INDIA will add around 70 new Doppler radars under Mission Mausam with the aim of predicting weather up to the panchayat level and improving short- to medium-range forecast accuracy by five to 10 per cent, officials said. At a press conference, M Ravichandran, Secretary of the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, said the five-year mission would be implemented in two phases. The first phase, running until March 2026, will focus on expanding the observation network, including the addition of around 70 Doppler radars and 10 wind profilers.

 

The Union Cabinet approved the mission on Wednesday, allocating Rs 2,000 crore for the first phase, which also includes setting up of a “cloud chamber” at the Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology to study physical processes within clouds.“During the first phase, 60 to 70 new radars will be installed in 18 months.We already have 39 Doppler radars functioning. Ten wind profilers and 10 radio metres will also be set up,” Ravichandran said. “We will also conduct an Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) in the first phase, which will help determine the number of observations needed moving forward,” he said.