Sal forests cover 11 million hectares in the Indian subcontinent. They are important for the environment and the economy because they support biodiversity and provide a range ecological services including livelihoods of indigenous people. These forests face a major threat from an insect called the Sal Heartwood Borer, or "Hoplo". When these beetles multiply quickly, they kill thousands of trees. Continue Reading »

Rice is the staple food for nearly two-thirds of India's population, particularly in eastern, northeastern and southern India, and is also consumed occasionally in the northern and central parts of the country. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is executing a 5-year pilot project on crop diversification (2023–2028) under the National Food Security and Nutrition Mission (NFSNM) in order to Continue Reading »

What if a satellite could detect a water-logged surface beneath the dense forests, which is invisible to ordinary optical cameras? A new Radar Imaging Satellite, NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar- NISAR, is making this possible, helping scientists and researchers to understand the forests, wetlands, vegetation, and environmental changes in a completely new way. NISAR is an exciting new Earth-observation satellite mission Continue Reading »

Long-term observational datasets are essential for understanding the magnitude and frequency of past extreme events over extended timescales. In mountain regions where instrumental records are limited, tree rings provide a valuable natural archive of environmental and geomorphic changes. Tree rings are formed by the vascular cambium, a thin layer of dividing cells between the wood (xylem) and bark (phloem). At Continue Reading »

The North Indian Ocean (NIO) is one of the most significant cyclone-producing basins in the world, playing a crucial role in regional climate and weather extremes. It consists of two major cyclone basins: the Bay of Bengal (BoB) located on the eastern side of India and the Arabian Sea located on the western side. Although it contributes only about 6% Continue Reading »