The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) proposes to provide nowcasting services, a system that can predict climate conditions for a very short period – one to four hours – using data from Doppler weather radars.
The service, using which weather could be forecasted at a micro level, is expected to be made available in a year. This was announced by Y.E.A. Raj, Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, here on Tuesday.
Addressing a programme organised as part of the World Meteorological Day, he said that the service could be used to forecast weather even in one particular locality. It would help those planning to travel.
Doppler radars could be used for such predictions for a radius of 100 km.
However, issues pertaining to the additional manpower needed to monitor the system and means to disseminate the information have to be addressed.
Pointing out that there has been a 12 per cent increase in average annual rainfall in Chennai from 1991, Dr. Raj said it has gone up from 122 cm to 140 cm in Nungambakkam and from 132 cm to 143 cm in Meenambakkam.
He also highlighted the IMD's Forecast Demonstration Project over the Bay of Bengal. It is an experiment involving aircraft inspection of tropical cyclones to study their structure and movement.
RMC, Chennai, will partly coordinate the execution of the project this year. On the other initiatives, Dr. Raj said a new satellite system to receive weather imageries would also be installed soon in Meenambakkam to get accurate information. Measures are afoot to set up 25 automatic rain gauge stations in the city.
M. Rajeevan, Scientist, National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Department of Space, Tirupati, spoke on the impact of climate change in the country over the past century. Global warming had led to the increase in maximum temperature across the country. The frequency of intense rainfall –more than 15 cm in a short span – has also undergone changes. But, the trend has to be studied further to attribute it to global warming.
N. Jayanthi, former additional director general of Meteorology, said the World Meteorological Day was observed to mark the founding of World Meteorological Organisation, a United Nations body in 1950.
As part of the programme, students from various colleges were briefed about the different weather observational techniques used to track climate conditions. They were taken on a tour around the RMC.
