INDIA METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENTTITLE

INTRODUCTION
The India Meteorological Department (IMD), also referred to as the Met Department,
is an agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India. It is the
principal agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting
and seismology. IMD is headquartered in New Delhi and operates hundreds of
observation stations across India and Antarctica.
IMD is also one of the six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres of the World
Meteorological Organization. It has the responsibility for forecasting, naming and
distribution of warnings for tropical cyclones in the Northern Indian Ocean region,
including the Malacca Straits, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Persian
Gulf.

HISTORY

In 1686, Edmond Halley published his treatise on the Indian summer monsoon, which he
attributed to a seasonal reversal of winds due to the differential heating of the Asian land mass
and the Indian Ocean. The first meteorological observatories were established in India by the
British East India Company. These included the Calcutta Observatory in 1785, the Madras
Observatory in 1796 and the Colaba Observatory in 1826. Several other observatories were
established in India during the first half of the 19th century by various provincial governments.

The Asiatic Society, founded in Calcutta in 1784 and in Bombay in 1804, promoted the study of
meteorology in India.Henry Piddington published almost 40 papers dealing with tropical storms
from Calcutta between 1835 and 1855 in The Journal of the Asiatic Society. He also coined the
term cyclone, meaning the coil of a snake. In 1842, he published his landmark thesis, Laws of the
Storms.[2]

After a tropical cyclone hit Calcutta in 1864, and the subsequent famines in 1866 and 1871 due
to the failure of the monsoons, it was decided to organise the collection and analysis of
meteorological observations under one roof. As a result, the India Meteorology Department
was established in 1875. Henry Francis Blanford was appointed the first Meteorological Reporter
of the IMD. In May 1889, Sir John Eliot was appointed the first Director General of
Observatories in the erstwhile capital, Calcutta. The IMD headquarters were later shifted to
Shimla in 1905, then to Pune in 1928 and finally to New Delhi in 1944.[3]
IMD became a member of the World Meteorological Organization after independence on 27
April 1949.[4] The agency has gained in prominence due to the significance of the monsoon rains
on Indian agriculture. It plays a vital role in preparing the annual monsoon forecast, as well as in
tracking the progress of the monsoon across India every season.

ORGANISATION

IMD is headed by the Director General of Meteorology. Dr. K. J. Ramesh is Director General of
Meteorology since August 1 2016. [6] [7]IMD has 6 Regional Meteorological Centers, each under
a Deputy Director General. These are located in Chennai, Guwahati, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur
and New Delhi. There are also Meteorological Centres in every state capital. Other IMD units
such as Forecasting Offices, Agrometeorological Advisory Service Centers, Flood
Meteorological Offices, Area Cyclone Warning Centers and Cyclone Warning Centers are
usually co-located with various observatories or meteorological center.[8]

IMD operates a network of hundreds of surface and glacial observatories, Upper Air (high
altitude) stations, ozone and radiation observatories and meteorological radar stations. Additional
data is received from India's constellation of satellites, such as Kalpana-1, Megha-Tropiques and
instruments on board the IRS series and the INSAT series of satellites.[9] Data and observations
are also reported into the IMD network from meteorological instruments on board Indian
merchant marine and Indian Navy ships. IMD was the first organisation in India to deploy a
message switching computer for supporting its global data exchange.

IMD collaborates with other agencies such as the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology,
National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting and the National Institute of Ocean
Technology.

IMD also operates seismic monitoring centres at key locations for earthquake monitoring and
measurements.

TASKS

IMD undertakes observations, communications, forecasting and weather services. In

collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation, the IMD also uses the IRS series and
the Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) for weather monitoring of the Indian subcontinent.
IMD was the first weather bureau of a developing country to develop and maintain its own
satellite system.

IMD is one of the 6 worldwide Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres of the Tropical
Cyclone Programme of the World Weather Watch of the World Meteorological Organization.[10] It
is regional nodal agency for forecasting, naming and disseminating warnings about tropical
cyclone in the Indian Ocean north of the Equator.

New initiatives

2
The IMD launched System of Aerosol Monitoring and Research (SAMAR) in January 2016 to
study the concentration of Black carbon, radiative properties of aerosols, environmental visibility
and their climatological impacts. It would contain a network of 16 aethalometers, 12 sky
radiometers and 12 nephelometers.

www.imd.gov.in
www.imd.gov.in

Latest Updates:

The IDM department using the INSAT-3D satellite images for weather imaging.

India's weather satellite INSAT-3DR using geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle

GSLV-MkII. The satellite will supplement the meteorological and data relay services of
its predecessor INSAT-3D, which is in operation since July 26, 2013.

RAPID: Gateway to Indian Weather Satellite Data

The INSAT series of satellites carrying Very High Resolution Radiometer (VHRR) have been
providing data for generating cloud motion vectors, cloud top temperature, water vapour content,
etc., facilitating rainfall estimation, weather forecasting, genesis of cyclones and their track
prediction. These satellites have also carried Data Relay Transponders (DRT) to facilitate
reception and dissemination of meteorological data from in-situ instruments located across vast
and inaccessible areas. Currently, there are three meteorological satellites Kalpana-1(Kalpana-1
is the first dedicated meteorological satellite launched by Indian Space Research Organisation
using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on 2002-09-12. The satellite is three-axis stabilized and is
powered by solar panels, getting up to 550 watts of power. The METSAT bus was used as the
basis for the Chandrayaan lunar orbiter mission of 2008.), INSAT-3A and INSAT-3D in the
geosynchronous orbit. Quick visualisation and analysis of data and products enable accurate
weather assessments. Towards this, Space Applications Centre (SAC), ISRO, Ahmedabad has
developed a weather data explorer application - Real Time Analysis of Products and Information
Dissemination (RAPID) which is hosted in India Meteorological Department (IMD) website.
This software acts as a gateway to Indian Weather Satellite Data providing quick interactive
visualisation and 4-Dimensional analysis capabilities to various users like application scientists,
forecasters, and the common man.