Just 2 more months left for NE monsoon arrival - TN does this important work now regarding tracking cyclones etc!!
To install 2 doppler weather radars one at Yercaud and one at Ramanathapuram, TN has floated a tender now. It is known to us that just 2 months are left for the arrival of NE monsoon in the state.
It is now said that the new instruments would cover those regions that are beyond the range of existing radars installed in Chennai and one each in places like Karaikal and Sriharikota.
The TN Disaster Risk Reduction Agency has floated the tender and as per the tender it was clear that the firm that would be awarded the contract must supply install test commission and maintain 2C band polarised solid state power amplifier based Doppler weather radar. For installing the instruments, both Yercaud and Ramanathapuram are tentative locations.
What is weather radar?
Information gathered is that weather radar transmits electromagnetic waves and measures the energy that gets backscattered by the solid or liquid water particles in the atmosphere. The reflectivity of radar is shown by the distance the waves can reach. It is superb to note that radars that would be installed in 2 different locations would have the ability to detect rains up to 450km. Lower latitude weather disturbances like low pressure, cyclones and depression etc get tracked by the weather radar.
By October 20th, NE monsoon would arrive in TN and it would bring more than 47% or 94cm of annual rainfall. It must be recalled that earlier in 2024 Mr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, IMD director mentioned that the 2 radars (that would be installed by TN govt) would cover the southern parts of Tamil Nadu.
Point to be noted is that the 2 radars would cover southern and north interior districts in TN and this was according to some officials belonging to IMD. According to Mr. Senthamarai Kannan, director, regional weather forecasting centre, IMD, more places would be covered by the radars. He added that now there is not much coverage in the regions belonging to south Karaikal. He concluded that the radar present at Yercaud would cover north interior districts and the one at Ramanathapuram would cover southern districts.
