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Four radars, four new initiatives and nine publications along with a promise to further improve the accuracy of forecast - both intensity wise and spatial distribution wise - to fight the increasing vulnerability to extreme weather events marked the 147th foundation day of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday.
Four radars viz. C-band Polarimetric Doppler at Veravali at Mumbai, X-band Polarimetric DWRs at Ayanagar at Delhi, Pallikarnai at Chennai, and Leh were inaugurated on the occasion, virtually. Appreciating the initiatives and contribution of IMD in safeguarding the life and property with its accurate prediction and timely dissemination of forecast and warnings, Union Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said: "There is still scope for improvement. The forecast needs to be even more accurate and timely." Singh said that India has taken a lead in the continent to provide weather and climate services to South Asian, South-East Asian, and West Asian countries and also added that the Ministry of Earth Sciences will deploy and use drone-based observation technology in a big way for strengthening the localised forecasting. He said that the government is committed to make the IMD a world class organisation for better delivery of services enabling a common man to take weather-wise and climate-smart decisions. Ladakh Lt Governor R.K. Mathur and MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal joined the occasion virtually and in their speeches, drew attention to the difficulties that the terrain offers and gave suggestions for the IMD to improve reach of its forecast. The event also witnessed launch of four initiatives viz. a dedicated website for Aviation Weather Services, Geospatial Services for severe weather monitoring & forecasting, Climate Hazards and Vulnerability Atlas, and Public Observation System through "crowd sourcing mobile app." IMD DG, Dr M. Mohapatra gave an elaborate view on the IMD's achievements in the past and also spoke about future plans. Secretary, Earth Sciences, Dr M. Ravichandran and Chairman ISRO, Dr K Sivan also spoke on the occasion. As many as nine publications were released on the occasion - The Annual Climate Statement for 2021, Report on Cyclonic Disturbances over North Indian Ocean during 2021, Report on Verification of sub-basin-wise quantitative precipitation forecast during SW Monsoon 2021, Report on Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model Products for Sectoral applications, Report on Use of Weather Information for Secure, reliable and economic operation of Indian power grid, Report on Information Seeking and UtiliSation behaviour of the Intermediate Users of Weather and Climate Services, Report on Meteorological Applications of Indian GNSS derived IPWV, International Journal Mausam, January 2022 issue and Mausam Manjusha, IMD's in-house journal. --IANS niv/vd ( 442 Words) 2022-01-14-23:08:05 (IANS)
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