The Rs. 10-crore Doppler weather radar, which has been installed at Navy Nagar, Colaba, to give accurate and real-time monsoon forecasts, will not be fully functional for at least another month, said officials from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The radar, manufactured by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and installed in October 2010, has been facing technical glitches for the past 21 months. BEL is yet to give IMD an official go-ahead to use it.
“BEL has not finished its work or given us a go-ahead to validate the output of the radar. We will conduct a 15-day endurance test after BEL gives us the nod. A site acceptance test (SAT) will also have to be carried out. So the radar can be expected to become officially functional only in the first week of July,” said Sunil Kamble, director, Doppler weather radar, IMD, Mumbai.
The idea to install a Doppler radar was mooted after the city received 994mm of rainfall on July 26, 2005, leading to large-scale flooding. A Doppler radar measures the speed and height of approaching clouds, and indicates in how much time they will bring rainfall. This will allow the civic body to sound out alerts and mitigate the impact of heavy rainfall. Surface rainfall intensity (SRI), a feature of the radar, will also help measure the amount of rainfall the approaching clouds hold and predict the precipitation accumulation.
A BEL engineer, who did not wish to be named, said: “The radar has been giving its output even now since we are testing it. Carrying out the endurance test and SAT is completely IMD’s responsibility. The sooner they validate the readings, the faster the radar can be used officially.”
{{/usCountry}}A BEL engineer, who did not wish to be named, said: “The radar has been giving its output even now since we are testing it. Carrying out the endurance test and SAT is completely IMD’s responsibility. The sooner they validate the readings, the faster the radar can be used officially.”
{{/usCountry}} “Currently, we are receiving output, but it is still not accurate enough to give out the information officially,” said KS Hosalikar, scientist, regional meteorological centre, Mumbai.