Lok Sabha Question No. 3079 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-06
Subject: Developments in the Field of Earth Sciences
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: P. Ravindhranath

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3079

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2019

## DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIELD OF EARTH SCIENCES

## 3079. SHRI P. RAVEENDRANATH KUMAR:

## Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) the  developments  made  in  the  field  of  Earth  Sciences,  especially  in Atmospheric  Observing  Systems,  Agrometeorological  Advisory  Service, etc. during the last six years;
- (b) whether the Government is satisfied with its achievements and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government has a proposal to establish a dedicated centre for Climate Change Research, within the State of Tamil Nadu to address various earth scientific issues; and
- (d)
- if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

- (a) India Meteorological Department (IMD) continuously expands its infrastructure for meteorological observations, data exchange, monitoring  &  analysis,  forecasting  and  warning  services  using  latest technologies.  IMD  uses  a  suite  of  quality  observations  from  Satellites, Radars and conventional & automatic weather stations for monitoring of weather development. It includes INSAT 3D, 3DR and  SCATSAT satellites, Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs) along the coast and automated weather stations (AWS), automatic rain gauges, meteorological buoys and ships.

Recent  Achievements  made  in  Atmospheric  Observing  Systems  are given below:

-  Latest  state  of  Art  of  sensors  are  used  in  the  automatic  Weather stations for improving accuracy. Data is made real time or near real time using General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) technology.
-  Installation of Ultraviolet Radiation sensors in AWS for computation of UV index.
-  Installation  of  Present  Weather  sensors  for  Automatic  Detection  of present  weather  consisting  of  fog,  snow,  dust,  smoke,  Drizzle,  Rain etc. useful for aviation.
-  In  the  last  six  years,  one  X-Band  DWR  and  eight  S-Band  DWRs  (all together nine) have been inducted into the DWR network.
-  Augmentation  of  the  Pilot  Balloon  observations  to  62  stations  and implementation of indigenous GPS based Pilot Balloon-sonde system.
-  Augmentation of the Radiosonde stations to 56 enabled with twice a day launching.
-  Upgradation of airports with state-of-art integrated Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS).
-  State-of-the art air quality observations for issuing air quality forecasts.

Agrometeorological Advisory Services:  IMD operates dedicated weather and  climate  monitoring,  detection  and  warning  services  useful  for various sectors including agriculture. For the benefits of farming community in the country, India Meteorological Department (IMD) runs an  operational  Agrometeorological  Advisory  Service  (AAS) viz.,  Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) scheme. Under the scheme, medium range weather forecast (up to 5 days) at district level is generated and issued and based on the forecast, Agromet Advisories are being prepared and communicated by the 130 Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) located at State Agricultural Universities and other academic institutes to the farmers on every  Tuesday  and  Friday  to  take  decision  on  day-to-day  agricultural operations. AAS rendered by IMD is a step towards weather-based crop and  livestock  management  strategies  and  operations  dedicated  to enhancing  crop  production  and  food  security  besides  reducing  crop damage and loss due to unusual weather.

IMD is venturing into implementation of block level AAS in collaboration with  Indian  Council  of  Agricultural  Research  (ICAR)  in  the  country. District Agromet Units (DAMUs) are being established in the Krishi Vikas Kendra (KVKs) under ICAR network. Implementation of block level AAS would  address  the  micro-level  variation  in  weather  and  climate  and hence, more number of farmers will be benefitted.

Agromet  Advisories are communicated  to the farming  community through  multichannel  dissemination  system  like  print  and  electronic media, Doordarshan, radio, internet including SMS using mobile phones. The  SMS  are  sent  through  Kisan  Portal  by  Ministry  of  Agriculture  and Farmers'  Welfare  and  also  through  private  companies  under  Public Private  Partnership  (PPP)  mode.  At  present,  42  million  farmers  in  the country receive the IMD's Agromet Advisories through SMS directly.

- (b) Yes Sir. IMD has one of the best forecasting systems for prediction of weather  events  including  prediction  of  tropical  cyclones.  MoES  has adapted global models from USA and UK under the bilateral cooperation for  forecasting of cyclones. Many advanced weather prediction models are used by IMD for generating these forecasts.

IMD has a very effective Decision Support System for analysing various observations at a single platform and for predicting track and intensity of  cyclones  as  well  as  adverse  weather  like  heavy  rain  and  wind associated with it. IMD also utilises storm surge and coastal inundation models and wave models output from Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad  for issuing storm surge warning. IMD has well defined Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for monitoring & forecasting the cyclones and for dissemination of warnings.

IMD is  also  leading  WMO's  Severe  Weather  Forecasting  Demonstration Project (SWFDP)-Bay of Bengal (BOB). Regional Specialised Meteorological  Centre  (RSMC),  New  Delhi  is  the  regional  centre  to provide  daily  Regional  Severe  Weather  Guidance  to  the  10  member countries including Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan,  Sri  Lanka,  Maldives,  Myanmar  and  Thailand.  Under  this project  5  days  forecast  is  issued  by  RSMC,  New  Delhi  daily  for  heavy rainfall, strong wind, storm surge, high waves in addition to cyclones.

IMD also acts as Tropical Cyclone Advisory Centre for International Civil Aviation  and  provide  cyclone  forecast  to  all  the  Meteorological  Watch Offices in the Asia Pacific Region as well as in the Middle East for issue of  significant  meteorological  information  to  International  Civil  Aviation as  per  the  requirement  of  International  Civil  Aviation  Organisation (ICAO).

National  Disaster  Management  Authority  (NDMA)  has  taken  up  the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) in collaboration with IMD to enhance cyclone mitigation related work for the coastal areas of the country.

Since 2017, IMD has started to use state-of-the-art dynamical forecasting system to prepare the operational monsoon forecasts.

- (c) No Sir.
- (d) Doesn't arise.

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