Indigenously built, first pair of weather radars installed over Himalayas

Context

• Services of X-band Doppler radars at Mukteshwar in Uttarakhand and Kufri in Himachal Pradesh were virtually inaugurated on the 146th foundation day of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

What purpose would the weather radars would serve?

• It will cover the central and western Himalayas.
• These dual polarised radars will gather atmospheric variations and pick signals of extreme weather events.
• Timely weather forecasts and warnings would ensure the governments make advance plans and initiate rescue measures.
• Weather and climate play a significant role in both agriculture and tourism, which are the two main sectors contributing towards the state’s economy. The installation will help in preparing better for severe weather events in future and minimise all kinds of losses.

The weather radars system

• It is a joint venture with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the ministry of Earth Science.
• It is a Multi-Mission Meteorological Data Receiving and Processing System.
• This new system will capture, process and make available for use satellite data within seven minutes as opposed to 20 minutes taken by earlier systems.
• A radar unit consists of a transmitter and a receiver.
• The transmitter emits pulses of microwaves, a type of radio waves, outward in a circular pattern. Precipitation scatters these microwaves, sending some energy back to the transmitter, where it is detected by the radar’s receiver.
• The intensity of this received signal, called the radar echo, indicates the intensity of the precipitation.
• Measuring the time it takes for the radio wave to leave the radar and return tells us how distant the storm is. The direction the radar is pointing locates the storm.