Ministry of Earth Sciences

About Ministry

• The Ministry of Earth Sciences was formed in the year 2006 from a merger of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, and Earth Risk Evaluation Centre (EREC), and the Ministry of Ocean Development.
• The Ministry’s mandate is to look after Atmospheric Sciences, Ocean Science & Technology and Seismology in an integrated manner.
• the Objective of the Ministry is to provide services for weather, climate, ocean and coastal state, hydrology, seismology, and natural hazards; to explore and harness marine living and non-living resources in a sustainable way and to explore the three poles (Arctic, Antarctic and Himalayas).

Functions

1. The augment and sustain long term observations of atmosphere,ocean,cryosphere and solid earth to record the vital signs of Earth System and changes.
2. To develop forecasting capability of atmosphere and oceanic phenomena through dynamical models and assimilation techniques and to
   build prediction system for weather climate and hazards.
3. To understand interaction between components of Earth Systems and human systems at various spatial and temporal scales.
4. Exploration of polar and high seas regions for discovery of new phenomenon and resources.
5. To translate knowledge and insight themes gained into services for societal, environmental and economic

NATIONAL MONSOON MISSION

Objectives

• • To improve Seasonal and Intra-seasonal Monsoon Forecast
  • To improve Medium Range Forecast.
  • To develop a state of the art dynamical prediction system for monsoon rainfall on all different time scales i.e. from short-range to seasonal.

Participating Institutions

• • The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune will coordinate and lead the effort for improving the forecasts on seasonal and intra seasonal
  • National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Noida will lead and coordinate the efforts for improving the forecasts in the medium range scale up to week two forecasts.
  • These will be made operational by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi

Salient Features

• • For Long range forecasting (upto a season), American model called Climate Forecast System (CFS) is used, which is a coupled-Ocean forecasting system e. it combines data from ocean, atmosphere and land.
  • For short to medium range (upto 20 days) Unified Model (UM) developed by UK is used.
  • In its phase I, IMD was able to develop high resolution-coupled dynamical prediction system (seasonal and extended time scale). For the first time, IMD used the Monsoon Mission dynamical model to prepare operational seasonal forecast of 2017 monsoon rainfall over India.
  • The Ministry has now launched the Monsoon Mission Phase II program, for next 3 years (2017-2020) with emphasis on predicting extremes and development of applications based on monsoon forecasts.

 

SYSTEM OF AIR QUALITY AND WEATHER FORECASTING AND RESEARCH – SAFAR

• • Developed indigenously by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune
  • Operationalized by – India Meteorological Department (IMO).

Objectives

• • to increase awareness among general public regarding the air quality in their city well in advance so that appropriate mitigation measures and systematic action can be taken up for betterment of air quality and related health issues.

Coverage

• • implemented in four metropolitan cities of India – Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad

Salient Features

• • Function – It seeks to provide location specific information on air quality in near real time and on 24×7 basis, with colour coding along with 72-hour advance forecast.
  • The system will be an integral part of India’s first Air Quality Early Warning System operational in Delhi.
  • Pollutants monitored – PMl, PM2.5, PMlO, Ozone, Carbon Monoxide, NOx (NO, NO2), Sulfur Dioxide, Black Carbon, Methane (CH4), Non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), Mercury, VOCs – Benzene, Toluene, and Xylene.
  • Monitored Meteorological Parameters: UV Radiation Index, Rainfall, Temperature, Humidity, Wind speed, Wind direction, and solar radiation.

 

DEEP OCEAN MISSION (DOM)

• • The Union Ministry of Earth Sciences has recently drawn up a five-year, ~8,000 crore plan to explore the deep recesses of the ocean and has unveiled a blueprint of the ‘Deep Ocean Mission (DOM)’.

Objectives

• • Development of technologies for exploration and harnessing of living and non-living resources (deep-sea mining).

Salient Features

• • The mission proposes to explore the deep ocean similar to the space exploration started by ISRO about 35 years ago. It is an effort to tap into the blue ocean economics.
  • Two key projects to achieve these goals
    • 1. Offshore desalination plant – that will work with tidal energy.
      2. A ‘Manned Submersible Vehicle’ – with three people on board, to explore depths of at least 6000 Meters
  • The focus will be on technologies for: Deep-sea mining, underwater vehicles, underwater robotics, Ocean climate change, and Advisory services.

