Post-landslides, Kerala’s Wayanad to get X-band radar for weather monitoring

An X-band radar with an observation range of 100 km will be installed in Wayanad, while a C-Band radar with an observational range of 250 km will be installed in Mangaluru

The Doppler Weather Radar approved for north Kerala will be installed in Wayanad in the wake of the catastrophic landslides, enhancing the weather observational network in the State.

An X-band radar with an observation range of 100 km will be installed in Wayanad, while a C-Band radar with an observational range of 250 km will be installed in Mangaluru.

According to Sekhar Kuriakose, member-secretary, Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA), though a few places suited for installing the radar were inspected in Kozhikode and nearby, the apt place with no beam blockage was located in Wayanad. It is essential to select a place where the radar beams are not blocked by nearby obstacles such as terrain, buildings and so on. Already, the south and central Kerala had been brought under radar surveillance, and the State had been demanding permanent weather radar in north Kerala for long.

“The radar station will enhance the forecasting capabilities, real-time monitoring of the weather apart from strengthening the overall weather observational network in the region,” said Neetha K. Gopal, India Meteorological Department (IMD) director, Thiruvananthapuram, adding that the work order for the radar has been placed by the Union Ministry for Earth Sciences.

Though the radar is expected to raise the forecasting capabilities and real-time monitoring of the weather in the region, radar cannot forecast any extreme weather events, such as floods, in advance, for which good numerical weather predication models are required, according to experts.

As of date, no indigenous models have been exclusively developed in the country, and all models were purchased from outside, which has certain limitations in providing an accurate picture of the developing weather in the country considering its different terrain and topography.

Models are working on current synoptic knowledge and accurate observations. Ingesting observed data, including data from automatic weather stations (AWS), automatic rain gauges (ARG), upper air data, satellite and radar observations, etc., into a model is an integral part of the weather forecast. After the input of weather parameters, the high-power computer (HPC) will run the numerical weather prediction models and generate the forecast for different regions. If the input parameters are wrong or deficient in data, the model will misbehave accordingly. So radar is one of the observing tools, not a forecasting tool, but it can feed data into the numerical weather prediction models, said sources.

Published - October 10, 2024 03:41 pm IST