| Department
of Science and Technology |
 India
is one of the top-ranking countries in the field of basic
research. Indian Science has come to be regarded as one of
the most powerful instruments of growth and development, especially
in the emerging scenario and competitive economy. In the wake
of the recent developments and the new demands that are being
placed on the S&T system, it is necessary for us to embark
on some major science projects which have relevance to national
needs and which will also be relevant for tomorrow's technology.
The Department of Science & Technology plays a pivotal
role in promotion of science & technology in the country.
The department has wide ranging activities ranging from promoting
high end basic research and development of cutting edge technologies
on one hand to service the technological requirements of the
common man through development of appropriate skills and technologies
on the other.
Dept. of Science & Technology,
Government of India, Technology Bhawan, New Mehrauli Road,
NewDelhi-110016, Web:www.dst.gov.in,
Phone: +91-11-26567373, 26962819, Fax: +91-11-26864570, 26862418
| National
Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting |
 The
National Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF)
was established in December 1988 by the Government of India
as a mission mode project under Department of Science &
Technology mandated to develop operational Numerical Weather
Prediction (NWP) system for forecasting weather in the medium
range (3-10 days in advance) scale and setting up of Agro-meteorological
Advisory Service (AAS) units in the 127 agro-climatic zones
spread all over India. Following were the main objectives.
- Development of global and regional scale numerical weather
prediction (NWP) models for forecasting weather in medium
range (3-10 days)
- Set-up a state-of-the-art supercomputing infrastructure
to develop suitable NWP models to issue medium range weather
forecasts
- To inform and guide the farmers in advance to undertake
various farming activities based on the expected weather
- Set-up agro meteorological advisory service (AAS) units,
each unit representing one of the 127 agro climatic zones
spread all over India, to prepare/ issue/ disseminate AAS
Bulletins based on weather forecasts and to provide user
feedback as well
The Centre maintains high-end
computing resource and regularly upgrades it to meet the above
objectives. At present computer systems include a 32-processor
CRAY SV1, 16 nodes(64-processors) indigenous PARAM PADMA system,
4-processor ORIGIN200 systems, a DEC-ALPHA distributed memory
architecture based parallel system.
The NCMRWF strives to improve
the accuracy, and consistency of its operational forecasts.
The current focus is on development of seamless forecast system.
Understanding and prediction of monsoon and high impact weather
systems are major areas of R&D at the NCMRWF. The NCMRWF
presently has a dedicated team of about 30 scientists to accomplish
the goals. They have published more than 100 papers in the
international and national journals, and have contributed
nearly 200 papers in the proceedings of symposia and seminars.
More than 50 Internal research/technical reports have also
been published. Scientists of the Centre have contributed
significantly to the development of global and regional numerical
prediction systems within the country.
A number of global, regional
and meso-scale numerical forecast models are being run in
real time by the Centre. These are:
Global Models: T-80/L18
- horizontal resolution of 150 km and T-170/ L28 with 75 km
horizontal resolution
Embedded Regional Spectral Model : 50 km grid resolution
Meso-scale Models: (i) MM5 with 30 and 10 km resolution;
(ii) ETA Model with 48 km resolution
Agro-meteorological Advisory
Service (AAS) and Forecasts to other users
The main objective of NCMRWF is to provide medium range weather
forecast based AAS to the farmers of the country. The NCMRWF
is providing AAS on experimental basis to the farming community,
at the scale of Agro climatic Zones, based on location specific
medium range weather forecast. The country is divided into
127 agro?climatic zones with each zone covering about 3?5
districts. At present NCMRWF has established AAS units in
107 agro climatic zones. Agromet Advisory Bulletins comprising
of expert advise on crop, soils and weather are made available
to the farming community through media and direct contact.
The location specific forecasts
valid for 4 days comprising of six meteorological variables,
viz., total precipitation, average cloudiness, average wind
speed, predominant wind direction, maximum temperature and
minimum temperature are derived NWP model outputs. These forecasts
of weather elements are subjected to fine tuning through statistical
and synoptic techniques to obtain final location specific
weather forecast. They are disseminated biweekly to AAS units
on every Tuesday and Friday over Telephone, Fax or Internet
system. In addition to these parameters, forecast for weekly
cumulative rainfall is also sent.
