IIT Madras establishes aerosol monitoring facility at Munnar in western ghats

IIT Madras said the lab has been established to gain a better understanding of the atmospheric and climate-related aspects of the region with special emphasis on aerosol measurements.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras in collaboration with the College of Engineering, Munnar and Department of Environment and Climate Change, Government of Kerala, has developed an aerosol monitoring facility at Munnar, Kerala, in the Western Ghats. 

On February 20, 2021, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan virtually inaugurated the laboratory. IIT Madras said the lab has been established to gain a better understanding of the atmospheric and climate-related aspects of the region with special emphasis on aerosol measurements.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between IIT Madras and the Institute for Climate Change Studies, Kottayam, for the exchange of scientific ideas and capacity building in the area of climate change, the institute said.

During his virtual address, Mr Vijayan said, “The strategic location of the proposed laboratory is very important to understand the important aspects of the monsoon, which has shown an increasing trend and frequency of extreme rainfall events due to climate change and global warming.”

“We have experienced devastating floods and landslides in our State over the last few years. I request scientists to make the best use of this facility to study whether the increasing human activities have any role in such incidents,” Mr Vijayan added.

The inaugural function was attended by representatives of IIT Madras and College of Engineering, Munnar. S. Rajendran, Devikulam, MLA, M. Chandradathan, scientific advisor to the Chief Minister of Kerala, and Prof. KP Sudheer, executive vice president, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, among others, attended the event.

IIT Madras said their new facility contains several unique features and intends to open it to the national and international community to perform the measurements of their interest.

Located at 1,600 meter above mean sea level and about 90 kilometer from the Arabian Sea coast of Kerala, this natural aerosol and bioaerosol high altitude laboratory is situated in the College of Engineering, Munnar, premises. It will host state-of-the-art high-end aerosol, gas-phase and atmospheric measurement instruments, IIT Madras said.

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