Weather data Network and Data System (WINDS)

Context- The Union Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, has introduced the weather data network and data system (WINDS) in order to generate long-term, hyper-local weather data.

India’s transition against Hyperlocal Extreme Weather Forecasting

• Weather forecasting plays a pivotal function in the country’s functioning due to the fact that predicting rain, cyclones, heatwaves and drought correctly are critical to inform decision making on disaster control.
• In India, the Indian Meteorology Department (IMD) is the primary government corporation in all matters regarding meteorology.
  • It specialises in the particularly complex science of predicting weather conditions by looking at, modelling and interpreting a multitude of variables.
  • However, in tropical nations like India, weather variability is inherently better.
• IMD’s forecasts have progressed massively inthe previous couple of years because it has upgraded to technology just like America, the UK and Japan, that are regarded to produce accurate forecasts.
• Yet, there are nevertheless many days and geographies for which Indian forecasts pass wrong, in particular for the during winter and summer monsoon.

Major Hurdle in the Indian Weather Forecasting

• Lack of weather monitoring ground stations:

• • • Currently, IMD operates around 800 automatic weather stations (AWS), 1,500 automated rain gauges (ARG) and 37 doppler weather radars (DWR).
    • This is against the total necessities of more than 3,00,000 ground stations (AWS/ARG) and around 70 DWRs.
    • Several Indian State governments and personal companies perform a good sized community of ground stations (more than 20,000), a lot of which aren’t currently used by IMD due to inaccessibility and reliability of data.

• Old prediction technologies:

• • Currently, most of the prediction software used in forecasting are primarily based on the worldwide forecasting gadget and weather studies and forecasting fashions, both of which are not current.
  • Thus, there is an urgent need for an incorporated device to fill those data gaps.

About the WINDS Portal

• It is a promising breakthrough through the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare launched in July 2023.
• Under this programme, more than 200,000 ground stations (AWS and ARG) will be installed.
• It will help exceedingly in improving weather records utilisation by generating long-term, hyper-local weather data and thus in improving weather predictions and decision making.
  • The system will promote the data for wider applications in agriculture and other sectors and could assist in growing a national-level data base.
• It will assist in organising the protocols required to access the country-wide data by the various public and private concerns.

Challenges within the Prediction of Air Pollution and Way Ahead

• Air pollution continues to be a task. Dense fog in particular due to the high particulate matter and smog in the atmosphere have caused an increase in respiration and other health-associated issues.
  • Air nice monitoring systems are currently very expensive and tend to be imported.
• However, thanks to the Make in India tasks, many Indian corporations have started out to manufacture low-value and exceedingly dependable sensor-based totally air best monitoring structures.
  • These also are easy to install and feature low maintenance expenses.
• The IITs are assisting and that they have started out centres of excellence in this area, with a mission to establish a nation-wide network of affordable air quality sensors.
• An integrated AI/ML-based model with statistics from the new air quality and weather sensors will be a major step forward to accurately predict fog.
• It will help in timely decision making around transportation and the health-related impacts of air pollution.

Source: The Hindu

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