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Our scientists have made India a leading nation in climate and weather research: Rijiju
Ministry of Earth Science (MoES) is planning to increase its research duration at India’s weather research station Himadri in the Arctic region
Ministry of Earth Science (MoES) is planning to increase its research duration at India’s weather research station Himadri in the Arctic region. Currently, the research activity takes place during the summer season. However, in the upcoming days, India is planning to deploy researchers at this station throughout the year, said Kiren Rijiju, in charge of MoES.
The minister visited the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in the city on Saturday for the first time after becoming the union minister for MoES. During his visit, Rijiju interacted with the reporters. M Ravichandran, secretary, MoES, and R Krishnan, director of IITM were present on this occasion.
Rijiju said, “Recently I spent two days in the Arctic. Our scientists are doing fabulous work there and yet there is so much to do. The team felt that India should enhance the duration of research activity at this weather station in the Arctic region. Therefore, the ministry is planning to deploy our scientists at Himadri station throughout the year. We are working on the timings and probably in the upcoming summer season, we will be able to do research at the Arctic station for the entire year.”
As of now, research work at the Arctic weather research station is being done only in the summer season.
“We want to get information about things happening at other times also. Including glacier monitoring, Arora, space weather information, and astronomy. Also, as far as our instrument is concerned it is a sort of failure that we leave it there during non-function time. But now we want a continuous measurement. It will help I help us to understand what exactly is happening there. So, we are planning to go to this research station in winter also, maintain our instruments and continue our observation,” said M Ravichandran.
Himalayan weather will be in focus
The Himalayan Mountain ranges and the weather in this region are crucial as they have a direct impact on the entire country. The current flood situation and several other extreme events are good examples of it. Therefore, it is necessary to study the Himalayan weather thoroughly. The ministry is planning a separate study for the same and more focus will be given to the research on Himalayan weather.
