The Centre for Ocean, River, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL) at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur was established in March 2005 for imparting quality teaching and advanced training in Earth System Science and Technology. The Centre offers a two-year Postgraduate Program i.e. Master of Technology (M. Tech.) in Earth System Science and Technology/MS/PhD programmes. The M. Tech in Earth System Science and Technology by CORAL coincides with the establishment of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) by the Government of India. The Centre is involved in frontier research in atmospheric and oceanic sciences.  We do research in mesoscopic scale simulations of extreme weather events viz., tropical cyclone, heavy rainfall, flash floods, etc. The centre is conducting research in data assimilation and micro-physical processes, urban boundary layer, regional climate, atmospheric chemistry and environmental impact assessment. In oceanography, the current research activities include numerical modelling of Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, wave modelling and ocean circulation.  Marine Bio-geochemistry, biodiversity and carbon sequestration are the other areas of research at the centre. In view of India's active research in Antarctica, the centre is focusing on the remote sensing of sea-ice and Southern Ocean in relation to climate studies too. The centre has Computing Laboratory, beside the use of HPC facility of the Institute, for integration of numerical models, visualization of model results and analyses.  The centre is actively involved in various sponsored research programmes with funding from INCOIS, MoES, IFS, SAC etc.

As Head of the Centre of the CORAL, I am happy to invite you all to know about our academic and research activities. Human activities are transforming the earth’s environment at an unprecedented rate. During the past fifty years, rapid increases in global population and per-capita consumption of resources have led to deteriorating atmospheric conditions, (e.g. global warming, air pollution, ozone depletion, acid rain), Ocean acidification, diminished water quality and availability, harmful land-use practices, and threats to the biosphere (e.g. loss of biodiversity, desertification, deforestation, and degradation of vegetation) which leads to irrevesable coastal vulnerability, change in regional climate, occurrence of extreme evernts and monsoon and more so global climate change. These are having profound influence on the survival of life on this earth. We are working on most of these research problems and looking forward to graduates to participate in these socially relevant scientific problems.. The curriculum of our courses and research activities would also act as a knowledge integrator and scientific innovator towards contributing to the development of predictive Earth System Science that can help to sustain earth’s habitat, improve environmental quality, and safeguard human health. We would contribute to the policiy makers our research out come to such that they plan suitable measures to mitigate natural disasters and extreme events. I am looking forward to more result oriented and mutually beneficial  national and internation collaborations in line with our Centre's thrust research areas. I am looking forward to your queries and suggestions to improve our academic activities.