Regional Meteorological Centre to expand observational network, use latest technological tools to improve forecast
In its efforts to improve efficiency of weather forecast, particularly in the light of increasing extreme weather events, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) is working to expand its observational network and use latest technology.
The RMC, which is set to commemorate World Meteorological Day on March 23, now plans to add wind profilers, which is a vertically oriented radar to detect the wind speed and direction at various levels of atmosphere even up to 10 km. This would be an addition to the upper air meteorological observational network that include radiosonde and pilot balloons that measured weather conditions in the atmosphere in places like Chennai, said officials.
With extreme weather events occurring more frequently, be it stronger cyclones or intense rainfall spells at shorter intervals, the RMC is developing strategies to address the challenge through early warning systems and better forecast technologies.
S. Balachandran, Additional Director General of Meteorology, Chennai, said IMD launched a National Framework for Climate Services to help minimise the impact of climate change in various sectors and also generate a centralised realtime data repository to enable better access to comprehensive climaterelated information required by different stakeholders. This would be designed as a decision support system to improve coordination between the IMD and various sectors.
Besides sectorwise climate services like transport, power generation and agriculture, hazardwise climate services like heatwave action plan to health department were also being provided now, he said. “We are prepared to coordinate with government agencies and give data to mitigate climate change impact,” added Mr. Balachandran.
The RMC is also planning to collaborate with Southern Railways to install more automatic rain gauges across the State. At present, there are about 40 automatic weather stations and nearly 75 automatic rain gauge system (ARGs) in Tamil Nadu. More weather radars would come up in Kalpakkam near Chennai and Bengaluru shortly. The department had already started using artificial intelligence on an experimental basis. It had been providing AIbased nowcast for localities like Poonamalle with xband radar data, he added.