MinistryEarth Sciences confer National Award for Atmospheric Science & Technologyfor the year 2011 to Prof. R.N. in recognition ofhis outstanding contributions to the Atmospheric Science & Technology. Prof. R.N. joined India Meteorological Department in 1959. In 1963, he was posted at the International Meteorological Centre (IMC) Mumbai, which functioned as a Special Division of the Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ITM) to work for the operational phase of the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE) for the period 1963 to 1965. In the Invigorating scientific environment at the IMC, Prof. was excited towards research on monsoon meteorology which has remained his passion since then. In 1968, he joined the ITM as a senior scientist in the Training Division, which was later converted into the Theoretical Studies Division. While working at the IMC, Prof. , jointly with Mr. F.R. Miller, discovered a new synoptic scale system of the monsoon circulation since then known as the cyclone (MTC). He also authored several research papers on the phenomenology of monsoon.
worked on the dynamical aspects of monsoon such as the maintenance of the mean monsoon circulation, vertical motion around the large scale and synoptic scale transients of monsoon. Understanding the dynamics of monsoon droughts was another subject, which attracted his attention. Besides, he applied the technique of power spectrum analysis to unlock quasi-periodicities on the synoptic and low frequency scales of the monsoon circulation. For his work in this period, he earned degree in 1973 under the guidance of Prof. R. . From 1973 Prof. worked at the Meteorological Office , where he did research on the active – break cycle of the monsoon. After a short stay in IMD, Prof. joined the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) as a Scientist in 1978. At PRL he headed a group established for research on Atmospheric Science. He guided several students for their degrees. He and his group contributed significantly to several theoretical and aspects of monsoon which included the dynamical instability of the monsoon flow on synoptic and low frequency scales. For a period of two years, he worked at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), Princeton, USA. He applied the GFDL Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM) to understand the role of sea surface temperature (SST) variability in modulating atmospheric circulation and the monsoon in particular. His AGCM numerical simulation experiments were among the first in this field, to bring out the influence of SST anomalies in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean on the inter-annual variability of the monsoon.
Prof. returned to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in 1992 as its Director and served in this position till his superannuation in 1996. In this position, he was able to establish a new Division of Climate Modelling in 1993 and effectively guided it in its years of infancy. In recognition of his various scientific contributions, Prof. was conferred the Om Ashram award, the B.N. Desai Award of the Indian Meteorological Society and the IITM Silver Jubilee Award. After his formal retirement, he has been involved in teaching Atmospheric Science at Bangalore University, Allahabad University, S.V. University, and other Universities. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Science, India and the Indian Meteorological Society. He is also involved in advisory capacity of various scientific departments and organizations; and as a member of various committees, in particular the WMO/ICSU Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) (1987-1990) and the Governing Council of IITM for 3 terms. He has co-authored a book on Monsoon Meteorology, which was published by Allied Press in 1992.