2016 2016: UMass Dartmouth researcher to discuss work in unlocking the mysteries of monsoons

Professor Amit Tandon to discuss U.S.-India collaboration to study the conditions that create monsoons April 19

This past summer UMass Dartmouth engineering professor Amit Tandon completed an Office of Naval Research (ONR)-sponsored expedition to the Indian Ocean that brought together 50 scientists from the U.S. and India to study the conditions that create monsoons, which affect weather around the globe and the agrarian economy for more than one billion people in Indian Ocean nations. This Tuesday,April 19 Professor Tandon will discuss his research at 4:30 p.m. at the University’s Claire T. Carney Library, Room 206.

Monsoons spur the life, economy, culture and literature of the Indian subcontinent. Incomplete knowledge of the dynamics of monsoons makes it difficult to accurately predict the onset, strength and intra-seasonal variations in the monsoon season. The Tandon-led team studied the uppermost layer of the Bay of Bengal—which is part of the Indian Ocean and a region of monsoon formation. Although the bay is composed of salt water, large amounts of fresh water are added from rivers and rainstorms into it regularly. U.S. and Indian scientists have been analyzing the cruise data in the hopes of designing a computer forecasting model to accurately predict future monsoon formation. 

Professor Tandon’s presentation has been organized by UMass Dartmouth’s Center for Indic Studies. Dr. Tandon will also discuss his work April 28, at 6:30 p.m., at Tabor Academy in Marion, Massachusetts.