Lok Sabha Question No. 250 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-11-27
Subject: IMD's observation on Weather Forecasting for Coastal Areas of Kerala
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Shri K C Venugopal

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 250

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 27 TH  NOVEMBER, 2024

## IMD'S OBSERVATION ON WEATHER FORECASTING FOR COASTAL AREAS OF KERALA

## 250.     SHRI K C VENUGOPAL:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has assessed the impact of the IMD's recent closure of its observatory in Alappuzha on weather forecasting capabilities along Kerala's coastal areas;
- (b) whether there are plans to reopen the Alappuzha observatory at a new location in the vicinity, and if so, what steps are being taken to expedite this process;
- (c) whether  the  Government  is  considering  the  State's  demand  for  additional  weather monitoring stations, especially in sensitive districts like Idukki and Wayanad; and
- (d) the measures implemented/being implemented to address the reliability issues of the automatic  weather  stations  and  rain  gauges  in  Kerala,  that  faced  calibration  and maintenance challenges?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Yes. This is only a temporary closure in response to the eviction notice issued to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) by the Maritime Board, Kerala State. Despite the closure, the Automatic Rain Gauge (ARG) installed in the same location continues to provide essential weather data, and this office is utilizing it for weather forecasting purposes, thereby not compromising the forecasting capabilities along Kerala's coastal areas.
- (b) Yes. Meteorological Center (MC)-Thiruvananthapuram has approached the Government  of  Kerala  to  provide  a  suitable  site  with  a  building  within  a  2-3  km radius of the old observatory so that the existing climatological data of the Alappuzha observatory remains relevant and applicable to the new location.
- (c) Currently there are no plans for establishing additional weather monitoring stations in the  State  of  Kerala.  However,  the  installation  process  of  one  X-Band  Radar  on  the campus of Pazhassi College, Pulppally, Wayanad, is progressing as per the timeline. IMD has already established a sufficient number of Automatic Weather Stations/Automatic Rain Gauges/ and Agro-AWS (AWS/ARG/Agro-AWS) networks in the State of Kerala. Also, IMD has already established AWS and ARG networks in sensitive districts, Idukki and Wayanad, as given in Annexure-1.
- (d) The  AWS/ARG/Agro-AWS are  under  the  annual  maintenance  contract  (AMC)  for maintenance and calibration. The following measures are implemented/being implemented to address  the  reliability  issues  of  the  automatic  weather  stations  and rain gauges in Kerala:
-  MC-Thiruvananthapuram is undertaking frequent field comparisons of meteorological parameters such as air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric  pressure,  rainfall,  wind  speed,  and  wind  direction  measured  at AWS and ARG stations with standard instruments.
-  Development  of  a  Quality  Control  (QC)  system  for  Gross  Error  Check, Climatological Consistency Checks, Time  Consistency Checks, Internal Consistency  Checks,  and  Spatial  Consistency  Check  is  undertaken  by  IMD. The first version of the QC system has been implemented at the Central Data Receiving Server.
-  Adequate spares of essential components of AWS and ARG systems are kept to  undertake  Preventive  and  Corrective  maintenance  of  AWS  and  ARG stations.
-  IMD is organizing  routine  training  programs  to  enhance  the  competency  of manpower involved in the maintenance of AWS and ARG stations.

Annexure-1

| AWS/ARG/AGRO-AWS NETWORK   | AWS/ARG/AGRO-AWS NETWORK   | AWS/ARG/AGRO-AWS NETWORK   | AWS/ARG/AGRO-AWS NETWORK   | AWS/ARG/AGRO-AWS NETWORK   |
|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|
| S. No.                     | STATE/ UT                  | AWS                        | ARG                        | AGRO-AWS                   |
| 1                          | KERALA                     | 109                        | 30                         | 3                          |

|   S. No. | State   | District   | AWS/ARG Station     |     Lat |     Lon |
|----------|---------|------------|---------------------|---------|---------|
|        1 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | ANAYIRANKALDAM      | 10.0104 | 77.2087 |
|        2 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | AYYAPPANKOVIL       |  9.71   | 77.01   |
|        3 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | CHERUTHONI          |  9.865  | 76.9983 |
|        4 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | KOVILKADAVU         | 10.2597 | 77.1688 |
|        5 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | KUNDALA DAM         | 10.1461 | 77.2019 |
|        6 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | MEENCUT             | 10.041  | 77.046  |
|        7 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | MUNNAR              | 10.0833 | 77.0567 |
|        8 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | PAMPADUMPARA        |  9.7986 | 77.1614 |
|        9 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | PEERMADE            |  9.573  | 76.991  |
|       10 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | SENGULAM DAM        | 10.0124 | 77.0318 |
|       11 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | UDUMBANNOOR         |  9.8667 | 76.8586 |
|       12 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | UPPER PERINJAMKUTTY |  9.6    | 77.01   |
|       13 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | VATTAVADA           | 10.1777 | 77.2538 |
|       14 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | VELLATHOOVAL        |  9.98   | 77.01   |
|       15 | KERALA  | IDUKKI     | THODUPUZHA          |  9.91   | 76.6    |
|       16 | KERALA  | WAYANAD    | AMBALAVAYAL_AFMU    | 11.6173 | 76.2141 |
|       17 | KERALA  | WAYANAD    | KABANIGIRI          | 11.8544 | 76.1781 |
|       18 | KERALA  | WAYANAD    | KALPETA             | 11.6264 | 76.0886 |
|       19 | KERALA  | WAYANAD    | KARAPUZHA           | 11.618  | 76.167  |
|       20 | KERALA  | WAYANAD    | KUPPADI             | 11.6786 | 76.2269 |
|       21 | KERALA  | WAYANAD    | PADAMALA            | 11.8111 | 76.0758 |
|       22 | KERALA  | WAYANAD    | PADINJARATHARA_DAM  | 11.656  | 75.946  |
|       23 | KERALA  | WAYANAD    | MANANTHAVADY        | 11.79   | 76      |
|       24 | KERALA  | WAYANAD    | MEENANGADI          | 11.66   | 76.16   |
|       25 | KERALA  | WAYANAD    | POOKOT              | 11.53   | 76.02   |

********