India commissions better weather forecasting systems

Meteorologists have armed themselves with high resolution forecasting systems that would enable them to make more accurate and focused predictions, particularly of extreme weather events such as the heavy rains that had left Bengaluru marooned last year.

The new Ensemble Prediction Systems (EPS), commissioned by the Ministry of Earth Sciences on Friday, have a grid scale resolution of 12 km as against the present level of 23 km, which would enable scientists to make detailed predictions on the severity and intensity of the weather and the areas likely to be affected.

"The aim is to generate a probabilistic type of forecasts for the different intensity of rainfalls and other parameters for smaller areas of the size of about one administrative block," Madhavan Rajeevan, secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, told reporters here.

The EPS would help weather scientists generate operational 10-day probabilistic forecasts that would greatly help disaster management authorities in making better emergency response decisions, Rajeevan said.

"The probabilistic forecasts will also be very useful for various sectors of the economy including agriculture, water resources, tourism and renewable energy," an official statement said here.

The new EPS had been made possible due to the recent acquisition of the high powered computing system acquired at the cost of Rs 450 crore.

Rajeevan said the new EPS commissioned by India were second best in the world in terms of resolution with the European Centre for Medium Weather Forecast having a system that provided 9 km resolution forecast.

Rajeevan said the Earth Sciences Ministry had also set up a special committee to improve its capabilities to forecast thunderstorms.

The new EPS is an outcome of the efforts put in by India Meteorological Department, National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services.