आईआईटीएम
IITM

भारतीय उष्णदेशीय मौसम विज्ञान संस्थान
Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology

पृथ्वी विज्ञान मंत्रालय, भारत सरकार का एक स्वायत्त संस्थान An Autonomous Institute of the
Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India

Significant Achievements

  • IITM scientists discovered several predictors for long range prediction of Indian monsoon rainfall. IITM makes prediction of seasonal monsoon rainfall using statistical and dynamical models and provides to the IMD on real time to be used in their national forecast.

  • An alternative strategy to prediction of seasonal mean all India rainfall with a shorter lead time useful for regional hydro-meteorological applications has been found out.

  • High resolution climate change scenarios for Indian domain for Impact Assessment studies have been developed.

  • Based on IMD observations, IITM scientists have constructed very long quality controlled time series of rainfall and temperature over all India and meteorological subdivisions. These have served as base data for large volume of studies world wide on discovering teleconnections with monsoon and on finding relationship between climate and agriculture. Also serves as test bed for all prediction models. Multi-decadal variability of the Indian summer monsoon discovered by the IITM scientists based on the long rainfall time series is useful for providing long term outlook of the monsoon for policy planning.

  • Hydrometeorological analysis of long series of rainfall data on different time scales over various river basins of the country by the IITM has practical applications in the planning and utilization of water resources of the country. Several analytical projects have been done for the Central Water Commission, water management authorities, and irrigation and flood control agencies for planning and design of the dams and water reservoirs.

  • A continuous observational record of surface ozone over different areas of a urban city (Pune) has indicated an increasing trend in ozone concentration, possibly due to increase in anthropogenic activities around the observational sites. A unique and long record of continuous remote sensing of atmospheric aerosols and trace gases using LIDAR and spectrometric techniques indicated an increasing trend in the aerosol column content, attributable to the influence of urban activity in the region.

  • Air pollution studies at different altitudinal regions and different environmental conditions have provided information on pollution levels and the reasons there of. Measurements at traffic junctions in Pune city have provided information on the alarming increased level of vehicular pollution and provided basis to initiate control and mitigation measures.

  • Quality analysis of rain water samples from different environmental regions has established that there is no possibility of acid rain in India on a large scale, due to the presence of alkaline aerosols of soil origin in the atmosphere.

  • The micrometeorological observations and analysis carried out by the IITM at Anand in Gujarat State under the Land Surface Processes Experiment (LASPEX) have provided data useful for enhancing the agricultural production.

  • IITM scientists carried out controlled experiments to study possibility of increasing rainfall by aerial warm cloud seeding for 11 long years. The expertise and experience gained during the experiment is being used to provide technical assistance and guidance to state governments in their operational rainfall enhancement experiments during drought conditions.

  • Using a regional climate model and downscaling technique, IITM scientists have made first estimate of change in monsoon rainfall and temperature under different climate change scenarios. Notwithstanding some uncertainty in these estimates, it provides crucial information for planning of water resources and disaster mitigation in a warming world.

  • A major activity at IITM is the study of physics of monsoon clouds, precipitation mechanisms and atmospheric electrical processes. Observations in marine environment on board ship, at the coast and on an instrumented aircraft provided an insight for the aerosol size distribution, atmospheric electric conductivity and electric field and mass size distribution of ion concentrations. Development of simulation techniques for scavenging of aerosol particles by charged and uncharged water drops in the absence or presence of electric field has been useful in the study of water drops formation in clouds and their suspension in the atmosphere. These studies while fundamental in nature are the building blocks for improvement of prediction of the monsoon.

  • IITM has been contributing to the manpower and human resources development programmes of the universities and Institutions in India by sharing its research facilities and expertise in meteorology and atmospheric sciences and allied fields. The M.Tech. programme of University of Pune in Atmospheric Physics is conducted at the IITM. IITM has produced more than 100 Ph.D.s in Atmospheric Science during the last 25 years.

  • IITM scientists constantly strive in taking the science to the people. The scientists are engaged in several bi-lateral and multi-lateral programs aimed at providing valuable weather and climate inputs for field level agricultural and water resource decision making. The IITM has been undertaking programmes for popularization of meteorology among students and general public by way of organizing 'open days' with visit to laboratories and library, organization of scientific exhibition, film shows, popular science lectures of experts on some special occasions and through participation in science exhibitions of other organizations arranged on some important national events.