Established in 1875, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) will complete 150 years of service on Wednesday (January 15). To celebrate the occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Mission Mausam on Tuesday (January 14).
“We have launched Mission Mausam to fix India’s weather and climate smart… Meteorology provides the most important support to disaster management capacity in any country. To reduce the impact of natural disasters, we need to increase the effectiveness of meteorology,” he said at the launch event in New Delhi.
Here’s everything you need to know about the equipment.
What is Mission Mausam?
This mission will aim to improve the capabilities of the Indian Meteorological Department in forecasting, modeling, and dissemination. Mission Mausam will have a budget of Rs 2,000 crore for the first two years of its implementation.
It will invest heavily in improving climate observation, modeling, forecasting to directly benefit key sectors – from agriculture, aviation and defense to disaster management, tourism and health, according to a government statement.
Mission Mausam aims to cover all aspects of weather and forecasting services offered in the country. A similar improvement in monsoon forecasting took place in 2012, with the launch of Mission Monsoon. It directed the development of long range forecasts for India.
Currently, the IMD’s prediction of extreme events like heat waves up to 24 hours in advance is about 97.99 percent accurate. However, the accuracy of heavy rain forecasts stands at only about 80 percent.
What else will Mission Mausam do?
The goal is also to ‘manage’ certain weather events, as well as demand, enhance or suppress rain, hail, fog and, later, lightning.
For effective climate change, one of the most important areas is cloud physics, where India will have to strengthen research. For this, India is establishing a first-of-its-kind cloud center at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
A cloud chamber is like a closed cylindrical drum or tube, inside which water vapor, aerosols, etc. are deposited. Under the desired humidity and temperature inside this room, the cloud can grow.
The Pune facility will allow scientists to study the seed particles that form cloud droplets or snow particles continuously.
Many countries have basic cloud rooms, with limited functionality and scope for conducting specific studies.
With Mission Mausam, however, India will build a cloud chamber with convection structures, as is necessary to study Indian monsoon clouds. Around the world, there are a number of convective cloud chambers.
Who will oversee Mission Mausam?
Mission Masum will be led by three institutions funded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences – IMD, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, and National Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting, Noida.
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