meteorological Society.
Director of Cusat Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research S. Abhilash said here on Monday that eminent scientists from across the globe would participate in the symposium, to be held mostly in the online mode, considering the continuing pandemic restrictions.
Dr. Abhilash said the global challenge of climate change and its consequences had to be addressed locally. Kerala has been witness to the impact of climate change, with the 2013 monsoon giving a foretaste of the floods that came in 2018 and 2019. The years 2015 and 2016 witnessed drought-like situations in the State. That was followed by the Ockhi cyclone that hit the Kerala shores in 2017.
The impact of climate change was seen most significantly in the intensity of rain received in various parts of Kerala, said Dr. Abhilash. He said the rain during the monsoon season saw 16% deficiency, but the months of October, November and December, which usually recorded about 60 cm of rain, received almost double the quantum.
Scientists and researchers from 16 countries will present 600 papers during the four-day event. Of those, a hundred papers will be from scientists and researchers from outside India.
Ministry of Earth Sciences Secretary M. Ravichandran and former secretary M. Rajeevan will address the symposium on the opening day.
