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Dr. Nimit Kumar

Dr. Nimit Kumar
Senior Scientist
Fisheries Resources, Harvest & Post-Harvest Management Division
MSc (Marine Sc), MSc (Disaster Mitigation), PhD (Spatial Info. Tech.)

Research Interests

  • Oceanography (Marine, Coastal, Polar)
  • Remote Sensing, GIS, telemetry
  • Climate, Pollution, Disaster Mitigation
  • Policy, Management, Governance
  • Education, Training, Capacity Development, Ocean Literacy

Important publications

  • Krieger, S.*, Nimit K., S. Sarker, W.E. Panassa, and L.A. Krug. (2025). Impact and insights from the NF–POGO Centre of Excellence in Observational Oceanography: A trainee perspective. Oceanography 38(1), https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2025.128.
  • Nimit K.* et al (2024), Preface: The role of space ocean science and technology towards sustainable development goal, International Journal of Remote Sensing (DOI 10.1080/01431161.2024.2412807).
  • Gabriel, C.*, Altamirano, D., Bilitza, D., Damas, M. C., Ferreira, A. G., Glover, A., Mendez, M., Nimit, K., Perrone, D., Smith, R. and Tshisaphungo, M. (2024). COSPAR Capacity Building activities. 45th COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 13-21 July, 45, 2511.
  • Nimit K. et al., Report: Indian Ocean Regional Decade Conference (IO-Con 2024) “Bridging Billions to Barcelona” – an official prelude to 2024 Ocean Decade Conference, 1-3 February 2024.
  • Nimit, K.*, Mohanty, P. C., Mahendra, R. S., Nayak, R. K., Sudheer, J., Swetha, N., Balakrishnan Nair TM and Kumar, T. S. (2023). Satellite altimetry application case studies from the northern Indian Ocean. In Coastal Altimetry (pp. 135-157). Elsevier.
  • Nimit K.* et al. (2023) Phytoplankton, Primary Productivity and Fishery: Case-study from northern Indian Ocean, in ‘Dynamics of Planktonic Primary Productivity in the Indian Ocean’ Springer Pub. (Eds. Sarat C. Tripathi and Arvind Singh)
  • Holmes, E. E.*, Nimit, K., & Bhaskar, T. V. S. (2023, December). Building Bridges for Indian Ocean Rim Marine Scientists Across the" Big Data Geoscience" and Cloud-computing Divide. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2023, pp. ED21A-04).
  • Pattiaratchi, C.*, van der Mheen, M., Schlundt, C., Narayanaswamy, B.E., Sura, A., Hajbane, S., White, R., Nimit K., Fernandes, M. and Wijeratne, S., (2022). Plastics in the Indian Ocean–sources, transport, distribution, and impacts. Ocean Science, 18(1), pp.1-28. DOI: 10.5194/os-18-1-2022.
  • Balakrishnan Nair*, T. M., Srinivas, K., Nagarajakumar, M., Harikumar, R., Nimit, K., Remya, P. G., Francis, P.A. and Sandhya, K. G. (2022). Advances in ocean state forecasting and marine fishery advisory services for the Indian ocean region. In Social and Economic Impact of Earth Sciences (pp. 201-227). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.
  • Nimit, K.*, Vignudelli, S., Gabriel, C., Levy, G., Hazrina Idris, N., Wilson, C., Chang Y, Geiss A, Lee MA, Bentamy A, Mitnik L. and Tansey, K. (2022). Bridging the Capacity Across the Globe for Ocean Satellite Remote Sensing Applications: The PORSEC Experience. 44th COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 16-24 July, 44, 3085.
  • Nimit K.*, (2021). Ideas and perspectives Ushering Indian Ocean into the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (UNDOSSD) through Marine Ecosystem Research and Operational Services - An early-careers take, Biogeosciences,18, 3631–3635.DOI: 10.5194/bg-18-3631-2021.
  • Holmes, E.E.*, BR, S., Nimit K., Maity, S., Checkley, D.M., Jr., Wells, M.L. and Trainer, V.L. (2021), Improving landings forecasts using environmental covariates A case study on the Indian oil sardine (Sardinella longiceps). Fish Oceanogr. DOI:10.1111fog.12541.
  • Nimit K.*, Nagaraja Kumar M, Aaron M. Berger, Rose P Bright, Satya Prakash, Uday Bhaskar TVS, Srinivasa Kumar T, Pratibha Rohit, Tiburtius A, Shubhadeep Ghosh and Sijo P. Varghese, (2020) Oceanographic preferences of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) in warm stratified oceans: A remote sensing approach, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 41:15, 5785-5805, DOI: 10.1080/01431161.2019.1707903
  • Levy, G., Nimit K.*, Vigundelli, S. and Gower, J., 2020. Preface: Interdisciplinary multi-sensor studies of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 41(15), pp.5645-5652. DOI: 10.1080/01431161.2020.1766293.
  • Kunal Chakraborty*, Nimit K., Girishkumar, M.S., G.V.M. Gupta, Jayashree G., Udaya Bhaskar, T.V.S. and Thangaprakash, V.P. (2019). Assessment of the impact of spatial resolution on ROMS simulated upper-ocean biogeochemistry of the Arabian Sea from an operational perspective. Journal of Operational Oceanography DOI: 10.1080/1755876X.2019.1588697.
  •  Kunal Chakraborty, Nimit K.*, Anirban Akhand, Satya Prakash, Arya Paul, Jayashree Ghosh, Udaya Bhaskar TVS, Abhra Chanda (2018). Modelling the enhancement of sea surface chlorophyll concentration along the cyclonic events in the Arabian Sea. Journal of Sea Research DOI: 10.1016/j.seares.2018.07.003.
  • Chakraborty, Kunal, Nimit K., and G. V. M. Gupta (2017). Getting the right wind-forcing for an ecosystem model: A case study from the eastern Arabian Sea. Journal of Operational Oceanography, 1-15. DOI: 10.1080/1755876X.2017.1354686.
  • Nimit K.*, Aneesh Lotliker and Srinivasa Kumar T (2016). Validation of MERIS sensor’s CoastColour algorithm for waters off the west coast of India. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 37(9) pp.2066-2076. DOI: 10.1080/01431161.2015.1129564.
  • Nimit K., Jyoti Nayak, Nagaraja Kumar M, Srinivasa Kumar T (2015). 'An Atlas on Potential Fishing Zones of the Indian EEZ' (ISBN 978-81-923474-3-1).
  • Nimit K., Nagaraja Kumar M, Naga Swetha, Jyoti Nayak, Rose P Bright, Srinivasa Kumar T. Utility of Sea Surface Height anomaly (SSHa) in determination of Potential Fishing Zones’ (ESSO/INCOIS/ASG/TR(02)2015).

