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.

The MoU was signed by commodore AA Abhyankar, who heads Indian Navy’s Oceanology and Meteorology Directorate and Shri N Maran, deputy director general of GSI.

GSI’s Marine and Coastal Survey Division based at Mangaluru has mapped most of India’s 2.1 million square km Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and has a vast repository of offshore data.

This data collected using GSI’s oceanic research vessels Samudra Manthan, Samudra Kaustubh, Samudra Shaudhikama and Samudra Ratnakar, will now be used by Indian Navy’s blue water fleet for oceanographic modeling to support the expansive maritime operations in the Indian Ocean region.