Comprehensive Oceanographic/Meteorological Data Collection and Assessment Programme, for a hypothetical Deep Ocean Mining Project in Central India Ocean is presented. Considering the present level of available data against required, it is appreciated that extensive sampling in temporal and spatial scales is required. The programme is designed to define and develop data for operation and design. Need of fast sampling, stand alone expendable instruments for initial part of programme are proposed as technical solutions. As both environmental concerns and technology will change in future a phased programme is suggested with optimum ship time utilisation. Mining operation environmental impact is discussed and probable areas of concern identified.
Commercial exploitation of Deep-Sea Polymetallic nodules represents the extreme in offshore technology and will be dependent on the interplay between economic, political, legal, technological and environmental factors. The challenge today is to adopt and modify known concepts with an aim to develop innovative purpose specific technological solutions. Environmental assessment is prerequisite to any operation at sea. For efficient planning, survey, exploration, testing, mining and transportation of nodules, an extensive data bank on various Oceanographic/Meteorological (Ocean/Met) parameters is required. The nodule deposits in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) and various aspects of Deep Sea Bed Mining (DSBM) programme have been reported earlier, Cronon and Moorby (1982), EIL(l987), EIL(1989), EIL(1990a), EIL(1990b), Markussen(1990), Qasim and Nair(1988), Sharma (1988), Singh(1989), Siddiquie, et.al, (1978), and Sudhakar(1988). This paper presents a basic comprehensive Ocean/Met data collection programme for a hypothetical DSBM Project in the CIOB where India has been allocated an area of one hundred and fifty thousand square kilometers (Anonymous 1988).
