Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Dr. Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the new user-friendly website of IMD and dedicated to the nation the System of Aerosol Monitoring And Research (SAMAR) which is a network of 16 Aethalometers, 12 Sky radiometers and 12 Nephelometers to study black-carbon concentration, aerosol radiative properties, environmental visibility respectively & their climatological impacts.
He was the Chief Guest on the 141st Foundation Day of the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Dr. Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences presided over the function.
System of Aerosol Monitoring and Research (SAMAR) will help the country in studying concentration of black carbon in atmosphere due to air pollution and its impact on climate.
Aerosols are a subset of air pollution that contains gases, fumes and dust in harmful proportion. Aerosols particles can be both solid and liquid which also affects environmental visibility.
The SAMAR, equipped with many sophisticated equipments including 12 sky radiometers, will study aerosols’ different properties and determine how it impact the climate over a longer period of time.
At present, country has to depend on other countries’ research for this purpose.
IMD is celebrating the Foundation Day with a view to promote awareness about advancements made in the field of Weather Monitoring & Forecasting during 2015 and the new initiatives taken by the Department for accelerating its capabilities & services, with focus on further improving the accuracy of prediction of extreme weather events at city, block and district level.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan congratulated IMD officials for the timely dissemination of critical weather-related information to 1.15cr farmers through SMS, agri-portal and website in 2015 which has gone a long way in reducing the devastating impact of the erratic rainfall on the kharif crop.
Dr. L.S. Rathore, DGM, IMD in his discourse, noted that 2015 was the warmest year in the last decade and IMD’s predictions on the below-average south-west monsoons helped the farmers adopt short term crops and reduce the negative outcomes.
Dr. Rajeevan pointed out that we need to adopt a dynamic prediction system to counter the adverse effects of global warming. He expressed that with such a step we would be able to make the agriculture sector immune to the vagarities of the monsoons which would certainly elevate the level of our economic growth profile.