 

SAGAR VANI APP

• • It is an Integrated Information Dissemination System (IDS) developed by ESSO-INCOIS.

Objectives

• • To effectively and timely disseminate the advisories, directly from the lab to the end user.

Salient Features

• • It is a software platform where various dissemination modes will be integrated on a single central server.
  • It will serve the coastal community especially the fishermen community with the advisories and alerts towards their livelihood as well as their safety at Sea.
  • The ‘Sagar Vani’ includes Multi Lingual SMS, Voice Call/ Audio Advisory, Mobile Apps (User/ Admin modules), Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), Email, GTS, Fax, Digital Display Boards, Radio / Television broadcast units, IVRS, Cloud Channels, etc.
  • The system also has facility to provide access to various stakeholders (NGOs, State Fishery Departments, Disaster Management Authorities, etc.) so that they too will be able to further disseminate these ocean information and alerts to the user community.
  • The services will be disseminated in local languages using advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.

 

ESSO – Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)

• • Established as an autonomous body in 1999, Under the Ministry of Earth Sciences

Objectives

• • to provide the best possible ocean information and advisory services to society, industry, government agencies and the scientific community through sustained ocean observations and research
  • Provides daily advisories to fisher folk to help them easily locate Potential Fishing Zone
  • Early warning centre for tsunami and other storm surges in the Indian ocean region.

 

OCEAN SERVICES, TECHNOLOGY, OBSERVATIONS, RESOURCES MODELLING AND SCIENCE (0-SMART)

• • The scheme encompasses 16 sub-projects addressing ocean development activities such as Services, Technology, Resources, Observations and Science.

Objectives

• • To stepping up ocean research and setting up early warning weather systems

Salient Features

• • Help in effectively dealing with ocean disasters like Tsunami, storm surges.
  • Provision of economic benefits to various users in the coastal and ocean sectors, namely, fisheries, offshore industry, coastal states, Defense, Shipping, and Ports etc.
  • Help in addressing issues relating to Sustainable Development Goal-14 (SDG-14), which aims to conserve use of oceans, marine resources for sustainable development.
  • Provision of necessary scientific and technological background required for implementation of various aspects of Blue Economy.
  • Help in harnessing the vast ocean resources of both living and non-living resources from the seas around India.

 

INDIA QUAKE

• • Developed by – National Centre for Seismology (NCS) for automatic dissemination of earthquake parameter (location, time and magnitude) after the occurrence of earthquakes.

Objectives

• • To overcome the delay in dissemination of the information during earthquakes, India Quake would ensure automatic dissemination of earthquake parameter after the occurrence of earthquakes

Salient Features

• • No restrictions on the number of recipients.
  • Any citizen can download this App & get real time earthquake location information on his/her mobile.
  • It will help in reducing panic amongst people during an earthquake.

 

GRAMIN KRISHI MAUSAM SEVA (GKMS)

Objectives

• • to provide accurate crop specific advisories to the farmers

Salient Features

• • Implementation – by India Meteorological Department in collaboration with State Agricultural Universities /Indian Council of Agricultural Research etc.
  • It issues crop and location specific weather based agro advisories for the benefit of farming community.
  • The Agro-meteorological Advisory Services (AAS) under the GKMS is operated to prepare biweekly weather based bulletins.
  • The information is transmitted through multimedia channels and SMS to help farmers plan farm operations accordingly.

 

ACROSS SCHEME

• • Cabinet Committee has approved continuation of 9 sub-schemes of the umbrella scheme “Atmosphere & Climate Research-Modelling Observing Systems & Services (ACROSS)” during 2017-2020.
  • The CCEA also approved establishment of National Facility for Airborne Research (NFAR) with a financial commitment of Rs 130 crore during 2020-21 and beyond.

Objectives

• • To provide a reliable weather and climate forecast for betterment of society

Salient Features

• • ACROSS scheme pertains to the atmospheric science programs of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (Mo ES) and addresses different aspects of weather and climate services, which includes warnings for cyclone, storm surges, heat waves, thunderstorms etc.
  • Each of these aspects is incorporated as 9 sub-schemes under the umbrella scheme “ACROSS” and is implemented in an integrated manner by 4 Institutes –
    • 1. India Meteorological Department (IMO),
      2. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM),
      3. National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), and
      4. Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Service (INCOIS)

 

To read and learn about Government Schemes and Programs related to other Ministries,  Click Here. (Notes on all Government Ministries Schemes and Programs)