Govt to use Drone for localised weather forecasting: MoS
By TIOL News Service
NEW DELHI, JAN 15, 2022: MoS, Dr Jitendra Singh, yesterday said that India has taken a lead in Asian Continent to provide Weather and Climate services to South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle East countries.
Addressing a galaxy of Leaders, Administrators, Scientists and Scholars on the occasion of 147 th Foundation Day of India Meteorological Department here, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the severe weather forecasting being provided to many countries since 2016 under PM Modi has come a long way and proved handy to countries like Nepal and Bangladesh in fighting severe climatic disasters. Referring to ISRO's SAARC Satellite, the Minister said, in coming days, IMD will reorient its weather and climate services in most modern way to cater to global needs.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Ministry of Earth Sciences will deploy and use Drone based Observation Technology in a big way for strengthening the localised forecasting, besides adopting the High Resolution Models. He emphasised that the language used in forecast and information would be made easy to understand and serve as a clear basis for taking action by every citizen.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Government is committed to make India Meteorological Department a World Class Organization for better delivery of services enabling a common man to take weather-wise and climate-smart decisions. He said, every common is impacted by 5 vital sectors of Agriculture, Health, Water, Energy and Disaster management being effectively catered to by IMD.
Dr Jitendra Singh dedicated to the Nation four Doppler Weather Radars at Leh, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai for better research and operational analysis. He announced that with today's inauguration, number of radars in IMD network has reached up to 33 and urged IMD that it should efficiently utilize all resources at its command i.e. satellites, radars, computers, advance models and human resources. The Minister said that augmentation of modern observing platforms such as Automatic weather stations, Doppler Weather Radars and Meteorological Satellites will help in further improving weather and climate services.
Referring to about 20-40% improvement in accuracy of severe weather warning by IMD in recent five years as compared to previous five years, Dr Jitendra Singh said, forecast of high temperature and heat wave condition well in advance resulted in significant reduction in number of deaths due to heat wave in subsequent years. He called upon all the agencies for zero heat related mortality in coming year.