Promoting meteorological forecasting, climate studies

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is celebrating its 150th anniversary with yearlong celebrations starting from 15 January 2024. The day is being celebrated with a view to highlight the achievements of the Department and to promote awareness about new initiatives taken and to focus on future plans for improving the weather and climate services of the Department. The IMD has planned several national and international scientific events throughout the year.

Releasing the logo to mark the 150th anniversary, Indian Union minister of earth sciences Kiren Rijiju said that India will take a prominent role in weather forecasting and climate studies. He also said there was a need to set up more observatories to make weather forecasts, including for the extreme rainfall events witnessed in Tamil Nadu.

Mr Rijiju highlighted the pivotal role that the IMD is poised to play in the future, with the Earth Sciences Ministry having prepared vision documents to achieve these objectives. Stressing the importance of prioritizing science for the nation’s development, Mr Rijiju urged a collective commitment to disaster-resilient and climate-friendly initiatives in weather management and said India would assume a leadership position in global climate and weather-related studies. He also said the authorities need to remain alert and take necessary steps on time to prevent loss of lives.

Mr Rijiju urged the IMD to engage school children in its year-long celebrations to spread awareness about climate change issues. He also called for greater participation of private sector in fulfilling India’s needs for more Doppler radars in precise localized weather forecasting.

To prevent damage to life and property caused by extreme rainfall events, the IMD had already announced a planned massive expansion of its doppler radar footprints to improve forecast of cloudbursts. Since the cloudburst phenomenon occurs primarily in the Himalayan and Western Ghats regions, the national weather agency is focusing on ramping up forecasting in these two areas. At present, it has 37 radars across India and will add 25 more by 2025. The IMD is also working with the Ministry of Agriculture and has come up with a plan to set up automatic weather stations in every block and automatic rain gauge in each panchayat of the country. To issue forecasts for urban flooding, systems have already been installed in Chennai, Mumbai and Guwahati. Similar systems will soon be installed in New Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Varanasi and other cities. The World Meteorological Organization has recently recognized three IMD observatories as long-term observing stations for more than 100 years of hydrological observations. These IMD observatories are, Dwarka and Veraval (Gujarat) and Cuttack (Odisha).

The organisation also plans to deploy high-performance computing to improve extreme weather forecast ahead of the completion of the agency’s 150 years in 2025. Union earth sciences ministry secretary M Ravichandran, said on the occasion that “These can provide very high-resolution observations...improving from 12 km to 6 km resolution. We have some of the world’s highest-resolution models...at par with any other country.”

The IMD was established in 1875 as one of the first scientific departments of the government of India. It is the National Meteorological Service of the country and the principal government agency in all matters relating to meteorology and allied subjects. The IMD’s mandate is to take meteorological observations and to provide current and forecast meteorological information for optimum operation of weather-sensitive activities like agriculture, irrigation, shipping, aviation, offshore oil explorations, etc.; warn against severe weather phenomena like tropical cyclones, norwesters, dust storms, heavy rains and snow, cold and heat waves, etc., which cause destruction of life and property; to provide meteorological statistics required for agriculture, water resource management, industries, oil exploration and other nation-building activities; and to conduct and promote research in meteorology and allied disciplines.

The yearlong anniversary celebrations will begin with a national-level function on January 15, 2024, at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The program will include an inaugural function and a technical session called “IMD @150: Past, Present and Future”.