In what could turn out to be a major breakthrough for Indian Meteorological Department, a supercomputer now will be able to forecast India’s annual summer monsoon.
The monsoon model works by simulating the weather on powerful computers and extending it over particular time frames.
This method has proved to be effective in forecasting weather over a few days, but using it to forecast the annual monsoon over 3 or 4 months has proved difficult, reports The Hindu.
Madhavan Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), said that the model is currently being tried at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, (IITM) Pune since ten years and it will be “ready for operational purposes next year.”
“We hope to be able to launch it next year though discussions are still ongoing, we are ready to use the dynamical model, but this doesn’t mean one is abandoned for the other. Both have their role and we must use what’s best,” said Mr Madhavan.
In the past, the government has invested Rs 100 crore in establishing multiple dynamic models in Pune. Over 25 scientists were assigned the work of interpreting and deciphering the meteorological readings of these models.