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The rapid warming of the equatorial Indian Ocean region and cooling of atmosphere over the Eurasian continent centered around China would lead to frequent monsoon and drought years in the coming decades, according to scientists."The emission of sulphate aerosols owing to the human actions causes the cooling of atmosphere in the region and this phenomenon directly affects the monsoon in India," said P V Joseph, Scientist at Nansen Environmental Research Centre- India (NERCI), while delivering a keynote address at the Indo-EU joint workshop here.The workshop was jointly organized by Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) and NERCI under the INDO-EU MARICLIM project."We are going to face difficult times in the future. The cooler upper tropospheric temperature in the Tibetan plateau region and the regions to the north (Central China) was associated with frequent monsoon droughts over India during the three decades from 1961 to 1990."The temperature of this region is having strong decreasing linear trend from 1950 that is feared to cause frequent monsoon drought years in the country in the coming decades", said Joseph, the former Director of Meteorological Department, said.Joseph, who undertook a study on the monsoon variability under the INDO-EU MARICLIM project, also said that the moisture content of the atmosphere over the Arabian sea has been continuously decreasing for the last 50 years.The study is based on the collaborative research initiatives between the European Union and India.The other two major areas included in the project other than monsoon variability are marine ecosystem and coastal zone management.Meanwhile,the Indo-EU joint workshop on Marine Ecosystem has proposed to undertake advanced research initiatives in various issues faced by marine ecology, in collaboration with the related research institutions in the country.The proposed areas identified for the research activities include Indian Ocean warming and its impact on Monsoon, understanding of regional sea level variations, coastal zone management and influence of monsoons and climate on the biology of the Indian Ocean.The workshop which concluded here also proposed to conduct training and exchange programmes to improve expertise in the areas of remote sensing, ocean modelling, and taxonomy.Establishment of a database of indigenous traditional knowledge (ITK) possessed by the local fisher communities also recommended at the plenary session of the workshop.The experts and oceanographers who participated in the workshop demanded to strengthen the research initiatives extending the works into more areas under the Indo-EU MARICLIM project, under which the two-day workshop was organised.