Lok Sabha Question No. 1703 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-07-27
Subject: Outdated Technology in IMD
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: PINAKI MISRA, KRISHN PRATAP SINGH

- (a)
- (b)
- No Madam.
- Does not arise.
- (c) No Madam. India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued warnings (as  detailed  in  Annexure  -  I)  3-days  in  advance  for  occurrence  of heavy  (7-12  cm  per  day)  to  very  heavy  (13-25  cm  per  day)  rainfall that  occurred  in  Chennai  and  other  parts  of  Tamilnadu.  Regional Meteorological Centre Chennai had further issued more area specific  warnings,  in  which  areas  that  were  likely  to  receive extremely heavy rainfall (> 25cm per day) were also indicated to the state level disaster management authorities.
- (d)-(e)Augmentation of the observing system networks for the upgradation of IMD and recruitment of staff is a continuing process that shall be taken up as per the emerging needs from time to time.
- (f) Starting  from  the  XI  five  year  plan,  Government  has  initiated  a comprehensive upgradation of (i) observation systems (ii) advanced data assimilation tools (iii) advanced communication and IT infrastructure  (iv)  high  performance  computing  systems  and  (v) intensive/sophisticated  training  of  IMD  personnel  to  facilitate  the implementation  of  advanced  prediction  models  for  improving  the accuracy of weather forecasts.

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1703

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, July 27, 2016

## OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY IN IMD

## 1703. SHRI PINAKI MISRA: DR. KRISHAN PRATAP:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether outdated technology, old equipments and shortage of staff are causing hurdles for the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in weather prediction;
- (b)
- if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether  IMD  failed  to  predict  torrential  rains  and  the  devastating flood in Tamil Nadu and if so, the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  purchase  latest  equipments, increase  staff  and  upgrade  the  technology  in  IMD  and  if  so,  the details thereof;
- (e)
- the details of funds required and made available for the purpose; and
- (f)
- the other steps taken/being taken to enhance the capability of IMD?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

(SHRI Y. S. CHOWDARY)

During  the  XIIth  plan,  the  High  Performance  Computing  (HPC) systems have been up-scaled to 1.2 petaflops so far to support the ongoing efforts on modelling. Operational implementation of improved  suite  of  prediction  models  has  enhanced  the  weather forecasting  capability  through  assimilation  of  all  available  global satellite  radiance  data  for  the  production  of  forecast  products  at 22km grid globally and 9km/3km grid over India/regional/mega city domains.

Further,  under  the  National  Monsoon  Mission  initiative,  the  Indian Institute  of  Tropical  Meteorology  (IITM),  Pune,  Indian  National Centre  for  Ocean  Information  Services  (INCOIS),  Hyderabad  and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), NOIDA have embarked upon to build a state-of-the-art coupled ocean atmospheric model for a) improved prediction of monsoon rainfall on extended range to seasonal time scale (16 days to one season) and b) improved prediction of temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events on short to medium range time scale (up to 15 days) so that forecast  skill  gets  quantitatively  improved  further  for  operational services of IMD. Forecasts, early warning of severe weather events and  advisories  are  issued  by  IMD  at  national,  regional  and  state levels. In order to provide early warning of severe weather events, IMD  has  setup  a  network  of  state  meteorological  centres  to  have better coordination with the state and district level agencies.

## Annexure - I

## Salient features of heavy rainfall forecast issued by ESSO-IMD for Tamil Nadu and Puducherry

| Spells of Heavy rainfall commencing from   | Date of Warnings issued                                                                             |
|--------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 09-11-2015                                 | 05 Nov. Heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places                                                 |
| 09-11-2015                                 | 06 Nov. Heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places                                                 |
| 09-11-2015                                 | 07 Nov. Heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with isolated extremely heavy                      |
| 09-11-2015                                 | 08 Nov. Heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with isolated extremely heavy                      |
| 16-11-2015                                 | 13 Nov. Heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with isolated extremely heavy                      |
| 16-11-2015                                 | 14 Nov. Heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with isolated extremely heavy                      |
| 16-11-2015                                 | 15 Nov. Heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with isolated extremely heavy                      |
| 21-11-2015                                 | 18 Nov. Heavy rain at isolated places                                                               |
| 21-11-2015                                 | 19 Nov. Heavy rain at isolated places                                                               |
| 21-11-2015                                 | 20 Nov. Heavy rain at isolated places                                                               |
| 30-11-2015                                 | 25 Nov. Heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places                                                 |
| 30-11-2015                                 | 26 Nov. Heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places                                                 |
| 30-11-2015                                 | 27 Nov. Heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places                                                 |
| 30-11-2015                                 | 28 Nov. Heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places                                                 |
| 30-11-2015                                 | 29, 30 Nov & 1 Dec. Heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with isolated extremely heavy rainfall |
| 30-11-2015                                 | 02 Dec. Heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with isolated extremely heavy rainfall             |
| 30-11-2015                                 | 03 Dec. Heavy to very heavy rain at a few places with isolated extremely heavy rainfall             |