International Symposium on Tropical Meteorology (INTROMET 2025)

The International Tropical Meteorology Symposium (INTROMET-2025) was successfully held at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, from 18 to 20 November 2025, in association with the Indian Meteorological Society (IMS) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The symposium was formally inaugurated by the Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), in the presence of the Director General of Meteorology, IMD, the Director, IITM, and the President, IMS.

Over three intensive days, INTROMET-2025 brought together the global Earth-science community to exchange ideas, present cutting-edge research, and deliberate on emerging scientific and societal challenges in weather, climate, and ocean sciences.

Organised around the theme “Advances in Tropical Weather, Ocean, and Monsoon Climate Research for a Sustainable Future,” the symposium served as a premier international platform for scientists, researchers, academicians, students, and policymakers. The scientific deliberations spanned recent advances in meteorology, oceanography, climate science, and allied Earth-system disciplines, highlighting both fundamental scientific understanding and its applications for societal benefit.

The 30th edition of TROPMET/INTROMET marked a historic milestone, recording the largest participation and the highest number of scientific deliberations in the history of the conference series. A total of 849 scientific contributions were presented, comprising 159 invited talks by eminent scientists from India and abroad, 200 contributory oral presentations, and 490 poster presentations, reflecting the depth, diversity, and vibrancy of contemporary research in tropical meteorology and Earth-system sciences. The symposium witnessed participation from more than 50 international scientists, who actively contributed through invited and keynote lectures across all three days.

The scientific programme was conducted through seven parallel technical sessions, ensuring comprehensive coverage of diverse thematic areas. These sessions were complemented by distinguished plenary lectures held on each day of the symposium, delivered by leading national and international experts. The conference concluded with a high-level panel discussion centred on the core theme of the symposium, offering an integrated perspective on key scientific advances, emerging challenges, and future directions in tropical weather, ocean, and monsoon climate research.

The programme covered a wide spectrum of themes, including advances in weather prediction and early-warning systems; monsoon dynamics and predictability in a changing climate; physical, chemical, and biological oceanography; ocean–atmosphere interactions; aerosol–cloud–precipitation processes; thunderstorm dynamics; radar and remote-sensing applications; artificial intelligence and machine learning in weather and climate science; polar and cryosphere studies; paleoclimate; biosphere–atmosphere interactions; soil hydrology; geoinformatics; and urban meteorology. In addition to core scientific topics, the symposium addressed pressing societal challenges such as climate change and extreme events, flood and drought risks, disaster preparedness, climate services for sector-specific applications, sustainable agriculture and water resources, community engagement, and the role of emerging startups in weather and ocean sciences.

A special session dedicated to the scientific contributions of Prof. Sulochana Gadgil was a notable highlight of INTROMET-2025, recognising her pioneering role in advancing the understanding of the Indian monsoon and tropical climate variability.

INTROMET-2025 witnessed broad participation from IITs, IISERs, and leading universities, key MoES institutions including INCOIS, NIOT, CMLRE, NCMRWF, IMD, and IITM, as well as other premier organisations such as ISRO and DRDO, alongside strong engagement from the international scientific community. Importantly, the symposium provided an invaluable platform for B.Tech, Master’s, and Ph.D. students to present their research and interact closely with senior scientists and globally renowned experts, thereby nurturing the next generation of Earth-system scientists.

This edition of INTROMET stands as the largest ever organised in the history of the TROPMET/INTROMET series, and IITM, Pune, takes great pride in successfully hosting this landmark international scientific event.