S. Jaipal Reddy inaugurates “Weather Services of IMD on Mobile”
138th Foundation Day of IMD Celebrated
Union Minister for science & Technology and Earth Sciences Shri
S.Jaipal Reddy has called for the development of user friendly weather
and climate products and their easy access too. Shri Reddy was
inaugurating the “Weather Services of IMD on Mobile” in a glittering
function organised to mark the 138th Foundation Day of India
Metrological Department (IMD) here in New Delhi today. Dr. Shailesh
Nayak , Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences , Dr L. S. Rathore, DGM,
IMD and other senior officers of IMD were present on the occasion.
Shri Reddy while commending the commend the progress made by the IMD
in different fields of atmospheric science said the increased needs of
the society for timely, authentic and directly usable information on
weather and climate have thrown up new challenges before us. It calls
for enhanced efforts in the field of atmospheric observations, analysis
and weather forecasting. Appreciating the efforts of the Ministry of
Earth Sciences (MoES) in bringing all concerned organisations under the
umbrella of Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO) for understanding
the complex interactions among key elements of the EARTH SYSTEM the
minister said the co-ordinated efforts of the ESSO are now clearly
visible in improving observational system and enhancing the weather
forecasting capabilities. However, the dedicated services for
specialised sectors such as agriculture, aviation, power etc developed
by IMD need to be extended to other weather sensitive economic
activities.
The minister cautioned that unusual behaviour of the monsoon last
year is an example before us. More concerted efforts are required to be
made in achieving the goal of providing more accurate forecasts to all
the users. The reliability of the monsoon is one of the key factors in
food security effort. Reducing the margin of error in monsoon prediction
would facilitate selection of the appropriate crops and sowing
patterns, leading to increased productivity.
He said Weather informa¬tion, especially forecasts and warnings, can
have significant impacts on the economy and are critical for the
protection of life and property. As the primary provider of weather and
climate services in India, it is imperative that IMD stays at the
forefront of technologies for observing, fore¬casting, and understanding
the weather. Technological innovation is essential to take advantage of
the benefits of global research, which have made huge advances in the
past two decades. Proper exploitation of the scientific and
technological advances in different aspects of weather and climate
revolves around our ability to invest in these tools and technologies.
Government of India has allocated significant amount of funds during the
XII Five Year Plan to improve weather services in the country. He
expressed the hope that IMD and MoES shall make effective and efficient
use of this opportunity.
Shri Reddy said ESSO needs to take a leading role in making Indian
Agriculture more resilient to the changing patterns of weather and
climate, particularly over the vast rainfed tracts of the country.
Effective observational and modelling systems are required for refined
and reliable predictions. Undoubtedly, this is a challenge for our
scientists. I hope that the Monsoon Mission of the Organisation would be
a leap forward in that direction.
The minister also gave detail of the Computing Power of IMD which
has been augmented to 14.4 Tera-flops in the last 5 years. The available
computational power permit running the Numerical Weather Prediction
(NWP) model at 25 km resolution, which compares well with the European
Centre, which runs it at 16 km resolution. He said the recent
modernisation efforts of IMD have resulted in significant improvements
in the prediction parameters of IMD. For example:
• False Alarm Rate and Missing Rate significant improved by 45% & 30% from their respective mean during 2002-2010
• Probability of Detection increased from 0.4 in 2004 to 0.70 in 2012
Critical Success Index (CSI) increased from 0.3 to in 2004 to 0.60 in 2012
• The Error in landfall point of Tropical Cyclones has decreased at a rate of 7 km per year over last 10 years.
• Installation of Doppler Weather Radars has enabled the country to
provide Nowcasts for severe weather phenomena of Thunderstorms
He expressed happiness that Agromet Advisories provided through SMS
is used effectively by more than 33 Lakh farmers and to a much larger
number through other means. As agricultural development is an important
component of faster, inclusive and sustainable growth, it is essential
that farmers get free information in their own language about weather
forecasts, farming practices and crop insurance. Also, There is need to
ensure that all farmers, are able to get tailor-made Agromet Advisory
Services. He also assured that Government will provide full support to
enable the Department in better delivery of services to the common man.
