Lok Sabha Question No. 3791 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-18
Subject: AI to Improve Weather Forecasting in Tamil Nadu and Kanyakumari
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Thiru Dayanidhi Maran

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3791

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 18 TH  DECEMBER, 2024

## AI TO IMPROVE WEATHER FORECASTING IN TAMIL NADU AND KANYAKUMARI

## 3791.   Thiru Dayanidhi Maran:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of weather forecasting facilities currently operational in Tamil Nadu and the details of these facilities particularly those located along the Tamil Nadu coastline;
- (b) whether there  are  plans  to  set  up  additional  weather  forecasting  facilities  along  the Tamil Nadu coastline, including regions up to Kanyakumari, if so, the details thereof along with the proposed timeline for new installations;
- (c) whether  56  new  Doppler  radars  are  proposed  to  be  installed  across  the  country  as announced by the Government, if so, details thereof particularly for Tamil Nadu, along with the number of radars specifically positioned along vulnerable coastal areas from Chennai to Kanyakumari;
- (d) the  budgetary  allocations  made  for  improving  weather  forecasting  infrastructure  in Tamil Nadu;
- (e) whether the projects are under consideration for coastal weather monitoring enhancement in Tamil Nadu, if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) whether new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) are being planned/implemented to improve weather forecasting along Tamil Nadu's coast and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) The  following  weather  forecasting  facilities  are  operational  along  the  Tamil  Nadu coastline:
-  Regional Weather Forecasting Centre (RWFC)- Area Cyclone Warning Centre (ACWC), State Agro Meteorological Centre (SAMC) & Flood Meteorological Office  (FMO)  are  functional  from  Regional  Meteorological  Centre  (RMC) Chennai.
-  Aviation meteorological services are rendered from the Meteorological Watch Office (MWO), Chennai Airport Meteorological Office.
-  Other airport stations and Meteorological observatories and AWS/ARG stations operational over these areas given in Annexure 1.
- (b)-(c) Yes, the new Central Sector Scheme 'Mission Mausam' has been launched by MoES with the goal of making Bharat a "Weather-ready and Climate-smart" as approved by the Union Cabinet for implementation during 2024-2026. Under the newly launched scheme Mission Mausam, 87 Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs) across the country are planned to be installed to cover the data gap areas and to enhance the accuracy of the weather forecasting system.

IMD is currently operating 03 DWRs across the coastal region of Tamil Nadu, namely Chennai (S-Band),  Karaikal  (S-Band) & Chennai (X-Band), for continuous weather monitoring and weather forecasting in the region. It is proposed that the existing SBand  DWR  at  Chennai  be  replaced  with  a  technologically  advanced  new  S-Band DWR. Additionally,  Mission Mausam  is  intended to  augment the  Doppler  Weather Radar (DWR) network across the country for complete radar coverage and to enhance the  accuracy  of  the  weather  nowcasting  /  forecasting  system.  The  exact  locations based on need, technical feasibility, data gap are being worked out for installing 87 more DWRs, 15 radiometers and 15 wind profilers across the country, including Tamil Nadu.

- (d)-(e)  The Union Cabinet has approved the central sector scheme 'Mission Mausam' at an outlay of INR 2,000 crore over two years. Mission Mausam is envisaged to be a multifaceted  and  transformative  initiative  to  tremendously  boost  India's  weather  and climate-related science, research, and services, including coastal areas of Tamil Nadu.
- (f) Yes. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used to improve weather, climate, and ocean forecasting  skills,  apart  from  physics-based  numerical  models,  across  the  country, including the Tamil Nadu coast. MoES has established a dedicated AI virtual center tasked  with  developing  and  testing  multiple  AI  techniques  and  capacity-building activities  by  conducting  workshops  and  conferences.  A computing  environment  and virtual workspace for training and deploying AI models have been established at IMD.

## Details of observational Network in Tamil Nadu

## A) Departmental Surface meteorological observatories: 16

|   SN | State      | District       | Observatory Name      | Remarks   |
|------|------------|----------------|-----------------------|-----------|
|    1 | Tamil Nadu | Thanjavur      | MOAdiramapattinam     | Coastal   |
|    2 | Tamil Nadu | Coimbatore     | MOCOIMBATORE          | Inland    |
|    3 | Tamil Nadu | Chennai        | MOMEENAMBAKKAM        | Coastal   |
|    4 | Tamil Nadu | Chennai        | MONUNGAMBAKKAM        | Coastal   |
|    5 | Tamil Nadu | Cuddalore      | MOCuddalore           | Coastal   |
|    6 | Puducherry | Puducherry     | DWR KARAIKAL          | Coastal   |
|    7 | Tamil Nadu | Dindigul       | MO KODAIKANAL         | Inland    |
|    8 | Tamil Nadu | Kanyakumari    | MOKANYAKUMARI         | Coastal   |
|    9 | Tamil Nadu | Madurai        | AMS MADURAI           | Inland    |
|   10 | Tamil Nadu | Nagapattinam   | MONAGAPATTINAM        | Coastal   |
|   11 | Tamil Nadu | Ramanathapuram | MOPamban              | Coastal   |
|   12 | Puducherry | Puducherry     | MOPuducherry          | Coastal   |
|   13 | Tamil Nadu | Salem          | MOSalem               | Inland    |
|   14 | Tamil Nadu | Tiruchirapalli | AMS Tiruchirapalli AP | Inland    |
|   15 | Tamil Nadu | Tondi          | MOTondi               | Coastal   |
|   16 | Tamil Nadu | Vellore        | MOVellore             | Inland    |

## B) Coastal Upper air Observatories: 2

- 1) Chennai\_Meenambakkam 2) Karaikal

## C) Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) station: 3

IMD is  presently  operating  03  Doppler  Weather  Radars  (DWRs)  namely:  Chennai  (S-Band), Karaikal (S-Band) & NIOT Chennai (X-Band) for continuous weather monitoring and weather forecasting in the region. It is proposed to replace the existing S-Band DWR at Chennai with a technologically advanced new S-Band DWR.

