Persistent Digital Identifiers (UIDs)
ORCID :
0000-0002-8797-4937
ResearcherID :
Y-5279-2019
Job Type
Teaching/Education
Research
Institutional Management
Decision Making & Policy
Extension Services (Public Awareness)
Technical Advice & Consulting
Subject Area
Marine and Coastal Engineering
Physical Oceanography
Research Support Services
Activities
presently the Principal Scientist and Executive Director
of Nansen Environmental Research Centre - India (NERCI), a non profit research
centre accredited by DSIR, Ministry of Science and Technology for environment
and climate research (http://www.nerci.in)
and a centre for research of Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies,
Kochi. Doctorate in Physical Oceanography from Cochin University of Science and
Technology (CUSAT), India in 1998 with graduation in Mathematics and Masters in Oceanography. He joined NERCI as
Scientist in 2000. He has more than twenty years of research including ten
years of project management experience with CUSAT and NERCI through various
projects. He was also a member of the
doctoral committee of Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai,
India. Serves as the expert committee member of the Curriculum structuring for
Masters degree course in Oceanography and Ocean modeling, Ocean Remote sensing
and GIS of Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Cochin and also a
recognised research guide at KUFOS. He is a member of the Board of studies of
Environmental Science at KUFOS. He has headed projects funded by UNEP-APFED and
Space Application Centre, ISRO in his capacity as PI and Co-PI. He was the
Co-investigator for the SARAL-Altika data Utilisation project being implemented
jointly at CUSAT and NERCI funded by Space Application Centre of Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) and also Co-Investigator of two AO projects of
Space Application Centre, India for international agencies for utilisation of
Oceansat II data for Arctic ice monitoring and HAB monitoring in the Norwegian
waters. He was the Indian
coordinator for the Indo-Russian workshop on Regional Climate Change held at
Cochin in October, 8-9,2009 under the DST-RFBR 2009 Call and the Nansen
International Summer School held in India from Feb 6-12, 2010. Dr. Ajith was
the Project manager for the INDO-MARECLIM, (http://www.indomareclim-nerci.in), EU-FP7 international project (2012-2015)
involving institutes from five EU countries-Norway, Netherlands, Italy, France
and UK as well as the team leader in to
strengthen the INDO-MARECLIM partnership and building network of cooperation
between Europe and India. He also headed the Norwegian Research Council Project
(2012-2015) to study the Decadal to multi-decadal variability in the Indian
Monsoon Rainfall and teleconnection with Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation
(AMO) - a joint study of observed and modeled variations in Climate in India. He is presently, coordinating two Norwegian
Research Council project from India “PECO2” (Partnership for Education in
Operational Oceanography) (2020-2023) and “Urban Sustainability in Action
(URSAMAJOR-2021-2025) after working as Project manager for the INDO-MARECLIM, an
EU-FP7 international project (2012-2015) coordinated by NERCI involving
institutes from five EU countries-Norway, Netherlands, Italy, France and UK. He was the
Principal investigator of a joint project with KUFOS on Synergistic
application of Earth observation data for the Ocean State forecasting for north
Kerala coast funded by INCOIS and is the project partner in a H2020 project COMFORT-
Our common future ocean in the Earth system – quantifying coupled cycles of
carbon, oxygen, and nutrients for determining and achieving safe operating
spaces with respect to tipping points” under the theme “Building a
low-carbon, climate resilient future: climate action in support of the Paris
Agreement” jointly funded by European
Commission and Ministry of Earth Sciences involving 30 institutes from EU. His
research interest is in satellite oceanography and implementation of numerical ocean
models for the Indian Ocean. He is a recognised research guide at the faculty
of Ocean Science and Technology and also at the Ocean Engineering of Kerala
University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies. He also serves as the doctoral
committee member of Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, and Bharathidasan
University, Chennai. He has more than 75
publications in referred and indexed journals and proceedings and has guided
around 15 master students.
Sea regions of study
Arabian Sea
Bay of Bengal
