IMD chief acknowledges the use of AI ML to enhance weather forecasts

The Director General of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that the weather scientists of the country have started leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to enhance weather forecasts.

He also said that in coming years the emerging technologies would complement numerical weather forecasting models which are widely used at present to predict weather.

He said the weather office has been increasing observational systems to make mesoscale weather forecasts at the panchayat level or over 10 sq km area at a faster rate.

A network of 39 doppler weather radars have been deployed by the IMD that covers 85% of the country's landmass and enable hourly forecasts for prominent cities, Mohapatra said.

"We have started using Artificial Intelligence in a limited way but within the next five years, AI will significantly enhance our models and techniques," he said.

Mohapatra informed that the country’s weather records have been digitized since 1901 and artificial intelligence could be used to sift through this plentiful information to generate knowledge about weather patterns.

Artificial intelligence models are data science models which do not go into the physics of the phenomena but utilise past data to generate knowledge that can be used to make better forecasts, the IMD director general said.

He said expert groups have been formed in the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the IMD to harness artificial intelligence.

"Both artificial intelligence and numerical forecasting models will complement each other to improve forecast accuracy. Both will work hand in hand and nobody can replace the other," Mohapatra said.

Mohapatra also highlighted the fact that IMD is facing challenges in delivering village-level predictions for specific hazards.

"We aim to provide forecasts at the Panchayat or village level...tailoring weather information to sector-specific needs in agriculture, health, urban planning, hydrology, and environment," he said.