An open house was conducted by the Cyclone Warning Centre (CWC) to commemorate the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence - Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav - at the CWC premises, here, on Thursday.
Students and the general public, who have a penchant for knowing weather systems and their functioning, missed out on a great opportunity to closely observe the functioning of the CWC, as only a handful of people turned up for the Open House that was conducted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This is in contrast to the past when students, including those from the Meteorology and Oceanography Department of Andhra University, used to turn up in large numbers for the exhibitions conducted on World Meteorology Day. The students used to jot down notes as the meteorologists and scientists explained to them about the scientific equipment used to measure weather data and its analysis.
The staff attributed the poor turnout to the COVID-19 pandemic. The handful of visitors were told about the weather systems and the equipment on display.
“The objective of the expo is to create awareness among the public, especially, students and make them appreciate the processes involved in the collection and analysis of weather data and forecasting weather events accurately,” said a meteorologist.
Balloons with radiosonde instruments are released into the air to measure wind speed, wind direction, temperature and pressure at ‘standard levels’ like 1.5 km, 2.4 km and so on. The readings are plotted on surface level and upper air charts and analysed to predict weather systems. The variations in the maximum/minimum temperatures for the present day and the previous day, and the departure from the normal temperature are plotted in the ‘change chart’.
Charts displaying various types of clouds like high, low and medium clouds and different types of thermometers, barometer, theodolite, hygrograph, thermograph, barograph and rain gauge were on display.
The High Wind Speed Recorder (HWSR) recorder, a digital recorder, an aethalometer to know the black carbon deposits in the atmosphere, a nephelometer, used to know the amount of aerosols were also on display.
The HWSR had recorded the wind speed when Cyclone Hudhud struck Visakhapatnam city in October 2014. The wind speed was over 180 kmph during Hudhud. A meteorologist explained about the analysis of the satellite images.
