Context:
Recently Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE) organised a national-level workshop on IndOBIS.
IndOBIS (Indian Ocean Biodiversity Information System):
- Indian regional node of the global Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS).
- Hosted by – Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE)
- Uses –
- Tracking species distribution.
- Identifying biodiversity hotspots.
- Assessing climate change impact
Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE):
- Established – 1998
- Location – Kochi
- Affiliation – Ministry of Earth Sciences
- Function –
- Hosts IndOBIS, the Indian regional node of the global Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS).
- Collects data on taxonomically resolved marine species occurrence records from the Indian Ocean.
- Accepts various categories of marine biodiversity data, including literature, occurrence, abundance records, and DNA-derived or genomic profiles.
Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS):
- Origin – Emanated from the Census of Marine Life (2000-2010).
- Established by – Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.
- Integration – Now part of the International Oceanographic Data and Information Exchange (IODE) of IOC.
- Features –
- Supported by a network of nearly 30 regional nodes contributing data.
- Provides detailed information on species distribution across the world’s oceans, including data on their occurrence, habitats, and environmental parameters.
- Offers free and open access to biodiversity and biogeographic data and information on marine life.
- Provides tools and services for users to search, visualize, and download biodiversity data.
Read more about: Information Fusion Centre for Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR), Indian National Center for Ocean Information Service (INCOIS), Deep Ocean Mission
Source: PIB
Previous Year Question
With reference to ‘Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD)’ sometimes mentioned in the news while forecasting Indian monsoon, which of the following statements is/are correct?
1. The IOD phenomenon is characterised by a difference in sea surface temperature between tropical Western Indian Ocean and tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean.
2. An IOD phenomenon can influence an El Nino’s impact on the monsoon.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
[UPSC Civil Service Exam – 2017 Prelims]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (b)
Explanation:
Statement 1 is not correct: The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) measures differences in sea surface temperature between the Arabian Sea (western pole) and the eastern Indian Ocean (eastern pole).