## D) Automatic Weather Stations in Tamil Nadu : 65 Particulary along the Coast line of the Tamil Nadu: 19

|   S NO. | STATE      | DISTRICT     | STATION           |
|---------|------------|--------------|-------------------|
|       1 | TAMIL_NADU | CHENGALPATTU | MAHABALIPURAM     |
|       2 | TAMIL_NADU | CHENGALPATTU | VIT_CHENNAI       |
|       3 | TAMIL_NADU | CHENNAI      | CHENNAI           |
|       4 | TAMIL_NADU | CHENNAI      | ENNORE_PORT       |
|       5 | TAMIL_NADU | CHENNAI      | MEENAMBAKKAM_ISRO |
|       6 | TAMIL_NADU | CUDDALORE    | CHIDAMBARAM       |
|       7 | TAMIL_NADU | CUDDALORE    | NEYVELI           |
|       8 | TAMIL_NADU | KANYAKUMARI  | NEYYOOR           |

|   9 | TAMIL_NADU   | KANYAKUMARI    | THIRUPATHISARAM_AMFU             |
|-----|--------------|----------------|----------------------------------|
|  10 | TAMIL_NADU   | MAYILADUTHURAI | MAYILADUTHURAI                   |
|  11 | TAMIL_NADU   | NAGAPATTINAM   | MO_NAGAPATTINAM_CAMPUS           |
|  12 | TAMIL_NADU   | NAGAPATTINAM   | VEDARANYAM                       |
|  13 | TAMIL_NADU   | CHENGALPATTU   | New Chennai Township Private Ltd |
|  14 | TAMIL_NADU   | SIVAGANGA      | SETHU_BHASKARA _AGRI_COLLEGE_KAR |
|  15 | TAMIL_NADU   | THANJAVUR      | ADIRAMAPATTINAM                  |
|  16 | TAMIL_NADU   | THOOTHUKUDI    | THIRUCHENDUR                     |
|  17 | TAMIL_NADU   | THOOTHUKUDI    | TUTICORIN_PORT                   |
|  18 | TAMIL_NADU   | VILUPPURAM     | MAILAM                           |
|  19 | TAMIL_NADU   | RAMANATHAPURAM | RAMNADU_KVK                      |

E) Automatic Rain Gauges in Tamil Nadu: 79 Automatic Rain Gauges along the coast line of Tamil Nadu: 16

|   S NO. | STATE      | DISTRICT     | STATION                   |
|---------|------------|--------------|---------------------------|
|       1 | TAMIL_NADU | CHENGALPATTU | CHEYYUR                   |
|       2 | TAMIL_NADU | CHENGALPATTU | SAIRAM_INSTITUTION        |
|       3 | TAMIL_NADU | CHENNAI      | ANNA_UNIVERSITY           |
|       4 | TAMIL_NADU | CHENNAI      | TARAMANI                  |
|       5 | TAMIL_NADU | CHENNAI      | YMCANANDNAM               |
|       6 | TAMIL_NADU | KANCHIPURAM  | ACS MEDICAL COLLEGE       |
|       7 | TAMIL_NADU | KANCHIPURAM  | HINDUSTAN_UNIVERSITY      |
|       8 | TAMIL_NADU | KANCHIPURAM  | SATHYABAMA__UNIVERSITY    |
|       9 | TAMIL_NADU | KANYAKUMARI  | NAGERCOIL                 |
|      10 | TAMIL_NADU | NAGAPATTINAM | KOLLIDAM                  |
|      11 | TAMIL_NADU | SIVAGANGA    | DEVAKOTTAI                |
|      12 | TAMIL_NADU | THIRUVARUR   | MUTHUPETTAI               |
|      13 | TAMIL_NADU | THOOTHUKUDI  | SATTANKULAM               |
|      14 | TAMIL_NADU | THOOTHUKUDI  | TUTICORIN_AIRPORT         |
|      15 | TAMIL_NADU | THOOTHUKUDI  | TUTICORIN_RAILWAY_STATION |
|      16 | TAMIL_NADU | TIRUNELVELI  | RADHAPURAM                |

F) High wind speed recorder in Tamil Nadu install along the Coast : 9

|   S.No | HWSR            |
|--------|-----------------|
|      1 | Chennai         |
|      2 | Puducherry      |
|      3 | Cuddalore       |
|      4 | Nagapattinam    |
|      5 | Tondi           |
|      6 | Adiramapattinam |
|      7 | Pamban          |
|      8 | Kanyakumari     |
|      9 | Karaikal        |

## G) Airport Meteorological offices in Tamil Nadu: 7

Digital current weather instruments systems and wind indicating instruments installed. Real time data/Current weather data is available.

|   S.No | Airport Met. Facility   | Remarks   |
|--------|-------------------------|-----------|
|      1 | Chennai_Meenambakkam    | Coastal   |
|      2 | Puducherry              | Coastal   |
|      3 | Tuticorin               | Coastal   |
|      4 | Trichy                  | Inland    |
|      5 | Salem                   | Inland    |
|      6 | Madurai                 | Inland    |
|      7 | Coimbatore              | Inland    |

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