IIT-Madras partners Finnish Meteorological Institute to launch VAYYU research centre

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has partnered with the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) to establish ‘VAYYU’ — the Virtual Research Centre on Aerosol–Meteorology Interactions, Himalayan Atmosphere–Cryosphere Interactions, and Urban Air. The collaboration aims to strengthen research and academic training in atmospheric sciences, climate studies and air quality modelling. LATEST | JEE Main 2026 Results Out: Complete list of toppers, scorecard link and more JEE Main 2026 Topper | Meet Arnav Gautam, 100 percentile scorer from Rajasthan A memorandum of understanding for the collaboration was signed by Prof Shanti Pawan, Dean (Research), Prof Manu Santhanam, Dean (ICSR) and VAYYU coordinator Prof Chandan Sarangi from the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Madras, along with FMI leadership including Prof Petteri Taalas, Prof Hannele Korhonen and Dr Rakesh K Hooda. ## What would be the research focus of VAYYU? The VAYYU centre will focus on advanced simulations and observational studies to examine the role of aerosols in influencing regional hydro-climate, Himalayan snow and glacier melt, and air quality in urban regions. The initiative is designed to integrate atmospheric science, engineering applications, and climate modelling within an academic framework. For students and researchers at IIT Madras, the centre will serve as a structured platform for coursework-linked research, doctoral projects and interdisciplinary collaborations in areas such as aerosol–cloud interactions, land–atmosphere boundary layer processes, and cryosphere dynamics. VAYYU builds on two ongoing international research initiatives involving IIT Madras and FMI. One of them is the CryoSCOPE project, jointly funded by the European Union, SERI (Switzerland), and the Ministry of Earth Sciences, India, with a total investment of approximately €10 million. CryoSCOPE operates a monitoring supersite in Kargil in the Himalayas to study atmosphere–cryosphere–hydrosphere processes and assess the role of aerosols in glacier melt and related hydrological extremes. The second initiative is the CO-ENHANCIN project funded by the Research Council of Finland. This project enabled the establishment of an urban observatory at IIT Madras’ satellite campus in Chennai, with an investment of approximately Rs 5 crore. The observatory is equipped with aerosol and atmospheric chemistry analysers, lidar profilers, eddy-covariance flux towers, rain radar systems, and total-sky imagers. The facility supports research and academic training in urban air-quality assessment, weather prediction and climate resilience. ## Training, exchanges and curriculum-linked opportunities The VAYYU centre will emphasise human resource development through structured student and faculty exchange programmes between IIT Madras and FMI. The collaboration will include winter schools focused on climate and cryosphere modelling, summer research internships, and joint supervision of research scholars. Workshops on atmospheric instrumentation, machine-learning-based aerosol parameterisation, and computational modelling will also be conducted. Students and researchers will have access to FMI’s supercomputing resources to support high-resolution simulations and data analysis. According to IIT Madras, the centre will bring together observational scientists, modellers and engineers, enabling interdisciplinary learning aligned with national priorities in weather forecasting, air quality prediction and climate risk assessment. According to a statement from IIT Madras, over the past four years, IIT Madras and FMI have engaged in joint field campaigns and academic exchanges. Under VAYYU, the institutions plan to develop joint bilateral and multilateral research proposals aligned with India’s scientific objectives and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).