In News:

The increasing frequency of extreme weather events—cloudbursts, flash floods, and landslides—has underlined the urgent need for robust forecasting and disaster management mechanisms in India’s Himalayan region.

In this context, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), is set to install four additional radars in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) as part of Mission Mausam (2024). This development coincides with intensified relief and rehabilitation efforts following unprecedented rainfall and floods in August–September 2025.

Mission Mausam: An Overview

• Launched: 2024 by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• Implementing Agencies: IMD, National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).
• Objectives:
  • Enhance India’s forecasting capability across short, medium, extended, and seasonal scales.
  • Develop high-resolution models for improved accuracy in monsoon prediction.
  • Strengthen observational networks with radars, satellites, automated weather stations.
  • Provide sector-specific advisories for agriculture, water resources, health, energy, and disaster management.
  • Build capacity through national and international collaborations.

Significance: It represents a transformative milestone in India’s climate resilience strategy, supporting sustainable development, while safeguarding lives, livelihoods, and infrastructure.

Relief and Rehabilitation Measures in J&K (2025)

Following the cloudbursts and floods, the Centre and UT administration launched coordinated relief measures:

• Immediate Relief: Supply of rations, medicines, water filters, and medical kits. Additional consignments dispatched from MP funds to supplement government aid.
• Community Role: Civil society and local bikers acted as first responders, showcasing a whole-of-society approach.

Broader Relevance for Disaster Management

• Policy Linkages: Aligned with the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the Sendai Framework (2015–2030), emphasizing early warning systems and community resilience.
• Socio-Economic Impact: Strengthening forecasting reduces agricultural losses, protects infrastructure, and prevents human casualties.
• Strategic Significance: Enhances preparedness in the fragile Himalayan ecosystem, prone to climate-induced disasters.

In News:

Mission Mausamaims to not just improve weather forecasting in the country but also ‘manage’ certain weather events, and on demand, enhance or suppress rainfall, hail, fog and, later, lightning strikes.

• Focus Areas:
  • Enhancing or suppressing rainfall, hail, fog, and later, lightning strikes on demand.
  • Strengthening cloud physics research to better understand and modify weather conditions.

• Establishment of Cloud Chamber:
  • Location: The cloud chamber is being built at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune.
  • Purpose: To study cloud physics in detail and develop methods for weather modification.
  • Key Feature: It will be a convective cloud chamber, capable of simulating conditions specific to Indian monsoon clouds.

What is a Cloud Chamber?

• A scientific apparatus that mimics the conditions required for cloud formation.
• Function: Water vapour, aerosols, and other particles are injected into the chamber, and under controlled temperature and humidity conditions, clouds can be formed.
• Global Context: While many countries have cloud chambers, India is building one with convection properties, which are essential for studying monsoon clouds. Only a few such chambers exist globally.

Why India Needs a Convective Cloud Chamber?

• Cloud Physics: The chamber will allow scientists to study various phenomena such as:
  • Cloud behaviour under normal and extreme conditions.
  • Formation of rain droplets and ice particles.
  • Influence of moisture from cyclones or low-pressure systems.
  • Interactions between different cloud layers.
• Objective: To gain insights into cloud formation specific to the Indian monsoon and develop strategies for weather modification.

Applications for Weather Modification:

• The cloud chamber will help scientists simulate and understand how to influence weather events like rain and fog, particularly in monsoon systems.
• It will allow testing of new ideas and theories under controlled conditions, adjusting temperature, humidity, and convection parameters to suit Indian weather conditions.

India’s Experience with Cloud Seeding:

• Cloud Seeding: A technique tested in India to enhance rainfall by introducing particles (seeds) into clouds.
• CAIPEEX Program: India conducted the Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEEX) over a decade to study cloud seeding's effectiveness.
  • Findings: Cloud seeding increased rainfall by up to 46% in some regions, showing its potential under specific conditions.
  • Limitations: Cloud seeding is not a one-size-fits-all solution and is effective only under certain conditions.

Significance for India’s Weather Forecasting:

• Improved Weather Modification: The cloud chamber and insights from it could lead to better management of weather events, especially in regions affected by monsoon rains, cyclones, and droughts.
• Tailored Strategies: India will be able to implement targeted weather interventions, especially in agricultural regions, to reduce the negative impacts of extreme weather.

???????Global and Regional Relevance:

• Cloud Chamber: The Pune facility will be one of the few globally with the specific focus on convective properties needed to study Indian monsoon systems.
• Role in Climate Science: India’s investment in cloud physics research positions it at the forefront of developing technologies to manage climate variability and extreme weather events.