NEW DELHI: The Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) on Tuesday launched three new technological support/alert systems to significantly reduce damage and losses to fishermen, offshore oil exploration industries and coastal population during extreme weather and oceanic events.The INCOIS is an autonomous organisation under the ministry of earth sciences (MoES) which provides a number of free services to users in the marine realm.One of the products, launched by it here at MoES, include the ‘Swell Surge Forecast System’ which will provide forewarnings for coastal population of India’s vast shoreline, which experiences a slew of damages caused by the ‘swell waves’ that actually originate from the distant southern Indian Ocean.This system can predict ‘ Kallakkadal ’ (swell surge) that occurs along the Indian coast, particularly the west coast. The swell surge are flash-flood events that take place without any noticeable advance change in local winds or any other apparent signature in the coastal environment.Local population remains totally unaware of these flooding events until they actually occur. Such events are intermittent throughout the year. ‘Kallakkadal’ is a colloquial term used by Kerala fishermen to refer to the freaky flooding episodes.“These swells once generated, travel northward and reach the Indian coasts in 3-5 days time, creating havoc in the coastal areas. The system will now predict ‘Kallakkadal’ and warnings will be given to concerned authorities at least 2-3 days in advance, which will help the local authorities for contingency plans and to reduce damage,” Balakrishnan Nair , head of ocean information and forecast services, INCOIS.Nair told TOI that these three new systems, launched by the MoES secretary, Madhavan Rajeevan, were already available to users. “Since two new systems are related to episodic events, alerts would be disseminated at appropriate time. Users will receive alerts through SMS and mobile App. It’ll also be available online,” said Nair.The other new product is the Small Vessel Advisory and Forecast Services System (SVAS) which is an innovative impact-based advisory and forecast service system for small vessels operating in Indian coastal waters.The SVAS warns users about potential zones where vessel overturning can take place, ten days in advance. The advisories are valid for small vessels of beam width up to 7 meters. This limit covers the entire range of beam widths of the fishing vessels used in all the nine coastal states and union territories of India.“The warning system is based on the ‘Boat Safety Index’ (BSI) derived from wave model forecast outputs such as significant wave height, wave steepness, directional spread and the rapid development of wind at sea which is boat-specific,” said a statement from the INCOIS.The third product is the Algal Bloom Information Service (ABIS). It will provide timely information on harmful algal blooms, which are detrimental to coastal fisheries and also tend to induce respiratory problems within the coastal population from time to time.The increasing frequency of algal blooms is a major concern due to its ill effects on fishery, marine life and water quality. The INCOIS has developed this service for “Detection and Monitoring of Bloom in the Indian Seas”. The target users are fishermen, marine fishery resource managers, researchers, ecologists and environmentalists.“In addition, four regions have been identified as bloom hotspots — North Eastern Arabian Sea, coastal waters off Kerala, Gulf of Mannar and coastal waters of Gopalpur ,” said the statement.