Other Publications

Popular articles

  • Balakrishnan Nair T.M., Nimit K., Srinivasa Kumar T, Nagaraja Kumar M., and Sudheer Joseph. 2022. Ocean Information Services for the Sustainable Fisheries to fulfil India’s Blue Economy Aspirations. MPEDA Golden Jubilee special issue newsletter (Sep 2022).
  • Masuluri N. K. and Nimit K., 2020. Fish-finding From Space: The Indian Journey, Geography and You, 20(6-7)68-71.
  • Sara Hajbane and Nimit K.* ‘Marine Debris in the Indian Ocean: Why Care?’ IO-Bubble 2, no. 6, January 2017.
  • Nimit K.*, Jonck, C., Nguyen, H.H., Akintoye, A., Rivera, J., Shatova, O., Cheung, V., Seeyave, S. and Krug, L., 2016. NANO News, Volume 11, December 2016.
  • Arvind Singh* and Nimit K. ‘Looking Ahead: Second International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE-2)’. NANO Newsletter-11, December 2016.

Recently Completed/ Ongoing Projects

  • Capacity Building Training under COSPAR-PORSEC collaboration at CRTS (2025-26), COSPAR-ESA-NASA, ~15 lakh
  • IORA-IOC capacity development MoU implementation through IOCINDIO (2025-30), ~4 crore (TBA)
  • PORSEC2025 Pre-Conference Training with MOOC, COSPAR, ~9 lakh
  • 6th IOCCG Summer Lecture Series : Frontiers in Ocean Optics and Ocean Colour Science (2024), IOCCG, INCOIS, PML, EUMETSAT-Copernicus, ~35 lakh
  • MEA-ITEC and INCOIS-ITCOO international training Fishery Oceanography for the Ocean Decade (F.O.O.D.) – 2024, ~20 lakh
  • POGO-ITCOO international training Ocean observations for Coastal Applications (2024), ~10 lakh
  • PORSEC2022 Pre-Conference Training with MOOC, COSPAR, ~7 lakh
  • POGO - ITCOocean international training Ocean Observations to Societal Applications (2022), ~8 lakh
  • Sustained capacity building among early-career researchers towards climate resilience by effective ocean monitoring through the satellite remote sensing (2019-22), APNGCR (Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research) - ~21 lakh
  • Modelling of Regional Primary Productivity in the northern Indian Ocean (2017-22), (INCOIS-EFAS) Ministry of Earth Sciences - ~ 4 crore
  • Development of Predictive Capabilities in Fisheries and Harmful Algal Blooms (2013-20), MoES-NOAA, ~20 lakh
  • Satellite Telemetry of Tuna in the northern Indian Ocean (2012-20), Ministry of Earth Sciences - ~ 50 lakh
  • INCOIS Marine Fisheries Advisory Services (MFAS) 2012-17, ~20 lakh

Other achievements

Significant achievements in research & development

  • Launch of the IOC sub-commission for the central Indian Ocean (IOCINDIO) under the auspicious of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO
  • Implementation framework of IOC-IORA Capacity Development MoU through IOCINDIO sub-commission
  • Organized first ever regional (international) UN Ocean Decade Conference for the Indian Ocean at INCOIS, Hyderabad as an official prelude to the first global UN ODC at Barcelona, Spain
  • Lead of endorsed UN Ocean Decade action, DECCaD-IO (for IIOE-2 ECSN)
  • Setting up of India’s first ever dedicated laboratories for marine regional primary productivity modeling
  • First ever Tuna satellite telemetry in the northern Indian Ocean for tuna habitat study and sustainable harvest
  • Development of predictive model for fulfilment of the oil sardine FRM objectives
  • Improvement in predictability of ocean numerical model for fish habitat studies and operational services
  • Co-founder of world’s first and only basin-wide multidisciplinary network of ocean researchers – Early Career Scientists’ Network of the second International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE-2 ECSN)

Awards/ Honors

  • 2022: Distinguished Service Award by Pan-Ocean Remote Sensing Conference (PORSEC) Association
  • 2021: International University Carnival on E-Learning (IUCEL) silver award for UTM-PORSEC MOOC