NCMRWF provides numerical
weather predication (NWP) guidance to various user agencies
including the India Meteorological Department(IMD) and NWP
based forecasts to various sectors in the country. These include:
Defence, Adventure, Tourism, Power, Agriculture, Water Resources,
Fisheries, Space, etc. The NCMRWF issues forecast to Ministry
of Agriculture a week in advance for weather condition likely
to be experienced in different parts of the country. This
is being used to assess the whole gambit of agricultural operations
viz., crop, seed, fertilizers, insecticide situations in the
country and accordingly forewarn concerned State Governments
and other agencies with suitable remedial actions. NCMRWF
has been issuing tailor made forecasts of winds, temperature
and precipitation for Indian Army mountaineering expeditions,
beginning from Everest Expedition-2001,Annapurna Expedition-2002,
Everest-Lhotse Expedition-2003 and recently concluded Everest
Expedition of 2005. During March 2003, NCMRWF issued forecasts
to Indian Army Trans-India Hot Air Balloon Expedition. All
these forecasts were found to be extremely useful by the respective
event organizers and contributed significantly to the successful
completion of these adventurous expeditions as proclaimed
by these institutions. Forecasts are also issued to Power
Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) for power distribution
purposes, ISRO for launching of space vehicles, State Governments
for Pilgrimage purposes, etc.
National Centre for
Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Dept. of Science
& Technology, Government of India, A-50, Institutional
Area, Sector-62, Noida, Web:www.ncmrwf.gov.in,
Phone: +91-120-2403900, Fax: +91-120-2400062
| India
Meteorological Department |
 The
India Meteorological Department was established in 1875. It
is the National Meteorological Service of the country and
the principal government agency in all matters relating to
meteorology, seismology and allied subjects. IMD has following
mandates:
- To take meteorological observations and to provide current
and forecast meteorological information for optimum operation
of weather-sensitive activities like agriculture, irrigation,
shipping, aviation, offshore oil explorations, etc.
- To warn against severe weather phenomena like tropical
cyclones, norwesters, duststorms, heavy rains and snow,
cold and heat waves, etc., which cause destruction of life
and property.
- To provide meteorological statistics required for agriculture,
water resource management, industries, oil exploration and
other nation-building activities.
- To conduct and promote research in meteorology and allied
disciplines.
- To detect and locate earthquakes and to evaluate seismicity
in different parts of the country for development projects.
The Director General of Meteorology
is the Head of the India Meteorological Department, with headquarters
at New Delhi. There are 4 Additional Directors General at
New Delhi and 1 at Pune. There are 20 Deputy Directors General
of whom 10 are at New Delhi.
For the convenience of administrative
and technical control, there are 6 Regional Meteorological
Centres, each under a Deputy Director General with headquarters
at Mumbai, Chennai, New Delhi, Calcutta, Nagpur and Guwahati.
Under the administrative control of Deputy Director General,
there are different types of operational units such as Meteorological
Centres at state capitals, Forecasting Offices, Agrometeorological
Advisory Service Centres, Flood Meteorological Offices, Area
Cyclone Warning Centres and Cyclone Warning Centres.
In addition, there are separate
Divisions to deal with specialised subjects. They are:
- Agricultural Meteorology
- Civil Aviation
- Climatology
- Hydrometeorology
- Instrumentation
- Meteorological Telecommunication
- Regional Specialised Meteorological
Centre
- Positional Astronomy
- Satellite Meteorology
- Seismology
- Training
The Council for Meteorology
and Atmospheric Sciences (CMAS) under the chairmanship of
Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, has the responsibility
for formulating the policies and programmes of IMD and for
their implementation.
The Department, as well as
its scientists in their individual capacity, have contributed
substantially to knowledge in the field of meteorology ever
since the inception of the Department. Research in Meteorology
is one of the basic functions of the Department. The Parameters
and Power Regression Model developed by IMD for long-range
forecast of southwest monsoon rainfall over India has successfully
proved to be a good tool to provide reliable long-range forecasts
of monsoon rainfall. Apart from the research work done by
the various units of the Office of the Additional Director
General of Meteorology (Research) at Pune, many other divisions
of the Department are also actively engaged in carrying out
the research activities. Some of the main research and development
activities currently in progress are given below :
- All aspects of thunderstorms, local severe
storms, tropical cyclones and monsoons.
- Rainfall data analysis and quantitative
precipitation forecast.
- NWP and Data Processing
- Satellite and Radar Meteorology.
- Synoptic Climatology.
- Long Range Forecasting.
- Synoptic study of droughts, dry land farming
and crop-weather relationships.
- Air Pollution Studies and Urban Climatology.
- Design and development of Meteorological
Instruments.
- Climatology of India and neighbourhood.
- Air-Sea Interaction over north Indian Ocean..
- Seismology
- Applications of chaos and neural network
theories in meteorological problems..
- Observations over Antarctica
- Ozone studies
The Department has strong international
linkages with and through the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO). IMD is a founding member of the WMO and the DGM is
the Permanent Representative of India with the WMO. The present
Director General of IMD has been elected as a member of the
WMO Executive Council for the 1999-2003 term. Two former Directors-General
of IMD have served as Vice-Presidents of WMO. Scientists of
IMD work for different bodies of WMO in various capacities.
IMD provides financial support for some selected research
projects in the field of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences.
IMD has joint collaborative programmes with many countries.
IMD has participated in international
scientific ventures such as IIOE, ISMEX,MONEX and more recently
INDOEX. IMD has been participating in all the Antarctic expeditions
and carries out regular meteorological observations at India's
station at Maitri.
