On April 2026, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), at Pune, Maharashtra under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), officially commissioned X-Band Dual-Polarization Doppler Weather Radar(DWR) at its High Altitude Cloud Physics Laboratory (HACPL) in Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra.
- This installation comes under Mission Mausam, the government’s multi-year initiative to transform India into a Weather-Ready Nation.
About Doppler Weather Radar:
Location & Function: Installed at an altitude of around 1,400 metres(m) in the Western Ghats, the radar acts as a ‘weather eye in the sky,’ enabling real-time tracking of rainfall, cloud movement, and storms.
Monitoring & Forecasting: The system will monitor rapidly changing weather conditions in Mahabaleshwar, enabling the study of orographic rainfall and monsoon dynamics, while enhancing nowcasting (up to 3 hours) for regions including Satara, Pune, the Konkan region, and Mumbai.
Advanced Radar Capabilities:Operating at 9.45 gigahertz (GHz) with solid-state amplifier technology, the system ensures reliable, low-maintenance, and energy-efficient performance, while its dual-polarization and high-resolution features enable precise analysis of precipitation, cloud structures, and improved weather forecasting.
Collaboration: On the occasion, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between IITM and the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to jointly develop advanced satellite-based meteorological products.
No comments yet. Be the first!