Why in News?
India's first Sky Cast' System was inaugurated on May 29, 2026, at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport by Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, making news as a major breakthrough in aviation weather monitoring under Mission Mausam.
Core Capabilities & Early Warning Systems
- 3-Hour Advance Warnings: SkyCast provides highly precise alerts to air traffic controllers and pilots within a critical 3-hour window, optimizing safe departure and touchdown times.
- Rapid 5-Minute Refreshes: The system processes automated, short-term operational nowcasts that update every 5 minutes to track rapid atmospheric developments.
- High-Altitude Profiling: It evaluates thermodynamic conditions from the ground level up to an altitude of nearly 10 kilometres, and tracks wind field traits up to several kilometres.
- Multi-Hazard Tracking: The platform instantly identifies major operational risks including wind shear, fog formation, inversion layers, structural icing, and low-level turbulence.
Integrated Sensor Technology
The SkyCast system unifies multiple remote sensing and profiling instruments into one cohesive framework:
- Radar Wind Profiler (RWP): Serves as the core technology to continuously measure wind velocity, direction, and boundary-layer dynamics up to 3 km high.
- Ground-based Fog Aerosol Spectrometer (GFAS): Monitors microscopic fog droplets and investigates how urban pollution particles interact with fog to degrade runway visibility.
- CL61 Lidar-based Ceilometer: Continuously map the vertical layout of fog to understand real-time visibility contraction.
- Other Integrated Tech: Incorporates Microwave Profiling Radiometers (MPR), Sonic Detection and Ranging (SODAR), and Automated Weather Stations.
Policy, Vision & Future Expansion
- Mission Mausam Backbone: Developed under the Government of India's umbrella "Mission Mausam" program, aimed at building weather-smart national infrastructure.
- Scientific Pedigree: Built upon data gathered from the Winter Fog Experiment (WiFEX), an active research initiative run by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) since 2015.
- National Expansion Roadmap: Following the IGI Airport deployment, the government announced that the next SkyCast installation will take place at the upcoming Jewar Airport (Noida), followed by rollouts at Varanasi, Ahmedabad, and other major hubs across India.
- Broader Applications: Beyond aviation, SkyCast's high-quality data streams will eventually be integrated into AI-driven urban weather forecasting, pollution mitigation models, and disaster response operations.
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