Indigenously built polarised radars to monitor weather changes over the Himalayas

Indigenously built dual polarised radars will now monitor weather changes in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Union Minister for Earth Sciences Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday commissioned two of the ten radars being built to gather information about changes in weather and help in analyzing an advent of extreme weather activity.

On the 146th foundation day of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the services of X-band Doppler radars were inaugurated at Mukteshwar in Uttarakhand and Kufri in Himachal Pradesh. The radars will cover the central and western Himalayas and pick signal of atmospheric variations from these areas said the Met department. Eight other radars will also be installed in the Himalayas in the due course.

As the Himalayas are prone to extreme weather conditions like landslides, heavy rain and snowfall, cloud bursts, these radars will help in getting timely and more accurate weather forecasts so that the government can make a plan for rehabilitation or other rescue measures beforehand.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the country has 29 operational weather radars, more than twice what it had in 2013. The radars will strengthen IMD’s forecasts further.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said the state received 1,100 mm rainfall annually and with this, the state has been facing numerous hardships. The IMD weather radars have been beneficial for the state and with the new Dopler radars he hopes the state will be better prepared for the severe weather.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur agreeing with the Uttarakhand CM said that climate and weather play an important part in tourism and agriculture that are also the driving force behind the state’s economy.

M Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) informed that with the Centre allotting Rs 200 crore annually, the organization is able to better weather services in India and will soon use digital technology towards making mobile-friendly weather applications available to the general public.

The Union Minister also launched a Multi-Mission Meteorological Data Receiving and Processing System in association with ISRO that will capture, process and put to use satellite data in just seven minutes as opposed to 20 minutes required by earlier systems.