Lok Sabha Question No. 2381 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-21
Subject: International Monsoon Project Office
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: S. Ramalingam

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2381

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 21 ST  DECEMBER, 2022

## INTERNATIONAL MONSOONS PROJECT OFFICE

## 2381.   SHRI RAMALINGAM S.:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Union  Government  has  recently  launched  the  International  Monsoons  Project Office (IMPO) for addressing common and region-specific aspects of the monsoons around the world;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the number of predictions by IMPO of seasonal variability of monsoon in various regions of the country that exactly happened or wherein predictions failed?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a)-(b)  Yes Sir. The International Monsoons Project Office (IMPO), hosted by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, is India's contribution to global monsoon research coordination. As global monsoons have  many  common elements,the coordination of global  monsoon research  by IMPO  is  in India's  interest,  as  it  helps  to  learn  from  the  research  works  on  other  monsoons  (namely, African,  American,  Asian  and  Australian  monsoons).IMPO  is  a  part  of  the  National Monsoon Mission of MoES, and  it  has  the  potential  to  engage  the  international  monsoon community to focus on the scientific problems of our interest.

The  IMPO  functions  as  an  International  Project  Office  of  the  World  Meteorological Organization's (WMO's) World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) and the WMO/IOC-UNESCO/ISC World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).

An  agreement  was  signed  between  the  Secretary-General  of  the  WMO  and  the  Director, IITM  to host an International Monsoons Project Office (IMPO) at IITM, Pune, initially for five  years  with  effect  from  30 th July  2021,  to  support  monsoon  research  activities  of  the WWRP and WCRP.

Few of the important functions and responsibilities include:

- 1) Support active collaboration with the relevant monsoon groups to effectively pursue the applications  in  monsoon  regions  of  the  Subseasonal  to  Seasonal  (S2S)  Prediction Project outputs, jointly coordinated by WWRP and WCRP.
- 2) Actively contribute to and facilitate outreach and capacity building related to WCRP/WWRP monsoon research, in the host country as well as in the region.
3.  IMPO functions include planning and coordinating meetings, arranging teleconferences for the Panel Members as well as the  regional working groups of the  Monsoons  Panel,  for  Asian-Australian  Monsoons,  African  Monsoons  and  the American Monsoons.
4.  Other activities of IMPO include support to the newsletters of WMO, WWRP and WCRP  on  monsoon-relevant  matters, development and maintenance of the Monsoons  Panel  web  pages  cataloguing  current  monsoon  research  initiatives, information and resource relevant for the international monsoon community. This office also disseminates the latest  information  on  WWRP/WCRP  monsoon activities to the meteorological and oceanographic communities in the host country as well as in the region.
5. (c) IMPO  is  not  an  operational  entity  and  does  not  make  any  predictions.  IMPO  promotes monsoon prediction research that may be helpful for improving the operational forecasts of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) which is the official national weather service of India.  IMPO's role  is  limited  to the  coordination of  global  and  regional  monsoon  research activities identified and fostered under the leadership of WMO's WCRP and WWRP.

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