CHENNAI: Seven scientists from the city’s National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), an autonomous organization under Ministry of Earth Sciences, won prestigious National Geo Science Award for the successful development of a Remotely Operable Vehicle (ROV) to unravel mysteries of ocean basins.NIOT director Dr M A Atmanand, project director Dr G A Ramadass, Dr S Ramesh, AN Subramanian, Dr D Sathianarayanan, R Ramesh, and G Harikrishnan were honoured by the Ministry of Mines under Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Disaster Management categories.The scientists are the brain behind the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) that can move in the sea with the help of thrusters and hosts scientific payload like sonars, cameras, chemical and physical oceanographic sensors.NIOT spokesman said the technology was deployed at potential Gas Hydrate site in Krishna Godavari basin of Bay of Bengal at a depth of 1,019 metres in 2009 and at a depth of 5,289 metres in Poly-metallic Manganese Nodule site in Central Indian Ocean Basin in April 2010. “India joined a select club of a few nations to own the technology of this kind,” the spokesman added.Similarly, two more scientists of NIOT Dr M V Ramanamurthy and Tata Sudhakar won the award for their work on Tsunami Early Warning Systems.The scientists were instrumental in development of observation network by way of deploying Bottom Pressure Recorders (BPR) in Deep Ocean and development of numerical model for prediction of tsunami impact on coast.
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