On 14th November 2022, National Institute of Oceanography, Pakistan conducted a hybrid seminar on “GIS for Ocean” to celebrate the World GIS Day. It was NIO’s first initiative of celebrating Ocean GIS. Distinguished guests from multiple sectors of Ocean Sciences were invited. The program of the seminar was followed as listed in Agenda. Seminar began with the recitation of the Holy Quran followed by National Anthem of Pakistan.
Program began with an inclusive talk on Why Geography Matters? By Ms. Afia Salam. Afia stressed on the importance of Geography as Ocean sciences and the inclusivity of geography in all subject matters. She discussed how the tools of geography are our utmost need in order to build a sustainable environment. Ms. Salam shared here experiences of how geography helps to visualize, question, analyze and interpret data to better understand relationships, patterns and trends.
The keynote address was presented by Prof. Dr. Jamil Hassan Kazmi. His presentation expanded over Exploration of unseen with GIS as a power tool. He discussed how GIS has helped in finding solutions to complex problems in not only academia but also in commercial sector. He also shared how GIS helped his team map the green turtle nesting pits on Karachi’s sandy shores. He shared multifarious esri products and resources for Ocean Sciences which can help make better decisions on mesoscales.
Following the plenary address by Dr. Kazmi, the insignia was presented to both the invited guest speakers by Dr. M. M. Rabbani (Ex-Director General NIO). Mr. Khalid Mehmood, a Senior Research Officer at NIO along with Mr. Mohsin Tabrez, Ex-In charge NODC-NIO, shared their story of bringing success home. They presented a story map of marking the blue limits of Pakistan employing GIS in Continental Shelf Extension Program. Mr. Khalid shared the snips of multi-beam surveys conducted to determine the extent of Continental Shelf and explained the workflow of CSE. Following which Mr. Mohsin Tabrez presented the components of Geodatabase created for CSE and explained how GIS was used to extend the limits of Exclusive Economic Zone of Pakistan.
Dr. Ibrahim Zia, Senior Research Officer and Head of GIS and RS Center of Integrated Physical Oceanography Lab (IPOL) at NIO – presented an outline of the use of GIS and RS in monitoring the coastal erosion, sea water intrusion, seal level rise and land subsidence along the Pakistan Coast. He talked about the pressures and threats on coastal Blue Stuff of Pakistan (Assessment on complex and present combined risk scenarios) alongside the multifarious studies of NIO employing GIS. He also touched upon the results of Satellite based estimation of Suspended solids concentrations and spatio temporal shifts in barrier islands of Indus delta. He concluded with a concept note on future of Integrated Physical Oceanography Lab.
The Program was concluded on a lookahead note by Director General, National Institute of Oceanography, Dr. Samina Kidwai. She gave a presentation on Oceanography in NIO – Technologies and tools towards 2040. Dr. Samina gave an overview of geography of Arabian Sea, Pakistan coast, the Exclusive Economic zone and the dynamic oceanographic characteristics. In her presentation she presented NIO’s Vision of 2040 and how NIO is playing its role for Sustainable Ocean environment. Her remarks were centered around the “The Science We Need for the Ocean We Want”.
The Celebrations of GIS day ended with a Question and answers session followed by a small refreshment. The seminar was attended by dignitaries from national institutions, scholars and researchers from academia, and representatives from research organizations. Over 65 participants attended this interactive event which covered 05 presentations