Terms of Use

1. Acceptance of these terms

By accessing or using INCLINE (the Indian Climate Information Explorer) at incline.iitmandi.ac.in, including its maps, climate tools, watershed delineation, reports, and downloads (the “Platform”), you agree to these Terms of Use. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform.

INCLINE is operated by the HIMPACT Lab at the Indian Institute of Technology Mandi (“IIT Mandi”, “we”, “us”). These terms follow the usual practice of research data platforms such as the Copernicus Climate Data Store and other open climate portals: open access for legitimate use, mandatory attribution, and use of data and tools at the user’s own risk.

2. Who may use INCLINE

You may use the Platform for research, academic, educational, planning, capacity-building, and other lawful purposes, including publications, theses, teaching, and decision-support, provided you comply with these terms and with the licences of any third-party datasets you obtain through INCLINE.

Use that suggests official endorsement by IIT Mandi, HIMPACT Lab, or INCLINE, or that misrepresents outputs as certified, official, or error-free, is not permitted.

3. Citation is required

If you use INCLINE — including maps, figures, downloads, watershed boundaries, morphometrics, climate indicators, or derived products — you must cite the Platform clearly in any publication, report, thesis, presentation, or public communication.

Suggested citation:

INCLINE (Indian Climate Information Explorer). HIMPACT Lab, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi. Available at https://incline.iitmandi.ac.in (accessed [date]).

Where you use a specific tool or dataset, also cite that source. Examples include, as applicable: India Meteorological Department (IMD) observations; CMIP6 climate model output; GRIT global river hydrography (Wortmann et al., 2025, Water Resources Research, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR038308); pourpoint (Nicolas Lazaro); and MERIT Hydro. Dataset licences may impose additional attribution. Do not omit those citations.

4. No warranty — please recheck

The Platform, data, maps, models, delineations, indicators, and reports are provided “as is” and “as available”, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy, completeness, fitness for a particular purpose, or uninterrupted access.

Climate and hydrologic products are estimates. They can contain errors, gaps, version changes, and processing artefacts. You are responsible for independently checking results before using them in research, design, policy, or operations.

5. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, IIT Mandi, HIMPACT Lab, the INCLINE team, and their members, students, and collaborators are not responsible or liable for any loss, damage, or claim arising from use of, or inability to use, the Platform or its outputs — including mistakes in data, maps, watershed delineation, climate projections, or reports.

You use INCLINE at your sole risk. This is standard for research climate and hydrography services: we care about quality, and you must verify before you rely.

6. Errors and feedback

If you find a mistake, inconsistency, or problem, please tell us so we can improve the Platform. Use the INCLINE feedback form.

Reporting an issue does not create a duty for us to fix it by a given date, and it does not transfer liability to the INCLINE team.

7. Third-party data and software

INCLINE integrates data and software from others (for example climate model archives, observational products, river hydrography, and map tiles). Those materials remain subject to their own licences and citations. We do not claim ownership of them, and we are not responsible for third-party content, downtime, or licence changes.

8. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• attempt to disrupt, overload, or gain unauthorised access to the Platform or its servers;
• scrape or bulk-download in a way that harms service for others;
• present INCLINE outputs as official government or IIT Mandi certification;
• remove required citations or pass derived work off as wholly original where INCLINE was used.

9. Intellectual property

The INCLINE name, logo, site design, and original software remain with IIT Mandi / HIMPACT Lab except where third-party licences apply. You retain rights in your own analyses, papers, and figures, subject to the citation duty in Section 3.

10. Changes

We may update these terms. The effective date at the top of this page will change when we do. Continued use after an update means you accept the revised terms.

11. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of India. Courts at Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, shall have jurisdiction, without prejudice to any mandatory protections that apply to you.

12. Contact

HIMPACT Lab, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi. Platform: incline.iitmandi.ac.in. See also About Us and Privacy Policy.