India ready with its own model to predict rainfall

MUMBAI: India is finally ready with its own model to predict long range and seasonal rainfall.

In the next six months, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, is set to operationalise a numerical climate model it has developed to forecast extended-range rainfall for a timescale of 15-20 days after results from the experimental stage were found to be reliable.

“For the first time, we have indigenously developed a prediction system that was not available in India. The tests have been done, the performance of the experimental model was found to be good and can be operationalised. We can now forecast rain every five days for 15- 20 days especially for the agriculture sector, which is the mainstay of the economy,” M Rajeevan, director, IITM told HT.

The India Meteorological Department, which is the official agency to disseminate forecast, will however validate the operationalization of the model.

At present, the IMD uses statistical model that needs lengthy calculations to make predictions of the southwest monsoon.

Using the Climate Forecast System developed in the US, scientists at IITM have localized the indigenous model factoring Indian climatic conditions.

“The skillful and timely forecasts of intra-seasonal monsoon rainfall possess a greater potential utility for agriculture and water resource management. In the extended range, especially beyond the weather scale ( 2– 3 weeks), a single deterministic rainfall forecast is not sufficient. Thus, users should be given probabilistic forecasts that quantify the uncertainty,” said Atul Kumar Sahai, project director, Monsoon Mission.

Sahai added, “The thumb rule is that before moving from an experimental version of any forecasting system towards operational version its skill should be evaluated in detail.”

As part of the experimental version of the indigenous model, IITM has been providing forecasts for the agriculture sector to the IMD for last three years.

Developing the CFS (Climate Forecast System)-based Grand Ensemble Prediction System (CGEPS) is part of the National Monsoon Mission that was launched by the government in 2012 to improve accuracy of monsoon prediction.

“We are halfway to the monsoon mission. The model in the next phase will incorporate hydrological forecasting that will help in decisions relating to management of dam water, how much water can be released or whether the water can be used to generate hydropower,” said Suryachandra Rao, senior scientist, IITM.