1. Name: V.Ramaswamy

2. Designation Scientist E-I

3. Qualifications with specialization: MSc. Geology

    PhD. Marine Science.

4. Date of Birth: 04-07-1957

5. Date of joining NIO: 16.02.1983

6. Field of specialization: Marine Geology, Marine Geochemistry.

Current interest:

For the last fifteen years I have been working on Particle flux in the northern Indian Ocean. I have designed and developed sediment traps and mooring systems for collection of settling particles in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Since 1986 I have been associated with the Indo-German collborative programme on sediment traps . This programme is one of the longest, continuous time-series measurements of particle fluxes in the world. 9 moorings with 2 traps each have been deployed in the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Equatorial Indian Ocean. The data gathered is of tremendous importance to the global oceanographic scientific community interested in understanding carbon cycling in the oceans. Over 50 publications in international journals and 2 Books have been published. The major Scientific results of this programme is as follows

• In the Arabian Sea high wind speeds during the monsoon stimulate biological productivity, particle production and settling.
• In the Bay of Bengal freshwater influx from rivers enhance productivity and particle
• Eolian dust from Arabia and N.Africa reach The Eastern Arabian Sea.
• Settling of lithogenic particles is controlled by biological processes of aggregation and sinking.
• A ballast theory has been proposed to explain faster settling of biogenic aggregates by mineral matter which acts as a ballast.
• Under the JGOFS-India programme I have deployed sediment traps for collection of settling particles and estimation of particulate organic carbon fluxes (POC) out of the euphotic zone in the eastern and central Arabian Sea using 234Th as a proxy for POC fluxes.

The Bengal Fan, the biggest submarine fan in the world is one of the major depo-center of carbon in the oceans (Ittekkot, 1985). Due to the influence of the summer and winter monsoons the Bay of Bengal is one of the high productive areas of the world oceans and very high organic carbon fluxes of more than 3 g m-2 y-1 have been recorded in sediment trap experiments in the northern and central Bay of Bengal. There are two major programmes in the Bay of Bengal I am involved with i) BOBPS - Bay of Bengal process studies and ii) BENFAN.

One of the main objectives of the BENFAN program is to define the behavior of the Indian Monsoon around the Bay of Bengal over the last 150,000 years by studying long cores in the proximal parts of the Ganga and Godavari pro-delta extensions. It is known that both sea level and monsoon intensities have fluctuated rapidly during the Pleistocene and Holocene periods. The SW monsoon is considered to be weaker and the NE monsoon stronger during the glacial periods and vice versa during the interglacials. It is expected that these changes will be reflected in the chemistry, sedimentology and mineralogy of the sediments deposited during various climatic regimes.

Under the BOBPS programme my main interest is i) to estimate present day Burial Fluxes of carbon (C.org and C.carb) in the northern and western Bay of Bengal. ii)To study variation in temperature, salinity, ocean circulation, chemistry and primary productivity changes during last 22000 years in response to changes in monsoon intensity and freshwater influx and iii) To determine the accumulation rates of various elements in sediments and comparison with contemporary fluxes measured with sediment traps.

 
List of Publications

1. RAMASWAMY, V. 1987, Particle fluxes during the south west monsoon on the western margin of India. In: "Particle Flux in the Oceans" (E.T.Degens, E.Izdar and S.Honjo, editors) . Hamburg Univ. Hamburg, FRG. pp 233-242.

2. NAIR, R.R., ITEKKOT, V., MANGANINI, S.J., RAMASWAMY, V., HAAKE, B., DEGENS, E.T., DESAI, B.N., HONJO. S., 1989, Increased particle fluxes to the oceans related to the monsoons: Nature, V. 338, P. 749-751.

3. RAMASWAMY, V. and NAIR, R.R., 1989, Lack of cross shelf transport on the western margin of India: Evidence from clay mineralogy: Journal of Coastal Research. V.5, pp. 541-546

4. RAMASWAMY, V., NAIR, R.R., MANGANINI, S.J., ITTEKKOT, V., HAAKE, B., 1991, Lithogenic fluxes to the deep Arabian Sea measured by sediment traps: Deep-Sea Research V. 38, pp 169-184.

5. ITTEKKOT, V., R.R.NAIR, S.HONJO, V.RAMASWAMY, M.BARTSCH, S.MANGANINI, and B.N.DESAI, 1991. Enhanced particle fluxes to the deep ocean induced by freshwater inputs. Nature, 351, 385-387.

6. RAMASWAMY, V., and PARTHIBAN, G., 1992. Particle fluxes in the Bay of Bengal measured by sediment traps. In: Recent Geoscientific studies in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. Geolgical Survey of India Special Publication. No. 29, 25 - 32 p.

7. RAMASWAMY V. and R.R.NAIR, 1992). Measuring the Monsoon. New Scientist, N0.1826. 31-35

8. ITTEKKOT, V., B.HAAKE, M.BARTSCH, R.R.NAIR, V.RAMASWAMY, 1990, Organic carbon removal in the sea: The continental connection. In Upwelling Systems: Evolution Since the Early Miocene. (Summerhays, C.P. Prell, W.L. and Emeis, K.C.Eds) Geological Society (London) Special Publication No. 64. pp 167-176.

9. HAAKE, B., V.ITTEKKOT, V.RAMASWAMY, R.R. NAIR AND S.HONJO, 1992. Fluxes of amino acids and hexosamines to the deep Arabian Sea. Marine Chemistry 40, 291-314.

10. HAAKE, B., V.ITTEKKOT, T.RIXEN, V.RAMASWAMY, R.R. NAIR and W.B.CURRY, 1993. Seasonality and Interannual variability of particle fluxes to the Arabian Sea. Deep-Sea Research. 40, 1323-1344.

11. RAMASWAMY. V, V.KUMAR, G.PARTHIBAN, V.ITTEKKOT AND R.R.NAIR, Lithogenic fluxes to the Bay of Bengal measured by sediment traps. Deep-Sea Research. 44. 793-810

12. RAMASWAMY, V. Lithogenic fluxes to the northern Indian Ocean - an overview.

13. Ramaswamy V. and R.R.Nair, 1994. Fluxes of material to the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal- sediment trap studies. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences (Earth and Planetary Sciences) 103, 189-210.

14. HAAKE B, T.RIXEN, T.REEMTSMA,V.RAMASWAMY and V.ITTEKKOT. 1996 Processes determinign seasonality and interannual variability of settling particle fluxes to the deep Arabian Sea . In "Partcle flux in the Oceans" eds V.Ittekkot, P.Schafer, S.Honjo and P.j.Depetris. John Wiley and Sons 252-270.

15. SARIN MM, R.RENGARAJAN AND V.RAMASWAMY. 1996. 234Th export from the upper 100 m in the Arabian Sea . Current Science. Vol 71 No.11. Page 888 to 893.