Context: 

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) celebrated the 150th year of its establishment and service to the nation on 15th January 2025.

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• At the occasion, the Prime Minister launched ‘Mission Mausam,’ to transform India into a ‘Weather-ready and Climate-smart’ nation through advanced weather surveillance technologies, high-resolution atmospheric observations, next-generation radars, satellites, and high-performance computing systems.
• The Prime Minister also unveiled a commemorative postage stamp and coin, alongside releasing the IMD Vision-2047 document, which outlines a roadmap for weather resilience and climate change adaptation.

ABOUT INDIA METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT

History and Origin

• The Government of India established the India Meteorological Department in 1875 after a series of catastrophic events such as a tropical cyclone struck Calcutta in 1864, then monsoon failures in 1866 and 1871.
• The first Director General of Observatories was Sir John Eliot, who was appointed in 1889.
• Originally headquartered in Calcutta, IMD's headquarters were later shifted to Shimla, then to Poona (now Pune), and finally to New Delhi.
• The IMD became a member of the World Meteorological Organisation in 1949.
• At present, IMD functions under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).

IMD Mandates

• To take meteorological observations and to provide current and forecast meteorological information for optimum operation of weather-sensitive activities like agriculture, irrigation, shipping, aviation, offshore oil explorations, etc.
• To warn against severe weather phenomena like tropical cyclones, norwesters, duststorms, heavy rains and snow, cold and heat waves, etc.
• To provide meteorological statistics required for agriculture, water resource management, industries, oil exploration and other nation-building activities.

IMD: Achievements and Advancements:

Pioneering Weather Observations

• By 2023, IMD has replaced all Mercury Barometers with Digital Barometers by the UNEP Minamata convention (as mercury is hazardous to human health) at all Class I observatories.
• Enhanced agro-meteorological services with the deployment of 200 AGRO AWS stations.

Communication and Outreach

• IMD launched the mobile Application "Public Observation” in 2022 to allow users to provide their weather feedback at any time from anywhere.

Advances in Numerical Weather Prediction

• Overall Forecast Accuracy witnessed a 40% improvement in 2023 as compared to 2014.
• Example: The successful prediction of cyclones like Phailin (2013), Hudhud (2014), Fani (2019), Amphan (2020), Tauktae (2021), Biparjoy (2023), and Dana (2024).
• Expansion of Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) network from 15 in 2014 to 39 in 2023 with land area of coverage increased by about 35% from 2014.
• With the accurate cyclone warning by IMD, the number of deaths has reduced from 10,000 in 1999 to Zero in 2020-2024.

Technological Advancements

• Mausamgram, an interactive and dynamic meteogram which provides location-specific weather forecast information was released in 2024 during the IMD’s 150th foundation celebration day. 
• Increase in the number of Automatic Rain Gauges (ARG) from 1350 in 2014 to 1382 in 2023.

Make in India Initiative Under IMD

• IMD has been the front runner of the development of Indigenous technology, commencing with indigenous RADAR in 1958, and Indian Satellite products in collaboration with ISRO since 1983. 
• It has been developing the Doppler Weather Radar since 2010, Impact-based Forecast since 2019, and Dynamic composite risk atlas since 2022.