Shri Shailesh Nayak, Secretery, Ministry of Earth Sciences said IMD
has taken a new initiative in the development of an application called
“Indian-Weather” for smart phones and TABS based on android. This
application is freely downloadable through google play available on the
home screen of android based smart phones and tabs. IMD wants to tap the
reach of smart phones to provide the latest weather information and
other value added services as and when required and wherever required.
The location specific weather forecast would be available to the public
at the touch of an icon. With this service, IMD’s forecast of major
cities of the country around four metros for next 4 days alongwith
updated current weather observations would be available to the millions
of mobile users across the country in the initial phase. During next
8-10 months, we intend not only to expand the domain of the products by
including weather bulletins and alerts for significant events, Agromet
advisories etc to the public on the smart phones but also for other
phones across platform . This will prove a major milestone in Public
weather services provided by IMD, he added
On this occasion Shri Reddy also felicitated Eminent Scientist Dr.
R.R. Kelkar. He also released several three publications of IMD.
Shri Reddy also gave away the award to best employees and best
offices along with Award to School Children for various competitions. An
exhibition highlighting IMD’s history and development was also arranged
on this occasion.
The occasion also marked the foundation of IMD as on this day of Mr.
H. F. Blanford assumed his office as Imperial Meteorological Reporter
on 15th January, 1875. The day is being celebrated with a view to
highlight the achievements of the Department and to promote awareness
about new initiatives taken and also to focus on the future plans for
improving the weather and climate services of the Department.
Shri Shri L.S.Rathore, Director General, Indian Meterological
Department (IMD) detailed the achievements of IMD which are as under:
• Technique for 5-day district-wise quantitative forecast of
rainfall, temperature, wind, cloud amount and humidity. This is very
useful for issuing district-wise agro-meteorological advisories for the
benefit of farming community.
• IMD has taken up new initiatives for massive modernization and up
gradation of equipment, observatories, computing facilities, technology,
services and human resource Development. Under its ongoing
Moderanisation Scheme, IMD has carried out installation of Transmet – a
High Speed System for International Exchange of weather data, Synergie
-a new concept of weather forecasting, Meteofactory -a new concept of
better product generation & their automatic dissemination to all its
end users.
• Significant improvement in accuracy of weather forecast (Cyclone,
monsoon, extreme weather events, fog etc.) by using latest technology
(Satellite, Doppler Weather Radars etc.)
• Efforts in increasing our outreach by providing customized and
sectorial public weather services through latest technology (Web
enabled, SMS, Mails, Facebook etc).
• Providing ready-to-air weather capsules to Doordarshan.
• SMS delivery of Agro –Advisories and other services
• To boost its scientific & forecasting capabilities, IMD has installed a High Power Computing System (HPCS).
• Establishment of National Weather Forecasting Centre at HQ New
Delhi for providing value added services to various sectors on All India
basis
• IMD has also enhanced its Numerical Weather Prediction
capabilities at various centres and NWP models like Weather Research
Forecast (WRF) are being run for accurate short range weather
predictions.
• Collaboration with National and International agencies to develop
seamless, accurate forecasting system and information dissemination
mechanism.
• Nowcast of thunderstorms
• Highway and Tourism forecast
• Special weather services such as Kumbh Mela, Commonwealth Games, and ICC Cricket World Cup etc.
Mr. Rathore also elaborated the future plans of IMD as under:
Monsoon Mission for improvement of Long range forecast of Monsoons;
Block level weather forecast and agro advisory services; Modernisation
Phase II for further densification of the network; Integrated Himalayan
Meteorology Programme for Improving Mountain weather Services;
Strengthening, expanding and Modernisation of Airport Met Services;
Extended range forecasting system; City forecast of more than 200
locations for next 7 days; DWR and model based auto-nowcast system;
Expansion of weather services by tapping new sectors and Strengthening
the public weather services
Wednesday 16 January 2013
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