The MoU was signed on Saturday in the virtual presence of Union Minister of Earth Sciences Kiren Rijiju and the department secretary Dr M Ravichandran, an official release said.

The institutes will broadly collaborate in research areas such as biosphere-atmosphere exchange of green-house gases and energy, observation of meteorological and bio-meteorological parameters such as rainfall, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, radiation, soil temperature, soil heat flux, using Eddy Covariance and other systems.

"Usually, forests absorb more carbon than they release, which makes them carbon sinks and they are globally promoted to counter the carbon dioxide emissions from different human activities. However, with global warming, the capacity of forests to absorb carbon may further decrease and that is a matter of scientific research'", Coordinator of the Project Dr Nirmali Gogoi said.

Vice-Chancellor of Tezpur University Prof S N Singh said, "We are delighted to join hands with IITM Pune in this crucial research endeavour which will contribute to the development of sustainable conservation strategies."?IITM Director Dr R Krishnan and Tezpur University Registrar Dr Biren Das were also present on the occasion, the release added.