changeadminThe Indian government has approved ‘Mission Mausam’ with an outlay of Rs 2000 crore over two years to boost India’s weather and climate-related science, research, and services.
Mission Mausam is to be implemented by the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences to equip stakeholders, including citizens and last-mile users to tackle extreme weather events and the impacts of climate change.
According to UNDP, climate change adaptation is critical to reduce vulnerability to climate change’s current or expected impacts, like weather extremes and hazards. Moreover, developing countries like India are particularly vulnerable to the economic impacts of climate change.
India with a massive coastline and multiple mountainous regions is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries. This calls for a greater need for adaptive strategies to mitigate the detrimental effects of climate change on natural habitats, vegetation, and vital bio-resources.
Mission Mausam will help broaden capacity and resilience across communities, sectors, and ecosystems in the long run. As part of the Mission, India will exponentially expound research and development, and capacity in atmospheric sciences, especially weather surveillance, modeling, forecasting, and management.
By integrating advanced observation systems, high-performance computing, and cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, Mission Mausam will set a new benchmark for predicting weather with high precision.
The mission’s focus will include improving observations and understanding for providing highly accurate and timely weather and climate information across temporal and spatial scales, including monsoon forecasts, alerts for air quality, extreme weather events and cyclones, weather interventions for managing fog, hail, and rain, etc., capacity building and generating awareness.
Critical elements of Mission Mausam will include the deployment of next-generation radars and satellite systems with advanced sensors and high-performance supercomputers, the development of improved Earth system models, and a GIS-based automated Decision Support System for real-time data dissemination.
Mission Mausam will directly benefit numerous sectors, such as agriculture, disaster management, defense, environment, aviation, water resources, power, tourism, shipping, transport, energy, and health. It would also enhance data-driven decision-making in areas such as urban planning, road and rail transport, offshore operations, and environmental monitoring.
Three institutes of the Ministry of Earth Sciences: the India Meteorological Department, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, and the National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting will primarily implement Mission Mausam.
These institutions will be supported by other institutions like the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, and National Institute of Ocean Technology, along with collaborating national and international Institutes, Academia, and Industries, furthering India’s leadership in weather and climate sciences and services.
The article is written based on the press release notification and edited for readability.
Add comment