Automatic weather station inaugurated at NIT Rourkela

The four-day conference on ‘Land-Atmosphere Interactions Controlling Weather and Climate: Applications of Numerical Models and Observations’ is underway at NIT Rourkela. It will conclude on January 12. 

Rourkela’s second automatic weather station (AWS) has been inaugurated at National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela. The foundation stone for a meteorological observatory was also laid while the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NIT Rourkela for academic and research collaboration, The New Indian Express reported. 

IMD’s director general of meteorology Mrutyunjay Mohapatra laid the foundation stone and signed the agreement on the sidelines of the four-day conference on ‘Land-Atmosphere Interactions Controlling Weather and Climate: Applications of Numerical Models and Observations’ being organised by the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences of NIT Rourkela. 

The observatory will provide current meteorological information and help foraecast weather. Similarly, the AWS will transmit and record observations obtained from measuring instruments. Mohapatra said the IMD has set up another AWS at Rourkela airport. The two stations at the airport and NIT Rourkela would help in smooth conduct of the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023. 

States such as Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and others are prone to lightning strike. Every year, around 2,500 people die of it. Though the IMD makes forecast, a lot remains to be improved when it comes to understanding lightning strikes, he said. Mohapatra exhorted the technical students and participants to research more on this area to help save lives. 

Around 70 participants from IITs, NITs, Central Universities and many research institutes across the country have joined the conference which will conclude on January 12. 

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