Context: Recently, a team from Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru and UK based University of East Anglia have created a blueprint for accurate prediction of monsoon, tropical cyclones and other weather-related forecast under the Bay of Bengal Boundary Layer Experiment or BoBBLE.
About BoBBLE

• It is a joint India-UK project.
• It seeks to examine the impact of ocean processes in the Bay of Bengal (BoB) on the monsoon system.
• It is is a project funded by Union Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Natural Environment Research Council of UK.
• The Bay of Bengal (BoB) plays a fundamental role in controlling the weather systems that make up the South Asian summer monsoon system.
• The team carried out studies of oceanographic properties on board RV Sindhu Sadhana in the southern Bay of Bengal. After which a blueprint for future weather system observational experiments was created for accurately forecasting rainfall. 

Key processes in the southern BoB

• The saline Southwest Monsoon Current (SMC), a major control on the salt and SST distribution of the BoB, is shown to be controlled by both local (wind stress curl) and remote (equatorial wave propagation) factors, strongly linked to subseasonal variability over the wider Indian Ocean basin.
• The high salinity core (HSC) of the SMC is shown to have its origins in the western equatorial Indian Ocean, reaching the BoB via the Somali Current, the Equatorial Undercurrent and the SMC.
• Seasonal reversals that occur at the Somali Current and SMC junctions act as ‘railroad switches’ diverting water masses to different basins in the northern Indian Ocean.
• Barrier layer formation and erosion in the southern BoB are found to be largely controlled by differential advection and resulting mixing driven by shear stress.
• Chlorophyll in the southern BoB is strongly influenced by mixed layer processes and barrier layer strength.

About RV Sindhu Sadhana

• CSIR- NIO acquired India's first multidisciplinary oceanographic research vessel, RV Gaveshani, in 1976.
• The vessel enhanced the capabilities of Indian oceanographers and enabled the development of multi-disciplinary oceanographic research in the country.
• After rendering commendable service for 18 years, during which time over 200 cruises were undertaken in all parts of the Indian Ocean, R.V. Gaveshani was decommissioned in 1994.
• In 2012, a new multi-disciplinary oceanographic research vessel Sindhu Sadhana was acquired by NIO.
• It will have capabilities to undertake basin scale observations and will enable Indian oceanographers to take up studies not only in the seas around India, but also in any part of the Indian Ocean.
• It is aimed to serve as a stable platform allowing operation of sensible equipment and underway data acquisition.
• Another research vessel of NIO is “Sindhu Sankalp”.

About CSIR-NIO

• The National Institute of Oceanography, founded in 1966 as one of 37 constituent laboratories of the CSIR.
• It is an autonomous research organization in India to undertake scientific research and studies of special oceanographic features of the Northern Indian Ocean.
• Headquartered in Goa, it has regional centers in Kochi, Mumbai and Vizag.