Tourists visiting Palaniappa and Sultana Tea Estates, 20 km from Coonoor, which afford a majestic view of the Western Ghats (think Pilloor Dam and Kerala’s Silent Valley), gain value addition by visiting the compact meteorological observatory which helps in weather analysis for plantations.

“We explain to visitors how relative humidity affects farmers’ lives with parameters like maximum and minimum temperature as also dry bulb and wet bulb readings. We use our Stevenson screen apparatus, mounted at specific height over grass and unhindered by buildings but covered with louvered sides permitting air circulation,” the observatory’s engineer Aishwarya Ashwin told Business Line .

Executive Director L Ashwin explains to tourists in simple terms how evaporation and rainfall gauges as also wind-speed measured with Anemometer help farmers.

“We show visitors the importance of recording sunshine hours. In May, for instance, eventhough rainfall was higher than last year and the soil hosted precipitation, the tea crop was lower compared to last year because of fewer sunshine hours,” Ashwin explained.

“We gained useful insight into essential meteorological science here,” Sriram Sundaram, an MS student from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, said.

“This unit improves farmers’ decision-making strategies,” Varun Rajesh, an engineering student from Quilon, added.

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