BHUBANESWAR: Odisha's robust disaster management might have seen off another cyclone with relative ease but the weather prediction systems need serious upgradation. Yaas which crossed Odisha coast could have been more ferocious had it maintained its predicted maximum wind speed.
That it did not live up to its super storm billing was only a happy coincidence, but it has exposed the shortcomings in accuracy of weather predictions in the State.
A decade ago, there were plans to have four Doppler radar stations in the State but it has only two - at Paradip and Gopalpur. The Paradip radar of China-make was unable to capture detailed contrasting pictures, while the one installed by ISRO at Gopalpur is snag-prone due to irregular maintenance.
“The radar at Paradip was installed in 2015, more than three years after its procurement and expiry of warranty period. Three radars procured from China were meant for Mumbai, Goa and Paradip. The Navy protested its installation on its campus at Mumbai which led to delay in installation at the IMD’s first radar station in Odisha,” sources told The New Indian Express.
Wary of disasters, the State government later provided land and sanctioned Rs 17 crore for setting up radar stations at three places. Though construction of buildings (G plus four) is almost over, barring Gopalpur, the radars are yet to be installed at Balasore and Sambalpur despite several reminders to the Science and Technology Ministry.
“Had the Balasore radar been installed, we could have tracked Yaas with greater accuracy. It could not only track the cyclonic systems over the sea but also capture data on cloud band, thunderstorm and lightning,” said Emeritus Professor at the School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences of IIT-Bhubaneswar UC Mohanty.
Amid the middling prediction, weather experts say data captured by the Doppler radar at Paradip lacked clarity leading to variations in forecast of Yaas. The other radar at Gopalpur also failed to properly track the storm though IMD DG Mrutyunjay Mohapatra disagrees. “The images captured by the Paradip radar helped track Yaas’ movement accurately,” he says.
The country has 27 radar stations, including eight along the east coast and four along the west coast. The radars installed at Mumbai, Gopalpur, Sriharikota and Kochi are designed by ISRO, while the ones at Chennai, Machilipatnam, Visakhapatnam and Kolkata are of Germany make. The radars at Goa and Paradip are Made-in-China.“Odisha has developed an effective evacuation mechanism. Now the State should focus on strengthening the weather observation and forecast network,” Prof Mohanty suggested.
With climate change changing the weather patterns, the State needs a robust network to forecast weather besides disaster resilient infrastructure to protect loss of life and property. Apart from high definition radars, installation of high speed wind recorders, storm surge measurement equipment and automatic weather stations are the need of the hour. The proposals on installing high wind speed recorders and automatic weather stations at all district headquarters are gathering dust though.
“The tender process for procurement of 10 Doppler radars is on. The radars at Balasore and Sambalpur will be installed soon along with the automatic weather stations at strategic locations,” Mohapatra informed.