Twenty Years of Watching the Earth: MoES, the IMD and the NOVA Nowcast

Article summary

The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) marked twenty years since its creation, and the India Meteorological Department (IMD), on its associated Foundation Day, launched thirteen Centres of Excellence and the NOVA system for thunderstorm monitoring. MoES, established in 2006, is the umbrella ministry for the country's atmospheric, oceanic and seismological sciences, overseeing the IMD, the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services and other bodies that together provide India's weather, climate, ocean and earthquake services. NOVA targets nowcasting — very short-range prediction, over the next few hours, of severe local weather such as thunderstorms, lightning and squalls — which is among the hardest forecasting problems because such events form and dissipate quickly over small areas. Improving nowcasts matters directly for disaster preparedness: thunderstorms and lightning kill large numbers of people in India each year, and short-lead warnings can save lives if they reach the vulnerable in time. The occasion highlights the institutional backbone behind India's steadily improving forecast accuracy.