On December 29, 2020, Union Minister of Earth Sciences, Dr Harsh Vardhan virtually inaugurated India’s Highest Meteorological (Met) Centre at Leh, Ladakh (UT). It is situated at a height of 3500 metres from the mean sea level. Radha Krishna Mathur, Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Ladakh & Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, MP from Ladakh were the Guest of Honour at the event.
i.This is India’s Second Met Centre located in the Himalayas, the first one is located at Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh.
ii.The Met centre has been established to prevent losses due to weather events such as Cloud bursts, Flash Floods, Avalanches & Glacial Lake Outbursts & to strengthen the Early Warning System in Ladakh.
iii.Dr M Rajeevan, Secretary of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Vipin Chandra, Joint Secretary of MoES & Dr M. Mohapatra, Director General of IMD were present during the event.
Note – At present there are 28 Met Centres across India.
Key Points:
i.Important services like Highway Forecast, forecast for Mountaineering, Trekking, agriculture, flash flood warning, low & high temperatures will be made available to the public.
ii.IMD is also set to relocate its movable radar from Sonmarg to Leh region.
iii.Being a seismologically active region, scientists will also gather seismological data at the Leh Met Centre.
iv.IMD will provide a range of weather forecast services – short (3 days) & medium (12 days) to extended (1 month) period to everyone on a daily basis for both Leh & Kargil regions.
Additional Automatic Weather Stations:
i.Ladakh has 4 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS), 2 each in Leh & Kargil of which one is at Drass, the coldest place in India.
ii.To further improve the network,IMD will establish 10 AWS at key locations like Nubra & Zanskar valleys, Pangong Tso, Drass & Kargil, Parkachik.
Cause of Erratic weather events in Leh, Ladakh:
Lofty Mountains, absence of vegetation, large amounts of loose soil & debris make the region of Ladakh vulnerable to various kinds of natural hazards.
Recent Related News:
i.On October 12, 2020 India Meteorological Department(IMD) launched a dynamic, impact-based cyclone warning system to reduce economic losses and damage to property caused by the cyclones that hit Indian coast annually.
About UT Ladakh
Lieutenant Governor– Radha Krishna Mathur
Capital– Leh, Kargil
About India Meteorological Department (IMD):
IMD’s Parent Organization is Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Director General – Mrutyunjay Mohapatra
Headquarters – New Delhi
