ESSO - Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services

Dr. Balakrishnan Nair T.M. , Director (I/C) and Scientist - G , INCOIS, India

Dr. Balakrishnan Nair is a Senior Scientist and Group Director for Ocean Modelling, Applied Research and Services (O-MARS) Group, at the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Ministry of Earth sciences, Government of India, Hyderabad- a leading and unique organization in the field of operational oceanography viz. ocean observation, modelling, Early warning and Marine services under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India. He is one of the founder members of INCOIS, having over 25 years of experience as a researcher and leading the Ocean Information and Forecast Service Group of INCOIS for last 19 years. He was also leading INCOIS as Director-in-charge for a short span of time. He has been instrumental in establishing the real time operational ocean observing systems and developing an ocean forecast and early warning Services for India and some of the Indian Ocean rim countries. He designed, developed and sustained the ocean observation network, end-to-end multi-user, multi-parameter; ocean forecast system which is now delivering the ocean forecast, early warning and advisory services on a daily operational mode to India and other Indian Ocean Rim countries. He pioneered in developing and operationalizing ocean data and information products and services for blue-economy stakeholders such as shipping, oil, port and harbour, maritime boards, offshore energy, coastal tourism and fishing industries.

He is a steering committee Member for Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) of IOC/UNESCO, Vice Chair of Expert Team on Met Ocean Requirements (ET-MOR) of WMO, Vice Chair of Expert Team on Marine Service (ET-MS) of RAII-WMO, the National Coordinator for Ship Observation Team (SOT) of GOOS, COordinated Wave CLImate Program (COWCLIP) and member of Task Teams of SOT and Data Buoy Cooperation Panel (DBCP). He also played a pivotal role in establishing multilateral programs with Regional Integrated Multi-hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) to establish coastal real-time observation systems and developing ocean forecast system for IOR countries. He is also a member of WMO’s Severe Weather Forecast Project (SWFP-South Asia).

Dr. Nair was conferred with several national and international awards/fellowships, including the prestigious National Geosciences Award-2014, from the Ministry of Mines, Government of India, for his outstanding contributions in the field of Geosciences; Silver Award (2008–09) for design and development of the INCOIS website & ocean portal under the category “Best Government Website” during the National Award for e-governance 2008–09, instituted by the Government of India; Certificate of Merit (2007) for outstanding contribution from Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India; Young Scientist Award from Indian Association of Sedimentologists in 2000; Junior and Senior Research fellowships (NET) from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India; DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) fellowship, Germany, for advanced research in the University of Bremen, Germany.

Dr. Balakrishnan Nair holds Ph.D. degree in Marine Science and his research interests include Operational Oceanography and Ocean Services, Wave Modelling, Real-time Ocean observation systems, and Marine Biogeochemistry. He published more than 110 papers in international and national SCI journals of high impact factor, in addition to many technical reports and popular articles. He is a Fellow of the Telangana Academy of Sciences (FTASc). He is a reviewer for many national and international journals. He is also a recognized research guide in many Indian universities and guided students for attaining their Ph. D degree.