New Delhi: Indian Navy has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Geological Survey of India (GSI) for ‘Sharing of seabed sediments data, products and expertise for Naval Application in Meteorology and Oceanography’ in Mangaluru.

The MoU was signed on January 21 between Commodore AA Abhyankar, who heads Indian Navy’s Oceanology and Meteorology Directorate and N Maran, Deputy Director General of GSI.

GSI’s Marine and Coastal Survey Division based in Mangaluru has mapped most of India’s 2.1 million sq km Exclusive Economic Zone and has a vast repository of offshore data. This data collected using GSI’s state-of-the-art oceanic research vessels Samudra Manthan, Samudra Kaustubh, Samudra Shaudhikama and Samudra Ratnakar, will now be used by Indian Navy’s rapidly growing blue water fleet for reliable and accurate oceanographic modeling to support their expansive maritime operations in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).