India
Meteorological Department, Mausam Bhavan, Lodi Road, New delhi-110
003, Web: www.imd.gov.in,
Phone: +91-11-24611842, 24611068, 24631913 Fax: +91-11-24611792
| Indian
Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune |
 The
Institute was formally established under the UNDP's Special
Fund Project as the Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ITM)
at Pune on November 17, 1962 as a distinct part of the India
Meteorological Department (IMD). On April 1, 1971, the Government
of India gave it an autonomous status with a new name as the
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM). The IITM
functions under the Department of Science and Technology,
Government of India.
Objectives
The Atmospheric Science has
been recognised as an important area of research due to its
impact on various human activities, specially agriculture
and earth's environment. Hence, the objectives of the Institute
are set forth to undertake and encourage research aimed at
advancing the present knowledge in Atmospheric Sciences by
identifying, planning, collaborating and conducting research
programmes on problems of national and international importance.
Functions
The IITM functions as a national
centre for basic and applied research in monsoon meteorology
of the tropics in general with special reference to monsoon
meteorology of India and neighbourhood. Its primary functions
are to promote, guide and conduct research in the field of
meteorology in all its aspects.
Administrative Setup
A Governing Council, constituted
by the Government of India and headed by the Director General
of Meteorology, is at the top of the administrative structure
for the Institute in an advisory capacity overseeing the policy
directions and related issues, while the Director has executive
functions with day-to-day administrative control.
IITM has made significant contributions
in the challenging areas of the Meteorology and Atmospheric
Sciences like Weather Forecasting, Climatology and Global
Change, Hydrometeorology, Monsoon, Climate Modelling, Cloud
Physics, Weather Modification, Atmospheric Chemistry, Atmospheric
Electricity, Instrumentation for the observational studies,
and studies relating to Land-Surface Processes.The Institute
has built up importance and expertise for the study of atmospheric
sciences in India and for application of knowledge as a national
resource in terms of weather, climate and related atmospheric
processes. Following are the significant achievements :
- Developed different weather forecasting
models on different scales by identifying various teleconnections
and related predictors.
- Constructed long homogeneous series of monsoon
rainfall and surface air temperature to study their spatial
and temporal variability and regional climate channge.
- Documented, for the first time, the teleconnections
of the Indian rainfall with El Nino events.
- Carried out theoretical studies of the growth
of monsoon disturbances through barotropic and baroclinic
instability mechanisms, determined predictability of local
and remote monsoon systems in the atmosphere and ocean.
- Developed a multilevel global spectral model
for investigation of the dynamics and predictability of
monsoon flow.
- Studied the physical and dynamical processes
relating to global and monsoon climate using Global Circulation
Models (GCMs).
- Developed an ocean model to simulate surface
climatology and to study the interannual variability of
the North Indian Ocean.
- Developed a dendroclimatology laboratory
for the study of climate fluctuations through tree ring
width analysis using samples collected from different forest
belts of India.
- Analysed long series rainfall data on different
time scales over various river basins in India for the use
of irrigation and flood control agencies
- Published an Atlas containing generalised
Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) charts for different
parts of India. Carried out Depth Area Duration (DAD) analysis
of severe storms occurred over different river catchments
in India during the past 100 years and published an Atlas
of the Rainstorms.
- Developed a technique for increasing rainfall
by aerial warm cloud seeding. IITM has been providing technical
assistance to state governments in their operational rainfall
enhancement experiments.
- Demonstrated the nonexistence of the acid
rain in India on a large scale due to the presence of alkaline
aerosols of soil-origin in the atmosphere.
- Developed a cell-dynamical model for atmospheric
flows by application of chaos theory.
- Developed techniques for remote sensing
of atmospheric aerosols and trace constituents using lidar
and spectrometers.
- Developed instruments for measurements of
various atmospheric electric parameters for the study of
atmospheric electricity under different environmental conditions
and of different micrometeorological parameters in the atmospheric
boundary layer.
- Carried out onboard observations through
participation in oceanographic cruises in the Bay of Bengal
and the Indian Ocean, and in the Antarctica expedi-tion
for various studies in atmospheric electricity.
- Developed simulation technique for scavenging
of aerosol particles by charged and uncharged water drops
in the absence or presence of electric field.
- Undertaken the study of monsoon variability
on different time scales using different global climate
models and the development of new techniques for long-range
prediction of the Indian summer monsoon rainfall.
- Participated with a leading role in the
multi-institutional field programme like MONEX, MONTBLEX,
Land Surface Processes Experiment, INDOEX etc. and collected
valuable observational data for the research in different
areas of Atmospheric Sciences.
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology,
Dr Homi Bhabha Road, Pashan, Pune-411 008 , Web: www.tropmet.res.in
Phone: Phone: +91-20-2589-3600, Fax: +91-20-2589-3825
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