(a) whether the Ministry is having any proposal to rope in foreign countries to study the impact of monsoon in a scientific way;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government proposes to deploy underwater robot in order to predict Indian monsoon accurately;
(d) if so, the details thereof and the funds earmarked of the same; and
(e) whether the recent deployment of satellites will be utilized in order to predict droughts and floods and if so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES
(SHRI Y. S. CHOWDARY)
(a) Yes Madam.
(b) Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India has launched ''National Monsoon Mission'' (NMM) with a vision to develop a state-of-the-art dynamical prediction model for a) improved prediction of monsoon rainfall on extended range to seasonal time scale (16 days to one season) and b) improved prediction of temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events on short to medium range time scale (up to 15 days) so that forecast skill gets quantitatively improved further for operational services of India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Under this mission, experts from academic institutions from abroad participated in research and development towards improvement of prediction models. Scientists from USA, UK, Australia, France, Japan participated in the mission.
Through Indo-US collaboration, a “Monsoon Desk” has been set up for working jointly for improving seasonal forecast of Indian monsoon rainfall. Through this forum, Indian and US Scientists are exchanging their ideas and sharing their expertise. This effort has led to appreciable improvements in the efficiency of models in making better forecasts.
(c) No Madam.
(d) Does not arise.
(e) The recent deployment of satellite is used for the monitoring and prediction of weather conditions. The satellite data are also used for preparing the initial conditions for the forecast model.