Lok Sabha Question No. 1906 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-12
Subject: Data Collection Capacity of IMD
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Girish Bhalchandra Bapat

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1906

## TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021

## DATA COLLECTION CAPACITY OF IMD

## 1906.   SHRI GIRISH BHALCHADRA BAPAT :

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

- (a) whether  there  has  been  an  unexpected  increase  in  natural  disasters  like  cyclones  and floods during the last five years and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government is planning to take steps to improve the data collection capacity of IMD helping it to predict natural events with more accuracy; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof?

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

- (a) Yes Sir. Based on the statistics during 1891-2017 , on an average 5 cyclones develop over North Indian  Ocean  in  a  year  with  4  developing  over  Bay  of  Bengal  and  1  over  Arabian  Sea. However,  in  the  recent  past,  an  increase  in  frequency  has  been  observed  in  formation  of cyclones  in  the  North  Indian  Ocean.  Also  studies  show  an  increase  in  frequency  of  severe cyclones over Arabian Sea in recent years.

The details of Cyclones formed over North Indian Ocean during 2016 to 2020 follow:

| YEAR   | Frequency of Cyclones over   | Frequency of Cyclones over   | Total number of cyclones   | Intensity with that of Severe Cyclones or more   |
|--------|------------------------------|------------------------------|----------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| YEAR   | Arabian Sea                  | Bay of Bengal                | Total number of cyclones   | Intensity with that of Severe Cyclones or more   |
| 2016   | 0                            | 4                            | 4                          | 1                                                |
| 2017   | 1                            | 2                            | 3                          | 2                                                |
| 2018   | 3                            | 4                            | 7                          | 6                                                |
| 2019   | 5                            | 3                            | 8                          | 6                                                |
| 2020   | 2                            | 3                            | 5                          | 5                                                |

The occurrence of 5 cyclones over Arabian Sea in 2019 against the normal of 1 per year equals the previous record of 1902 for the highest annual cyclone frequency over Arabian Sea. Also 2019 witnessed development of more intense cyclones over Arabian Sea.

The country has witnessed intense to very intense rainfall activity leading to flood scenario in the recent past. The number of stations reported Very Heavy and Extreme Heavy rainfall in the last five years, from 2016 to 2020, follow:

|      | Number of stations Reported during SWMonsoon season (June to September)   | Number of stations Reported during SWMonsoon season (June to September)   |
|------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| YEAR | V. Heavy Rainfall (64.5 mmto 114.5 mm)                                    | Extremely Heavy Rainfall (2.4.5 mmor more)                                |
| 2016 | 1864                                                                      | 226                                                                       |
| 2017 | 1824                                                                      | 261                                                                       |
| 2018 | 2181                                                                      | 321                                                                       |
| 2019 | 3056                                                                      | 554                                                                       |
| 2020 | 1912                                                                      | 341                                                                       |

- (b)  &  (c) Yes,  IMD  is  planning  to  expand  Data  collection  Capacity  by  Installing  Automatic Weather Stations as given below:
-  400  Automatic  Weather  Stations  (AWSs)  will  be  installed  shortly  across  India  during 2021-22.
-  200 Agro-AWSs are in installation stage and will be commissioned during 2021-22.

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