Soon all parts of Kerala will come under the surveillance of the Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs) with the Centre approving a proposal for procuring two radars, one each for Kozhikode and Mangaluru.
An X-Band radar with an observation range of 100 km will be installed in Kozhikode while a C-Band radar with an observational range of 250 km will be installed in Mangaluru.
Though south and central Kerala were brought under radar coverage, the State has been demanding a permanent weather radar in north Kerala for long.
Union Minister for Earth Sciences Kiren Rijiju informed Parliament about the decision to install DWRs in north Kerala and Mangaluru. At present, the India Meteorological department (IMD) is operating 37 Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs) across the country comprising 22 S-Band DWRs, 4 C-Band DWRs and 11 X-Band DWRs.
The State now has two functional radars — one S-band DWR in Kochi and another C-band DWR at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram for monitoring weather developments over Kerala.
According to IMD scientists, it was after the introduction of DWR that cloud tracking became more people-friendly in the country with colour depiction of possible cloud movement and velocity. These weather radars, which provide information on wind (radial velocity) and its variance, help observe the probable rainfall intensity, wind shear and velocity and locate storm centres, the direction of cyclones or tornadoes, and the probability of severe weather, including cloudburst.
Developed by ISRO
The radar installed in Kochi in 2017 was developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) which developed DWRs for tracking as well as weather observations, working in X, C and S bands of the microwave domain. The ISRO then transferred the technology to Indian industry for commercial production of these radars and the Bharat Electronics Ltd. manufactured the radar for Kochi.
K. Santhosh, Director, IMD, Thiruvananthapuram, told The Hindu that the IMD was scouting for a suitable site for setting up the radar station in Kozhikode. According to sources, IMD officials have almost zeroed in on a place near Kunnamangalam. If the site is cleared by experts, the radar system could be set up in less than a year and it can integrate data from the radar into weather forecasting for accurate and localised weather predictions. After the 2018 flood in the State, the IMD has installed 109 automatic weather stations in the State at the request of the State government.
