Kunal Chakraborty

Scientist

Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India

Hyderabad, India

I am an oceanographer and currently work as a scientist at MoES-INCOIS, Hyderabad, with over a decade of experience in ocean and environmental sciences.

My organisation

Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India

Academic / Research Institution

Hyderabad, India

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, based in Hyderabad. It plays a key role in operational oceanography by providing ocean data, forecasts, and advisory services to various stakeholders, including coastal communities, marine industries, researchers, and disaster management agencies. INCOIS specializes in areas such as ocean modeling, satellite oceanography, ocean observations, and data integration, offering critical services like tsunami early warnings, ocean state forecasts, and potential fishing zone advisories. As part of its international outreach and capacity-building efforts, INCOIS also hosts the International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography (ITCOOcean). Recognized as a UNESCO Category-2 Centre, ITCOOcean serves as a regional hub for training and knowledge transfer in operational oceanography, strengthening the capabilities of scientists, technicians, and professionals from India and other developing countries in ocean science and applications.

About me

I have been working as a scientist at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India, located in Hyderabad. My research is focused on improving the forecasting capabilities of ocean models by integrating them with observations and better physics. I have been instrumental in developing a high-resolution, coupled ocean-ecosystem modeling system to study the evolution of the biogeochemical state of the Indian Ocean at both short and long time scales. Further, my research has played a key role in uncovering the intricate linkages between ocean physics and ecosystem functioning, particularly in the context of environmental change.

My research interests include numerical modeling of physical-biological interactions in the Indian Ocean, understanding the factors controlling the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and ocean acidification in the Indian Ocean, analyzing the role of the ocean in climate variability prediction and change, and applications of machine learning in earth sciences.

In recognition of my outstanding and innovative contributions to enhance the understanding of physical-biological interactions and first-ever insights into the biophysical coupled processes across water columns in the Indian Ocean, I was selected as a ‘Regular Associate’ of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) for a period of six years from 2023 until 2028; a ‘Fellow’ of the Telangana Academy of Sciences (TAS) for the year 2020; a ‘Member’ of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), Prayagraj; an ‘Associate Fellow’ of the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc), Bengaluru. I was awarded ‘INSA Medal for Young Scientists’ in 2017 and ‘Young Researcher Award’ by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India in 2016.

I have been an active contributor to global scientific collaborations. I serve as the national representative to OceanPredict’s Marine Ecosystem Analysis and Prediction Task Team (MEAP-TT) and actively contributes to global initiatives such as GOA-ON, RECCAPv2 of the Global Carbon Project, and WCRP’s ESMO project.