"Huge Scope for Cooperation Between India & UK in Weather Forecasting": Dr Jitendra Singh

Inaugurating the 4th WCSSP-India Annual Science Workshop - 2023 in New Delhi, he stated that not only are both countries in the same hemisphere, but working with the UK is easier because our relationship is comfortable. "Both societies face similar situations, which leads us to look at issues like weather forecasting from a shared perspective," he explained. 

"Weather forecasting has become an essential part of the life of the average citizen," he said, emphasising the importance of continuous improvement. Christina Scott, Minister Deputy High Commissioner to India, spoke on the occasion, expressing her hope that the Workshop will aid in the formulation of appropriate responses to severe and extreme weather phenomena affecting both countries.

She added that the two countries are also collaborating on disaster-resilient infrastructure. In his opening remarks, Dr. M. Ravichandran, Secretary of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, stated that the workshop is being held after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic. It will concentrate on data understanding, modelling, and assimilation for weather forecasting, he said.

The Workshop is being held in accordance with the Implementation Agreement for the project "Weather and Climate Science for Service Partnership India (WCSSP-India)," which was signed on February 7th, 2019. It followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Weather and Climate Sciences on January 28th, 2019 between the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, and the Met Office, UK.

In addition to more than 50 online participants, the workshop will include approximately 25 UK scientists and approximately 70 Indian scientists/researchers. The meeting's deliberations and discussion are expected to generate new ideas and directions for this collaborative effort to improve weather and climate forecast capabilities, particularly for high-impact weather over the Indian subcontinent.

The key scientific objectives of the WCPSS-India Project, which is a collaboration between India and the United Kingdom, include research on natural hazards in the South Asian Monsoon system and improving tools and techniques for risk-based forecasting of natural hazards over a range of prediction timescales.

This project has made significant progress, including the implementation and successful testing of the global coupledNumerical Weather Prediction (NWP) system and improvements to NCMRWF's operational sub-km resolution fog forecast model. Extensive model intercomparison has resulted in new insights into monsoon hazard processes as well as the co-development of prototype tools for FloodHazard Impact Modelling.