The Hindu Business Line : Plan to install 550 automatic weather stations

Tiruchi, Aug. 28 The Department of Meteorology will install 550 automatic weather stations and 1,350 automatic rain gauge recording system in all districts in the country by 2011, under its Rs 920-crore modernisation plan.

Of the 55 Doppler Weather Radars (DPR) planned for coastal and central parts of the country, 12 will be installed before March next year, the Deputy Director General of Meteorology, Regional Meteorological Centre, Chennai, Mr R.V. Sharma, told reporters on Thursday.

Kolkata, Paradeep, Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Karaikal on the eastern coast; Bhuj, Mumbai, Goa and Kochi on the western coast, and Bangalore and Mangalore in the Central part are among the centres identified for installation of DPR.

Through the cyclone warming dissemination system based on satellite, weather forecasts would be made in English and local languages from the DPR centres to the surrounding places at the levels of district and taluk. Through upgrade of the forecast system, the data could be made available in the department’s website for research purposes, he said.

To create awareness among the public on the need to safeguard the solar panels in the automatic equipment, the department has plans to distribute leaflets and pamphlets in schools and colleges, and hold meetings with non-government organisations, he said.

Urging the public to ignore rumours emanating from other agencies, Dr. Sharma said that only the Tsunami Early Warning Centre (TEWC), set up at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, was authorised to provide information on tsunami occurrences, based on the data on earthquakes and other natural disasters provided to it by the Meteorology department.

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