(MENAFN- Live Mint) New Delhi: India aims to improve its weather forecasting accuracy by 10-15% in the next five years by installing more radars and observational systems, India Meteorological Department (IMD) director general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said on Tuesday.
India will have tailor-made weather forecasts and early warnings by 2047, Mohapatra said, amid efforts by all countries to cope with
the effects of extreme weather conditions on lives, livelihoods and economies caused by climate change.
He spoke after the release of the IMD's 2047 Vision Document by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In March 2022, United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, unveiled the "Early Warnings for All" initiative with the goal of ensuring that every person is safeguarded by early warning systems by 2027. To ensure the effective execution and strategic coherence of these efforts, an advisory panel was established, co-chaired by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
“By 2047, every household and individual will have tailor-made weather forecast and early warning, which will be impact-based forecast. Each sector will have its application and action plan. We are not limiting to weather forecast but moving to modifications. Perhaps by 2047, there will be an attempt towards weather management. For the next five years, the baseline has been drawn today by launching Mission Mausam,” said Mohapatra, who is also the permanent representative of India to WMO, at an event marking the beginning of the 150th Foundation Day of IMD celebrations.
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“With Mission Mausam, we are planning that there should at least be 10-15% improvement in forecast accuracy by next 5 years and no severe weather conditions, whether lightning, thunderstorm or localized heavy rainfall, must not go undetected or unpredicted after 5 years, with establishment of 126 radars and many other observational systems. Accordingly, the modelling system will improve,” Mohapatra said.
On 15 January, India's weather bureau will mark 150 years. Established in 1875 by the British, the IMD is one of the earliest government departments created for systematic observation, regular reporting, and scientific weather forecasting in the Indian subcontinent.
The IMD vision document details the roadmap for India's weather monitoring for the next two decades and said India has been striving to improve its technology and forecasts not just for itself but also to provide key updates to its neighbours during disasters.
“Development in the field of science and the use of its full potential work as a big base for any country's global image. Today, due to our meteorological advancement, we have built our disaster management capacity, and the whole world is benefiting from this,” Modi said.
The PM said that India is“among the first countries to help our neighbouring countries in case of any disaster”.
The Vision 2047 document brings out the status of various components of weather and climate monitoring and forecasting systems and the achievements during the past ten years. It also notes the gaps in the system and considers future developments in science and technology.
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The document lists the targets for the next two years, ten years (by 2035) and 22 years (2047). These include 100% detection of all types of severe weather conditions down to the village level with augmentation of meteorological observational systems supported by the remote sensing systems like satellites and radars.
It also aims to improve the weather forecasting accuracy so that there is almost zero error in forecasts of up to 3 days, 90% forecast accuracy up to 5 days, 80% accuracy up to 7 days and 70% forecast accuracy up to 10 days by 2047.
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