Digital Ocean

• Vaid's ICS, Lucknow
• 09, Nov 2021

Why in News?

Union Minister Earth Sciences has launched a web-based application named “Digital Ocean”.

Digital Ocean: 

It is a first of its kind digital platform for ocean data management developed by Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services(INCOIS).

Purpose: It has been developed to share information on marine data and forecast services.

Key Features:

• It includes a set of applications developed to organise and present heterogeneous oceanographic data by adopting rapid advancements in geospatial technology.
• The platform will also serve as a one stop-solution for all the data related needs of a wide range of users including research institutions, operational agencies, strategic users, academic community, maritime industry, policy makers and the public.
• It will play a central role in sustainable management of our oceans and expanding our “Blue Economy” initiatives.
• It will contribute to the Digital India programme and is expected to bring a sea change in how the oceanographic data is served for a better understanding of the oceans.

Additional Facts:                                    

• INCOIS: It is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
• It is located in Hyderabad & was established in 1999 under the MoES and is a unit of the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO).
• Mandate: It provides ocean information and advisory services to various stakeholders including data based on oceanographic research, advisory services such as fishing zone advisories, ocean state forecast, high wave alerts, tsunami early warnings, storm surge and oil-spill.
• INCOIS is a permanent member of the Indian delegation to IOC of UNESCO and a founding member of the Indian Ocean Global Ocean Observing System (IOGOOS) and the Partnership for Observing the Oceans (POGO).

Facts for Prelims :

Sagarmala Project:

It aims at to reducing logistics cost for export-import and domestic trade with infrastructure investment.

Development of Coastal Economic Zones (CEZ) under Sagarmala would become a microcosm of the blue economy, wherein industries and townships that depend on the sea will contribute to global trade.