ROURKELA: The steel city’s second automatic weather station (AWS) was inaugurated on the campus of National Institute of Technology-Rourkela (NIT-R) on Monday. Foundation stone for a meteorological observatory was also laid while the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) signed an MoU with NIT-R for academic and research collaboration on the day.
IMD’s director general of meteorology Mrutyunjay Mohapatra laid the foundation stone and signed the agreement on the sidelines of the four-day conference on ‘Land-Atmosphere Interactions Controlling Weather and Climate: Applications of Numerical Models and Observations’ being organised by the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences of NIT-R.
The observatory will provide current meteorological information and help forecast weather. Similarly, the AWS will transmit and record observations obtained from measuring instruments. In his inaugural address at the conference as chief guest, Mohapatra said the IMD has set up another AWS at Rourkela airport. The two stations at the airport and NIT-R would help in smooth conduct of the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023.
States like Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and others are prone to lightning strike. Every year, around 2,500 people die of it. Though the IMD makes forecast, a lot remains to be improved when it comes to understanding lightning strikes, he said. Mohapatra exhorted the technical students and participants to research more on this area to help save lives.
In-charge director of NIT-R Prof Pradip Sarkar, conference convenor Dr Krishna Kishore Osuri, registrar Prof Rohan Dhiman and head of the host department Jagabandhu Panda also spoke. Around 70 participants from IITs, NITs, Central Universities and many reputed research institutes across the country have joined the conference which will conclude on January 12.