GEODESY

State-of-art regional geodesy centre on the cards at MNNIT

A state-of-the-art Regional Geodesy Centre (RGC) would soon be set up at Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT), Prayagraj. Working in close coordination with the countryʼs first National Geodesy Centre (NGC) functioning in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur, the regional centre would undertake studies in the field of geodesy, tectonic plate motions and monitoring natural hazards such as volcanic, landslide, weather hazards, and climate change, said Dr Ramji Dwivedi, assistant professor, GIS cell of MNNIT.

Besides, it will also contribute to the core research on Earthʼs shape, size and its gravitational pull, said he who is also principal investigator of this project. “Geodesy is the science of accurately measuring the Earthʼs size, shape, orientation, mass distribution and how these vary with time and for setting up this regional centre, the department of science and technology (DST) has sanctioned nearly `2 crore grant for initial three years,” Dwivedi said.

Soon a memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be signed between NCG and RCG at MNNIT Allahabad. He said the regional centre for geodesy would be established in Geographic Information System, MNNIT Allahabad. “The plan is to make the centre fully functional by July,” he added. Dwivedi said similar regional centres will also be opened as part of the central governmentʼs initiative at IIT-Bombay, ISM-Dhanbad, IIST- Trivandrum, Anna University and MANIT-Bhopal. Dwivedi, who specialises in the field of space geodetic techniques such as GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) and InSAR (Interferometric synthetic aperture radar), said the regional centre will provide information about area of mapping, remote sensing in new technology. “Various types of equipment will be procured as part of this initiative which will be used to monitor surface deformation,” he said.