VRISHANK MAHATME
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Goa has confirmed that it has already started using the new high-tech Doppler radar on trial basis. However, IMD has said that it shall be fully operational and used by next month just before the monsoons arrive.
The decision to install the sophisticated equipment was taken following the death of around 70 fishermen from the State as a result of Phyan cyclone in 2009. In the absence of radar, the IMD had failed to warn the trawler owners about the coming storm.
Speaking to Herald, IMD-Goa, Director M L Sahu said “The new high tech Doppler radar installation has been completed and the department has already started running the radar on trial basis and by next month we expect the radar to be fully functional.”
“The Doppler radar uses more advanced knowledge of clouds, rainfall and the cyclonic depression. The range for the Doppler radar is actually 450 kms but at 300 kms we get a clear picture. If you visit our website, you shall be able to see the radar images. The radar is capable of giving five days forecast and an additional two days making it seven days,” said Sahu.
Sources have said that the new high end Doppler will be crucial to fishermen, farmers and people at large, especially during the inclement weather conditions and most importantly it shall help the department to increase the span of its forecast.
“With the new radar, the department shall be able to forecast the weather even two to three hours in advance. This system shall be operated 24 hours. It is especially useful for Goa. Being a coastal state, this radar can be used in providing vital information about the oncoming thunder storms, cyclones and other calamities,” sources said.
The state of the art Doppler radar, costing Rs 5 crore, was due to be commissioned in 2010. But a security scare amid reports that that it was Chinese made radar mothballed it and it was shifted out of the state for security reasons by the Union Defence Ministry in 2012.
However, the Met department’s Altinho unit had de-commissioned the old radar in December 2008. It was installed in 2002 in Goa after it successfully served West Bengal for almost a decade. The installation was taken for seamless forecast and forewarning about cyclones, heavy rainfall, riverine and urban floods apart from catastrophes like the tsunami that hit the east coast.
Meanwhile, the failure to set in motion the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) radar for the coastal state, forced Union Defence Ministry to give its green signal to China made radar in 2014.
