A recent article co-authored by Dr. Amit Tandon, titled “A Collaborative Effort toward Understanding the Air–Sea Transition Zone during the Indian Summer Monsoon,” was published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The article summarizes the collaborative efforts undertaken by Indian and U.S. institutions as part of the EKAMSAT (Enhancing Knowledge of the Arabian Sea Marine Environment through Science and Advanced Training) program. The primary goal of EKAMSAT is to “improve the understanding and parameterization of critical, unresolved small-scale processes that will improve monsoon prediction.”

The article highlights the multidecade-long collaborations between institutions in both countries, as well as earlier joint programs, ASIRI, OMM, and MISOBOB, that emerged from these partnerships. It reviews existing knowledge of air-sea interactions that impact monsoon processes, which have traditionally been studied over larger spatial and temporal scales. It also explains how insights gained from previous programs helped shape the science objectives of EKAMSAT.

In addition, the article discusses ongoing and planned modeling efforts and observational approaches, designed to address the framed scientific questions of EKAMSAT. More details on these efforts can be found here.

Congratulations to Dr. Tandon, the collaborating scientists and students, the ship’s crew members, and the funding agencies (ONR, NASA, and MoES) whose collective efforts made the EKAMSAT program a success!

Evolution of the air-sea transition zone during the 2024 monsoon transition (a glimpse of the measurements taken during the second cruise in the Bay of Bengal)