Kohima, February 6 (MExN): Deputy Director General, IMD-NE Dr KN Mohan and Scientist-E, IMD Sunit Das visited two proposed sites for installation of X-Band Doppler Radar at Jotsoma amd Merima to check the feasibility and one proposed site for installation of Aviation AWS at Secretariat Plaza Helipad.
According to a press release, the Indian Meteorological Department(IMD) officials arrived in Kohima on February 6 to attend the commissioning programme of two Agromet Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) installed at KVK Yisemyong and KVK Lumami.
The officials also visited Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) installed at District Soil Conservation Office, Dimapur; Soil and Water Conservation Training and Research Centre, Sechu; Directorate of Soil and Water Conservation, Kohima and District Soil Conservation Office, Wokha. During the visit some equipment were found outdated and some non functional, and Dr Mohan assured that the obsolete and non functional parts of the AWS will be replaced immediately, the release stated.
Under the initiative of Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in coordination with the Department of Soil & Water Conservation is working closely for improvement of weather-related services in the State, it added.
Further, the release explained that the Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) consist of various components including wind monitoring, radiation sensor for monitoring photo synthesis and other radiation related parameters deciding growth and yield of the plant, rain sensor, soil temperature & moisture at various depths for knowing real time moisture and temperature for planning the right seeds for plantation, ground water information and other valuable parameters, air temperature and humidity, and real time data, which are all available and updated on the IMD website after every 15 minute intervals. Among others, it also provides GIS mapping of Agro parameters that are useful for Agriculture planning and Implementation, and the data is ingested into the Hydrodynamic models along with other AWS data from other parts of India, Upper Air, Radar & Satellite data for issuing timely forecast and weather warnings, etc., for Nagaland state. The forecast is valid for five days, it added.
The release also informed that the Department of Soil and Water Conservation is currently operating 17 Meteorological Observatories in the state.
